Floyd and Judy Cornelison, Appellants v. Tig Insurance, Crawford & Company/broadspire Services, Griffin & Smith…

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court vacated the superior court's judgments, affirmed dismissal of the abuse-of-process, UTPA, interference, common-law fraud, and professional-negligence claims, and reversed or remanded several emotional-distress, defamation, and statutory-fraud claims. The court held that the pleadings and summary-judgment record presented factual disputes concerning allegedly manipulated surveillance evidence, false submissions, physical injury, emotional distress, and the conduct of the participants in the workers' compensation proceeding. Justice Winfree, dissenting in part, would have remanded the defamation claims against TIG and Griffin & Smith for consideration of whether the challenged statements were pertinent to the workers' compensation proceeding.