Opinion ID: 552818
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tortious Wrongful Discharge

Text: 25 Eldridge also argues that Alaska recognizes a tort action for retaliatory discharge similar to the type of claim held not preempted in Lingle. The district court held that Alaska did not recognize an independent retaliatory discharge tort, and that the claim was subsumed in the action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith. 26 In Knight, 714 P.2d at 792, the Alaska Supreme Court reversed a trial court's dismissal of a claim for tortious discharge in violation of public policy. The court held that the complaint stated a valid contract action for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. As to the existence of a separate tort theory, the court equivocated: 27 We have never rejected the public policy theory. Indeed, it seems that the public policy approach is largely encompassed within the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing which we accepted in Mitford v. de LaSala, 666 P.2d 1000 (Alaska 1983). 28 Id. In Leudtke, 768 P.2d at 1130, the court repeated its language in Knight, but again avoided an express determination that the exclusive remedy for wrongful termination in violation of public policy was the contract action. 29 Even if Alaska does not recognize an independent tort for retaliatory discharge in violation of public policy, the Alaska Supreme Court has not foreclosed the possibility that tort remedies may be encompassed within the contract action. Because we find that the contract action was not preempted, the district court on remand will have the opportunity to determine the full scope of that action and the extent to which it may provide the remedies sought by Eldridge in his tort claim. We therefore decline to rule at this time on the district court's determination that Alaska does not provide an independent tort action for retaliatory discharge. 30 REVERSED and REMANDED.