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Alaska Community Colleges' Federation of Teachers v. University of Alaska11/3/2004
NOTICE Memorandum decisions of this court do not create legal precedent. See Alaska Appellate Rule 214(d). Accordingly, this memorandum decision may not be cited for any proposition of law or as an example of the proper resolution of any issue.
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND JUDGMENT
No. 1190
I. INTRODUCTION
The Alaska Community Colleges' Federation of Teachers, Local 2404 (Union) appeals the superior court's award of attorney's fees to the University of Alaska (University) pursuant to Alaska Civil Rule 82. Because the superior court was well within its discretion in following the Rule 82 schedule and awarding the University twenty percent of its attorney's fees, we affirm.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
These parties were previously before this court in University of Alaska v. Alaska Community Colleges' Federation of Teachers, Local 2404. The attorney's fees at issue in this appeal were incurred through litigation concerning an arbitration award against the University. In 1996 the University commissioned a study to identify non-union university employees who were underpaid. As a result of the study, certain non-union employees received pay raises of up to 2.6 percent. The Union and six female faculty members then filed a grievance alleging that the University had discriminated against the women by paying them lower salaries than those given to their male counterparts, and alleging that the decision to exclude union members was a violation of the non-discrimination clause of the collective bargaining agreement. After a hearing,Chancellor Gorsuch denied the Union's grievance, finding that it was not filed within the required thirty days from the time that the employee became aware of the complained-of conduct.
The Union appealed the Chancellor's denial to Arbitrator George Lehleitner. On September 17, 1998, Lehleitner issued a decision dismissing the claim of gender discrimination but finding that the University did violate the non-discrimination clause of the collective bargaining agreement by excluding union employees from the study and subsequent pay raises. On December 17, 1998, the University filed a petition to vacate or modify the arbitrator's decision in the superior court. The Union then filed a motion to confirm the arbitration award, and the superior court granted this motion and denied the petition to vacate or modify in an opinion dated May 22, 2000. On appeal, this court reversed the arbitration award and remanded to the trial court with instructions to dismiss the grievance.
On remand, the University moved for attorney's fees as the prevailing party pursuant to Rule 82. The University listed its actual attorney's fees as $47,847.65 and asked for twenty percent of those fees, or $9,569.53. This motion was supplemented by an affidavit of counsel for the University and with copies of invoices sent to the University from its law firm. The Union opposed the University's motion for attorney's fees, arguing that it would be unfair to impose fees when the Union was forced by its duty of fair representation to defend the arbitration award. The Union also complained that it was impossible to tell if the University's claimed fees were reasonable because it did not disclose the amount charged per hour by each attorney. The University replied by arguing that the Union is not a public interest litigant, and thus does not fit under Rule 82's only public policy exception. The University also supplied a list of each attorney's hourly rate.
On July 28, 2003, the superior court entered an order awarding the University $9,569.53 in attorney's fees. The Union now appeals.
III. STANDARD OF REVIEW
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