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Sengupta v. Wickwire12/9/2005
No. 5963
Before: Bryner, Chief Justice, Matthews, Eastaugh, Fabe, and Carpeneti, Justices.
I. INTRODUCTION
Mritunjoy Sengupta was a tenured professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.He was terminated for cause after a hearing officer found that he had presented false evidence during a university grievance hearing. Sengupta appealed his termination to the superior court. The superior court affirmed, and Sengupta informed his attorney that he wished to appeal that decision to the Alaska Supreme Court. His attorney filed the appeal late and it was dismissed. Sengupta then brought a lawsuit against the university alleging various violations of his constitutional rights. On appeal, this court held that Sengupta's claims were barred by res judicata because he did not timely appeal the superior court's decision in his termination proceedings. Sengupta then brought this malpractice action against his attorney, alleging that the attorney failed to file a timely appeal and failed to raise certain claims on Sengupta's behalf. Because Sengupta's attorney only agreed to appeal a single issue, we affirm the superior court's grant of summary judgment to the attorney.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
A. Sengupta's Grievances Against the University of Alaska Fairbanks (Parrish Hearing) Mritunjoy Sengupta was a tenured professor of Mining Engineering at the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF). In 1992 and 1993 Sengupta filed three grievances against UAF, asserting that he was not considered for promotion to acting head of his department or director of the Mining and Mineral Resource Research Institute, and that he should have received various pay increases. James Parrish served as the hearing officer for Sengupta's grievance proceedings. Thomas Wickwire was Sengupta's lawyer.
On June 24, 1994, Parrish issued a lengthy written decision dismissing Sengupta's grievances. Parrish found that Sengupta was not a credible witness and that he had "repeatedly and purposefully been untruthful" during the grievance proceedings.
Parrish found that during the hearing Sengupta presented false documents, lied about being laid off from a previous job, and lied about unfounded public attacks he had made against colleagues. Parrish also found that Sengupta had mischaracterized his degree on his resume, that he had plagiarized the work of another professor, and that Sengupta and his wife had improperly accessed the bank account of a UAF student in an attempt to attack the professional reputation of another professor.
After Parrish issued his findings, Wickwire wrote a letter to Sengupta recommending that he initiate a communication process with the university chancellor to try to repair any damage done during the grievance hearings. Wickwire cautioned that he thought it likely that the chancellor might initiate disciplinary proceedings against Sengupta based on the Parrish findings. Wickwire informed Sengupta that he believed "Mr. Parrish done a very thorough job of evaluating the evidence in detail and logically reasoning through the evidence on each point to reach his conclusions." Based on this letter, Sengupta decided not to appeal the Parrish decision.
B. UAF Termination Proceedings Against Sengupta (Rice Hearing)
On September 1, 1994, UAF initiated termination proceedings against Sengupta based on the findings of Hearing Officer Parrish. Sengupta requested and was granted a pre-termination hearing. Sengupta also filed a grievance against UAF, asserting that the termination was improper retaliation for his earlier grievances in violation of a UAF regulation prohibiting retaliation. The university chanc
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