INSURERS CANNOT SEEK REIMBURSEMENT OF FEES IN ROR SITUATIONS IN ALASKA

In a strained decision, the Alaska Supreme Court in Attorneys Liability Protection Society, Inc. v. Ingaldson Fitzgerald, P.C., 370 P.3d 1101 (2016), answered certified questions from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals finding that Alaska’s statute regarding independent counsel in insurance situations prohibited insurers from seeking reimbursement of fees and costs incurred during an ROR defense even if it was later determined that there was no obligation to provide a defense because there was no coverage. Instead of critically analyzing the Alaska Supreme Court’s judicial legislating and strained analysis in rejecting the insurance company’s right to reimbursement, I would encourage the reader to analyze the case in order to come up with the reader’s own viewpoint on whether the Alaska Supreme Court stayed within its constitutional role of interpreting the statute as opposed to striking the statute down in the guise of legislative intent.