Aaa Valley Gravel, Inc., Appellant v. Alicia Totaro and Herman Ramirez, Appellees

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court’s judgment awarding Totaro nearly $1 million in past overriding royalty payments, finding that the original gravel lease was exclusive and that the lower court’s factual findings were not clearly erroneous. The Court rejected AAA Valley Gravel’s arguments that silence on exclusivity makes a lease non‑exclusive, that the lower court improperly implied exclusivity, and that the burden of persuasion was wrongly assigned.