Ruckle v. Anchorage School District

85 P.3d 1030, 2004 Alas. LEXIS 26, 2004 WL 362375
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 27, 2004
DocketS-10422
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 85 P.3d 1030 (Ruckle v. Anchorage School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ruckle v. Anchorage School District, 85 P.3d 1030, 2004 Alas. LEXIS 26, 2004 WL 362375 (Ala. 2004).

Opinion

*1032 OPINION

CARPENETI, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

Kelly Ruckle challenged the decision of the Anchorage School District to grant its school transportation contract to First Student, Inc. and sought a declaration voiding the state’s regulation governing pupil transportation contracts. The superior court dismissed with prejudice Ruckle’s claims against both the school district and the state for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and denied her request to file an amended complaint. We agree with the superior court that Ruckle does not have citizen-taxpayer standing with respect to her claims against the district. However, we conclude that the superior court erred in refusing to grant Ruckle leave to file an amended complaint. Because we remand on these grounds, we find it unnecessary to determine whether the superior court’s dismissal with prejudice was appropriate.

II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

On October 4, 2000 the Anchorage School District (ASD), seeking a school bus company to transport its students, issued a Request for Transportation Proposals (RFP). It received five bids for the five-year contract. According to Ruckle, the lowest and only responsive bid was submitted by Laidlaw Transit, Inc., ASD’s incumbent provider of school bus service. The second lowest bidder was First Student, Inc. Despite the alleged deficiencies in its bid, 1 ASD certified First Student’s bid as responsive. ASD permitted First Student to match Laidlaw’s bid price and decided that an award to First Student would be in the district’s best interest. A notice of intent to award the school bus contract to First Student was issued on January 19, 2001.

Laidlaw then instituted an action against ASD and First Student, asking the court, among other things, to invalidate First Student’s proposal and enjoin ASD from contracting with them. 2 Laidlaw requested declaratory and injunctive relief, and money damages. On May 18, 2001 Superior Court Judge Peter A. Michalski issued an order converting Laidlaw’s action to an administrative appeal, since many of the claims in Laid-law’s complaint were based on the administrative decisions of ASD. Judge Michalski bifurcated and stayed any claims which could not be reached as part of the administrative appeal and halted all discovery until the appeal could be resolved.

Laidlaw then approached Kelly Ruckle to determine if she would be interested in commencing litigation in this matter. Kelly Ruckle was at that time employed as a secretary by Laidlaw’s law firm, Hartig Rhodes Hoge & Lekisch and was also a taxpayer in the Municipality of Anchorage and the mother of two children who attended ASD schools and who rode school buses operated by First Student. She was referred to Davis Wright Tremaine LLP for representation. On July 23, 2001 Ruckle filed a complaint against ASD and the State of Alaska, Department of Education and Early Development (state), alleging nearly all of the same claims against ASD as Laidlaw had. However, whereas Laidlaw did not challenge any of the state’s *1033 conduct, Ruckle argued that one of its regulations, 4 Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) 27.085, 3 violates the State Procurement Code, AS 36.30, that it was adopted without proper statutory authority, and that it constitutes a standardless delegation of authority. In addition, while Laidlaw sought money damages, Ruckle requested only declaratory and in-junctive relief. Ruckle’s complaint was assigned to Superior Court Judge Mark Rind-ner.

Instead of filing an answer, ASD filed a motion to dismiss, which was later joined by the state, which argued that Ruckle did not have citizen-taxpayer standing and that the complaint should therefore be dismissed under Alaska Civil Rule 12(b)(1) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 4 Ruckle opposed, arguing that she had standing as a citizen and taxpayer and as a member of the class of persons the procurement statute was designed to protect.

Judge Rindner granted the motion to dismiss, which prompted Ruckle to request reconsideration. She argued that she should be permitted to litigate her claims against the state because Laidlaw was not pursuing those claims, and therefore they would likely evade review. Judge Rindner denied Ruck-le’s motion for reconsideration, but before receiving notice of the denial, Ruckle filed an amended complaint in which she alleged that she had interest-injury standing. ASD asked the court to strike Ruckle’s amended complaint because it was filed without leave of the court. ASD also argued that Ruckle should not be permitted to re-allege citizen-taxpayer standing since her first complaint had already been dismissed for lack of such standing. Ruckle opposed ASD’s motion, contending that she had timely filed her amended complaint pursuant to Alaska Civil Rule 15(a) and that, in the absence of an Alaska rule barring the filing of an amended pleading after dismissal but before entry of judgment, she should be permitted to amend her complaint as a matter of course. In response, ASD maintained that, even if it might be permissible for Ruckle to amend her complaint, she should be required to request leave of the court and such leave should be denied since amendment would be futile and she had failed to take advantage of earlier opportunities to do so.

Ruckle then moved for leave to supplement her opposition to ASD’s .motion to strike, informing the court that her daughter had been in an accident involving a First Student bus on December 6, 2001, thereby clarifying her standing status and demonstrating “the legitimate concerns she has concerning the safety of the school buses operated by First Student under the contract awarded it by the ASD.” Judge Rindner granted ASD’s motion to strike the amended complaint and advised Ruckle that, if she still believed she had interest-injury standing, she could file a complaint seeking relief appropriate to such a claim. On the same day, February 4, 2002, Judge Rindner entered final judgment in the matter, dismissing with prejudice Ruckle’s complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

Finally, Ruckle filed a motion seeking to amend the judgment, arguing that the court should have dismissed her complaint without prejudice so as to allow her to file a new complaint without running afoul of res judi-cata. That motion was also denied and Ruckle appealed.

III. STANDARD OF REVIEW

We review de novo a superior court’s decision to dismiss a complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 5

Whether an amended complaint may be filed after dismissal without leave of the court is a question of law. “We scrutinize questions of law under a de novo or indepen *1034 dent judgment standard of review. When reviewing a question of law, it is our ‘duty to adopt the rule of law that is most persuasive in light of precedent, reason and policy.’ ” 6

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Laws v. Grayeyes
2021 UT 59 (Utah Supreme Court, 2021)
Keilan Ebli v. State of Alaska, Department of Corrections
451 P.3d 382 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2019)
Black v. Whitestone Estates Condo. Homeowners' Ass'n
446 P.3d 786 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2019)
Bibi v. Elfrink
408 P.3d 809 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2017)
Lingley v. Alaska Airlines, Inc.
373 P.3d 506 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2016)
Bernard v. Alaska Airlines, Inc.
367 P.3d 1156 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2016)
Leta Trask v. Ketchikan Gateway Borough
Alaska Supreme Court, 2015
Asa'carsarmiut Tribal Council v. Wheeler
337 P.3d 1182 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2014)
Kanuk Ex Rel. Kanuk v. State, Department of Natural Resources
335 P.3d 1088 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2014)
Healy Lake Village v. Mt. McKinley Bank
322 P.3d 866 (Alaska Supreme Court, 2014)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
85 P.3d 1030, 2004 Alas. LEXIS 26, 2004 WL 362375, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ruckle-v-anchorage-school-district-alaska-2004.