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METCALFE INVESTMENTS6/28/1996
I. INTRODUCTION
Metcalfe Investments appeals from the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Linda Garrison, David Garrison, and All Alaska Realestate. We conclude that there are genuine issues of material fact that require us to reverse the grant of summary judgment.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
The parties presented contradictory versions of the events that culminated in this lawsuit. Because Metcalfe Investments opposed summary judgment below, we must review the record in the light most favorable to Metcalfe Investments and draw all reasonable inferences in its favor. Wilson v. Pollet, 416 P.2d 381, 383-84 (Alaska 1966); Charles A. Wright et al., Federal Practice and Procedure ยง 2716, at 643 (1983). For purposes of reviewing the trial court's grant of summary
judgment, we examine Metcalfe Investments' proffered evidence to determine whether it raises genuine issues of material fact.
Ray Metcalfe is the president and sole shareholder of Metcalfe Investments, Inc., a real estate brokerage firm. Metcalfe Investments specializes in the sale of homes acquired by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The company attracts potential buyers with extensive advertising. People who call in response to the ads have their names placed on a list of people in the Anchorage area who are interested in purchasing residential property.
Toward the end of December 1990, Ray Metcalfe hired Linda Garrison (Garrison) to work for Metcalfe Investments as an independent contractor. Metcalfe told her that she would be responsible for paying her own federal income taxes, social security , workers' compensation, and unemployment insurance.
Garrison's job was primarily to sell real estate for the company. She was to do so from the list of names generated by company advertising and to add to the list as new contacts came into the office. Metcalfe told her how the list had been developed and how to maintain it. He also asserts that he told her that the list was company property and that she could not use it or take it with her in the event of her departure.
Metcalfe claims that he instructed Garrison that if she left Metcalfe Investments, she would receive no commissions on sales made to customers she had worked with if those sales were completed after her termination. Further, she would have to "refrain from participating in sales to any potential buyers who had made first contact with Metcalfe Investments, Inc. during the term of her employment" unless Metcalfe granted permission to do so. The division of any commissions from transactions in closing at the time of her departure would be negotiated and subject to agreement between the two of them.
According to Metcalfe, Garrison acknowledged that she fully understood the requirement that she refrain from contacting Metcalfe Investments' customers after her departure, and she accepted it as a condition of her employment. While Metcalfe admits that there was no discussion as to how long this agreement would remain in effect, he assumed that it would last for one year after Garrison left Metcalfe Investments. He believed that Garrison had a similar understanding because of the nature of the Anchorage real estate market and Metcalfe Investments' manner of doing business. Garrison denies the existence of any such agreement.
While working as an independent contractor, Garrison initially was paid solely on a commission basis (fifty percent of all commissions). Shortly thereafter, Garrison asked Metcalfe to make her a salaried employee so that she could have a reliable source of income every month. Metcalfe agreed to pay Garrison a salary
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