(a) A person who initiates or maintains a malicious claim for injunctive relief against a state permitted project is, in addition to any other penalty or sanction provided by law, liable in a civil action to the permittee or owner of the project for all of the following:
Terms Used In Alaska Statutes 09.68.050
action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, organization, business trust, or society, as well as a natural person. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
state: means the State of Alaska unless applied to the different parts of the United States and in the latter case it includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Alaska Statutes 01.10.060
(1) actual damages suffered by the permittee or owner of the project as a result of the malicious claim, including
(A) wages and salaries paid to employees or contractors idled or put to nonproductive labor as a result of prosecution of the malicious claim; and(B) increased material costs caused by prosecution of the malicious claim; and(2) incidental or consequential damages arising under contracts associated with the project that were caused by prosecution of the malicious claim.(b) The liability of a person for damages under this section is in addition to liability for an award of reasonable attorney fees and costs that may be made to a prevailing party under the Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure.(c) For purposes of this section, a person “initiates or maintains a malicious claim for injunctive relief against a state permitted project” if
(1) the person initiates or maintains a baseless legal or administrative claim, including an original claim, a counterclaim, or a cross-claim, against a project or activity in the state requiring one or more permits, authorizations, or approvals from a state agency;(2) the claim is rejected by a court or administrative tribunal of competent jurisdiction or otherwise terminated adverse to the person;(3) the claim is initiated or maintained in bad faith for an end other than the end it was designed to accomplish;(4) the person acts with malice in initiating or maintaining the claim; and(5) the permittee or owner of the project is damaged by the initiation or maintenance of the claim.
