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In re Estate of Brandon8/18/1995
ORDER
IT IS ORDERED:
1. Hedland, Fleischer, Friedman, Brennan & Cooke's petition for rehearing, filed on June 12, 1995, is DENIED.
2. Joseph L. Kashi's petition for rehearing, filed on June 12, 1995, is GRANTED in part, DENIED in part.
3. Opinion No. 4216 published on June 2, 1995, is WITHDRAWN.
4. Opinion No. 4240 is issued on this date in its place.
Entered by direction of the Court at Anchorage, Alaska, on August 18, 1995.
No. 4240
OPINION
I. INTRODUCTION
These consolidated appeals raise issues regarding the allocation of proceeds of a wrongful death lawsuit brought after Stewart Eric Brandon, Jr., (Eric) died in an air crash. The disputants are Eric's minor daughter, Eric's non-dependent parents, and various attorneys claiming attorney's fees.
We reverse the superior court's allocation because it failed to satisfy the requirements of Alaska Rule of Civil Procedure 90.2.
II. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
A. Eric's Survivors
Eric Brandon was killed in November 1987 when the Ryan Air Service commuter aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed on approach to landing at Homer. He was twenty-three years old and died intestate.
Catrina Crume was born about two years before Eric's death. Christy Crume is Catrina's mother. Catrina's paternity was never formally established during Eric's lifetime, but he admitted to Christy and others he was Catrina's father. Eric's divorced parents, Stewart Eric Brandon, Sr., (Brandon), and Helen Carter (Carter), were both aware of Catrina's existence after her birth. Christy and Eric never married.
B. The Lawsuits
Carter lived in Pennsylvania. Soon after the crash, she contacted Philadelphia attorney Jeffrey Voluck who asked Anchorage attorney John Hedland, of the firm of Hedland, Fleischer, Friedman, Brennan & Cooke (collectively "Hedland"), to bring a wrongful death action in Carter's behalf. Hedland agreed to represent Carter on a contingent fee basis.
Brandon, who lived in the Kenai/Soldotna area, retained Soldotna attorney Joseph Kashi to represent him. In February 1988 Brandon, through Kashi, filed Case No. 3KN-88-22PR in Kenai and asked the superior court to appoint him personal representative of his son's estate; apparently simultaneously, Brandon began Case No. 3HO-88-53 Civil in Homer by filing a wrongful death complaint that alleged he was the "custodian and personal representative of the estate of the decedent." In neither case did Brandon mention the possibility Eric had left a minor child, although Brandon was allegedly "well aware" of a possible child.
In early 1988 Carter, through Hedland, filed Case No. 3AN-88-1988 PR in Anchorage and asked the superior court to appoint her personal representative of her son's estate. In April 1988 Carter opposed Brandon's application to be appointed personal representative and asserted that there was a possibility Eric had left a child.
In late 1987 Christy Crume, Catrina's mother, approached attorney Robert Cowan about asserting a claim on behalf of Catrina as a result of Eric's death. Learning later of the lawsuits filed by Brandon and Carter, and having contacted their attorneys, Cowan asked attorney Olof Hellén, then at Hellén, Partnow & Condon, to help represent Catrina's interests.
In December 1988 Superior Court Judge Charles K. Cranston appointed Carter and Brandon co-personal representatives of the estate in Case No. 3KN-88-22PR; Judge Cranston noted Catrina was Eric's purported minor child and charged Carter and Brandon w
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