How Alaska's cap actually works
Under AS 09.17.010, noneconomic damages in an Alaska personal injury or wrongful death action are capped at $250,000. That ceiling rises to the greater of $400,000 or your life expectancy in years × $8,000 when the injury involves severe permanent physical impairment, severe disfigurement, or results in death — so a younger plaintiff with a long life expectancy could see a cap well above $400,000 under the second formula.
The Alaska Supreme Court clarified how this interacts with shared fault in Kisling v. Grosz, 565 P.3d 226 (Alaska 2025): a jury awarded $1.2 million in noneconomic damages but found the plaintiff 75% at fault, leaving the defendant responsible for $300,000. Because that reduced, defendant-specific amount was below the $400,000 cap, no further reduction applied — the court held that fault is allocated first, and the cap is checked only against what the specific defendant actually owes.