The Economic Loss Doctrine in Alaska and the Design Professional Exception

The economic loss doctrine has prevented countless plaintiffs from recovering their economic losses in tort. However, over the last several decades, numerous courts have found exceptions to this doctrine. Alaska currently provides two important exceptions: the independent duty exception and the design professional exception. These two exceptions as applied provide for inconsistent results which create liability for design professionals and cut off liability for non-design professionals. Providing the same approach and analysis for all professionals creates greater consistency and predictability and provides an opportunity for design professionals to limit their exposure to negligence claims

Do Judicially Created Grounds for Vacating Arbitral Awards Still Exist?: Why Manifest Disregard of the Law and Public Policy Exceptions Should be Considered under Vacatur

The Court’s strong language in Hall Street indicated the Court’s intent for the FAA to provide the exclusive grounds for vacating an arbitral award. Therefore, once the Court addresses the circuit split, it will likely hold that judicially created grounds are not an acceptable form of vacatur. However, doing so would cause individuals injustice, in particular where awards manifestly disregard the law and go against public policy. This Note argues that if the Court abolishes judicially created grounds, it should reinterpret the FAA to include manifest disregard of the law and violations to public policy under the exceeded powers exception of the statute