Opinion ID: 1163258
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: HCA's Untimeliness

Text: HCA did not raise its objection to the sale of its two-thirds interest in Lot 1 immediately, as would be expected. It was not until the case was remanded to the superior court on other issues, and the superior court reaffirmed its own order regarding this sale, that HCA filed this appeal. It is not entirely clear, however, what the proper time for HCA to object would have been. HCA probably should have objected to the sale of its interest in two-thirds of Lot 1 at the time the superior court was issuing its confirmation of the sale. However, we hold that HCA is not bound by its failure to object at that time for the following reasons.
Civil Rule 69(g), governing the confirmation of sale of real property on execution, as well as objections to such confirmation, applies only to property sold pursuant to a writ of execution. [7] Apparently two-thirds of Lot 1 was never the subject of a writ of execution in the case at bar. HCA's objections are not to an irregularity in the method of sale, as contemplated by Rule 69(g)(2), but rather are to the very right of the creditors to sell HCA's property. By its terms Rule 69(g) does not apply to this situation, and thus HCA is not bound by its procedures.
Ordinarily, a party which does not raise issues on the initial appeal following the superior court's judgment waives those issues. However, in this case, HCA had excellent reasons for not raising the issue of lack of subject matter jurisdiction immediately. HCA had stopped appearing at the proceedings because Hydaburg I had apparently resolved all of the important issues relating to it. HCA lost its appeal in Hydaburg I but had received an unequivocal statement from this court that (a) it could protect section 16 assets, id. at 757, and (b) the superior court's order applying property to judgment was applied only to those HCA assets involved in the joint venture with Hydaburg Fisheries. Id. HCA should have been able to reasonably rely on these assurances in discontinuing its participation in the proceedings. The extent of its liability was established and this court had delineated the limits of the superior court's order of execution. At this point, HCA had no reason to suspect that other parts of its property would be sold without the issuance of a writ of execution covering this other property. It is entirely possible that HCA never even knew about the sale of this property by the time of Hydaburg II. As mentioned above, the issue of subject matter jurisdiction is not waivable and can even be raised at a very late stage in the litigation. [8] See O'Link v. O'Link, 632 P.2d 225, 226 n. 2 (Alaska 1981).