Aisha Tinker Bray

Office: Fairbanks.

Admitted: 1994, Colorado; 1995, Alaska.

Law School: Hastings College of the Law, University of California, J.D., 1994.

College: University of Alaska Fairbanks, B.A, Chemistry, 1991, cum laude, Honors Program Graduate & Outstanding Graduating Female, 1991.

Member: Alaska Bar Association; Tanana Valley Bar Association; American Bar Association; Defense Research Institute; Defense Counsel of Alaska.

Biography: Fairbanks Rotary Club, member since 2004, Board Member 2007-2009, Youth Exchange officer 2006-2009, & Chair Chena River Run 2004-2010; Interior Alaska Center for Non-Violent Living, Board Member since 2005, Treasurer 2006-present; Farthest North Girl Scouts Council, Board Member since 2008, Vice President 2009-2010, Treasurer 2010-present; Hastings Student Leader Award, 1994; American Chemical Society Student Award UAF, May 1991; NCAA Varsity Cross-County Ski Team UAF, 1987-1991; UAF Scholar Athlete, 1990; UAF Outstanding Female Chemist, 1989.

Professional History: Judicial Law Clerk for Honorable James E. Barrett, Senior Circuit Judge, Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Cheyenne, Wyoming, September, 1994-January, 2000. Guess & Rudd, Fairbanks, Alaska from June 2000 to present.

Practice Areas: Areas of practice emphasize: commercial transactions and litigation; non-profit law; estate planning, wills, trusts, and probate; real property transactions and litigation; creditor bankruptcy; insurance defense litigation, personal injury, wrongful death, automobile negligence, premises liability; insurance coverage disputes and opinions; mineral and mining law transactional work and litigation.

Reported Cases:

Weilbacher v. Progressive, (2009) - This was a case for additional UIM "each person" policy limits for a father/insured who lost his daughter in a tragic automobile accident. Weilbacher claimed he was entitled to a second "each person" policy limit of UIM coverage, separate and distinct from the policy limit already paid in his daughter's wrongful death action, even though he was not involved in the accident and did not learn of the accident until sometime later. Progressive maintained that pursuant to the clear, unambiguous policy language, Weilbacher's damages were within the same "each person" policy limit already paid as a result of his daughter's death in the accident. Progressive prevailed on summary judgment in the District Court of Alaska, D.C. No. 3:05-cv-00204-TMB, and then on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 08-353470. Aisha was lead counsel for Progressive and argued before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Progressive Casualty Ins. Co. v. Skin et al, 211 P.3d 1093 (Alaska 2009) - This was a case for third-party bodily injury coverage for an accident involving an excluded, under-age driver operating his neighbor's 4-wheeler under a Progressive automobile insurance policy. Plaintiffs argued that Progressive's policy definition of "vehicle" violated Alaska's mandatory insurance statutes and must be reformed to include 4-wheelers. Plaintiffs further claimed that Progressive's denial of coverage based on its policy language was bad faith. Progressive maintained that the policy's definition of "vehicle" did not include 4-wheelers and fully complied with Alaska law. Progressive lost on summary judgment in the trial court in Kotzebue with the trial court fining against Progressive on every point. However, Progressive prevailed on all points in the Alaska Supreme Court, wherein the court held that Progressive's policy definition of "vehicle" did not violate Alaska law and did not include 4-wheelers. The Court, on reconsideration, also affirmed its ruling that there was no coverage by estoppel based on Progressive's pre-denial interviews of its insured. A key issue in Alaska. Aisha was lead counsel for Progressive and argued before the Alaska Supreme Court.

Little Squaw Gold Mining Co. v. Ackles, 4FA-07-1131 CI (tried to a jury in 2008) - This was a quiet title action successfully tried to a Fairbanks jury. Little Squaw maintained that Mr. Ackles improperly staked mining claims over portions of a number of Little Squaw's valid and long-standing mining claims in the Brooks Range of Alaska. Mr. Ackels claimed that Little Squaw had abandoned those claims, such that he could legally stake his own claims over the same ground, because annual assessment work he had agreed to perform on Little Squaw's claims was not actually performed, despite the existence of documents drafted by Mr. Ackels and suggesting that he had, in fact, performed that assessment work. The jury returned its verdict in favor of Little Squaw on each of the critical issues presented and, combined with the court's rulings on motions for summary judgment and motions for directed verdict, the consequence was that Little Squaw successfully quieted title to each of its mining claims and received best title to the claims staked by Mr. Ackles during the period of time that he was a hold-over tenant, through the constructive trust doctrine. Aisha was co-lead trial counsel for Little Squaw along with Gary A. Zipkin, another shareholder at Guess & Rudd. The case is currently on appeal to the Alaska Supreme Court where Aisha is lead counsel.

Born: Fairbanks, Alaska, March 19, 1969.

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