Opinion ID: 2514808
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The billing of Pacific Native Development employees' time

Text: Ahtna Government Services was billed for Pacific Native Development employees' time purportedly spent working on Ahtna Government Services projects. Pacific Native Development did not submit time sheets to Ahtna Government Services or provide details about these charges. Harris approved the charges to Ahtna Government Services for Pacific Native Development employees' time. Though he acknowledged that Pacific Native Development employees kept time sheets, and that he had likely saved the time sheets, Harris could not account for the whereabouts of these documents and did not produce them for trial. But Christopher Smith, a former Pacific Native Development employee and later the president of Ahtna Government Services, retained personal copies of his Pacific Native Development time sheets. A comparison of the hours Harris charged Ahtna Government Services for Smith's work with the hours recorded on the time sheets that Smith retained revealed an overcharge of 197 hours. The trial court inferred from this demonstrated overcharge and Harris's failure to produce time sheets that Harris inflated other employees' time as well. The trial court awarded Ahtna Government Services the $50,968.13 that it requested for these unsubstantiated charges.