James Weed, Juranda Faith Madson A/k/a Jan Madson, Bruce Senkow, and John Bennett

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court held that state procurement officials are protected by qualified immunity, rather than absolute immunity, for common-law claims arising from bid evaluation activities. Applying the governing three-factor test, the court concluded that the restricted nature of procurement discretion and the lack of evidence of frequent litigation outweighed the availability of administrative bid-protest remedies. The court affirmed the superior court's ruling; Justice Fabe concurred separately, suggesting that the procurement code's exclusive-remedy provision might independently bar the lawsuit.