Former Judge Richard Erlich of Kotzebue, AK; incompetent loser

The state of Alaska provided Carl Bauman with a law license in 1981 after he graduated from the Antioch School of Law.

FYI: Former Gov. Sarah Palin was duped into appointing Karl as a Third Judicial District Court Judge in Kenai in 2007. Carl didn’t receive the appointment because he was the most qualified jurist and/or attorney in the greater Kenai area. He received it because he had proven to be a reliable lackey for the local political hacks.

Dick’s incompetence took place while he was employed as a Kotzebue Superior Court Judge and assigned to the case of Maurice Mitchell v. Teck Cominco Alaska Inc. wherein Mitchell sued Teck Cominco asserting a statutory claim for race-based discrimination and contract claims for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing and wrongful discharge

• After Teck Cominco filed a motion to dismiss the case, Dick sua sponte (on his own volition) converted the motion into a motion for summary judgement
• Mitchell requested additional time to conduct planned discovery to further contest summary judgment, which Teck Cominco did not oppose
• Dick never ruled on Mitchell’s continuance request, but six months later, while the parties were still conducting discovery, the Dick granted the converted motion for summary judgment on Mitchell's discrimination claim
• Mitchell then asked Dick to disqualify himself because Dick’s wife was a NANA shareholder (NANA being the parent company of Teck Cominco), which Dick refused to do
• Dick then granted summary judgment against Mitchell on all of his other outstanding claims and awarded attorney’s fees to Teck Cominco

Subsequently, Mitchell appealed Dick’s asinine rulings to the Supreme Court of Alaska, which overturned Dick’s ruling and in doing so made the following comments.

• Dick should have granted Mitchell’s request for additional time to oppose the summary judgment motion
• We vacate Dick’s award of attorney fees to Teck Cominco
• Dick abused his discretion when he denied Mitchell’s request for a continuance to respond to the summary judgment motion
• Dick totally ignored the adequate reasons Mitchell asserted for additional time to motion for summary judgment
• By failing to promptly rule on Mitchell's Rule 56(f) request, Dick left the parties without guidance about whether supplemental filings would be permitted or when they would be due
• Dick’s failure to grant Mitchell's Rule 56(f) request actually prejudiced Mitchell

And lastly, it goes without saying that Dick didn’t much care when he’s overturned (rebuked in truth) by the appellate court since he fully understands no Alaskan judge had ever been tossed off the bench for being an incompetent boob, and additionally the only folks who suffered financially were Mitchell and the taxpayers.

As we speak (ca. February 2024), Dick practices his so-called brand of law in Kotzebue, Alaska.