State v. Hazelwood
Alaska Supreme Court
946 P.2d 875 (1997)
- Written by Craig Conway, LLM
Facts
After he ran the Exxon Valdez oil tanker aground along the Alaska coast spilling approximately 11 million gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound, Captain Joseph Hazelwood was charged with violating a state statute for the negligent discharge of oil. The trial court instructed the jury that Hazelwood acted negligently if he failed to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that a particular result will occur. A jury convicted Hazelwood. Hazelwood appealed. The court of appeals reversed, finding that Hazelwood should have been tried under a more severe criminal negligence theory rather than under an ordinary negligence standard. Hazelwood appealed. The Alaska Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rabinowitz, J.)
Dissent (Compton, C.J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 777,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,200 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
