JABAR, J. [ 1] Sarah I. Guiliani appeals from a summary judgment entered in the District Court (Portland, Goranites, J.) ordering her to pay Arrow Financial Services, LLC (Arrow), as assignee of Washington Mutual Bank (Washington Mutual), damages in the amount of $3493.92, plus pre-judgment (3.41%) and post-judgment (6.61%) interest, plus court costs, for unpaid principal and interest on a credit card account. Because disputes remain as to material facts regarding the balance due on the...
GORMAN, J. [ 1] This case arises from an investigation by the Board of Overseers of the Bar (the Board) into the actions of six Verrill Dana LLP attorneys—David E. Warren, James T. Kilbreth III, Eric D. Altholz, Mark K. Googins, Roger A. Clement Jr., and Juliet T. Browne—who were involved in the discovery and reporting of the misconduct of John Duncan, a former partner in the law firm. The Board, acting through Bar Counsel, appeals 1 from a prehearing discovery order entered by a single...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, as trustee in trust for the registered holders of Ameriquest Mortgage Securities Inc., asset-backed pass-through certificates, series 2006-R2, appeals from a summary judgment entered in the District Court (Fort Kent, Soucy, J. ) in favor of Donald P. Pelletier and Kim M. Pelletier on the bank's complaint for foreclosure. * The court concluded that Deutsche Bank had failed to dispute facts asserted by the Pelletiers demonstrating that...
LEVY, J. [ 1] Luis Pabon appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) after a jury verdict convicting him of elevated aggravated assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 208-B(1)(A) (2010), and attempted murder (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 152(1)(A) (2010). He asserts that the court's failure to include the dwelling-place exception to the duty to retreat when instructing the jury on self-defense constitutes obvious error. We affirm the judgment. I. FACTS AND...
SAUFLEY, C.J., with whom MEAD and JABAR, JJ., join. [ 1] This case requires us to revisit a question that we have addressed several times in recent decades: how may the public use intertidal lands on the Maine coast Specifically, we are asked to determine whether, as a matter of Maine common law, the public has the right to walk across intertidal lands to reach the ocean for purposes of scuba diving. All six justices answer that question in the affirmative. Three justices arrive at this...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] Malcolm Bruce LaVallee-Davidson killed a man by putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger during consensual sexual activity. At trial, LaVallee-Davidson argued that he did not know that the gun was loaded. After a jury found him guilty of manslaughter (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 203(1)(A) (2010), 1 the court entered a judgment of conviction in the Unified Criminal Docket (Cumberland County, Crowley, J. ). In this appeal, LaVallee-Davidson argues that the court...
ALEXANDER, J. [ 1] David Archer appeals from convictions for attempted murder (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 152(1)(A), 201(1)(A) (2010), and elevated aggravated assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 208-B(1)(A) (2010), entered by the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Anderson, J. ) following a jury trial. 1 Archer challenges the court's actions: (1) overruling his objection to medical testimony that referenced facts and opinions in a report of a non-testifying physician; (2) allowing testimony by...
GORMAN, J. [ 1] East Lebanon Auto Sales LLC (the LLC) and Linda M. Corbin appeal from a judgment of the District Court (Springvale, Fritzsche, J. ) entered in favor of the Town of Lebanon on the Town's complaint alleging violations of the junkyard and automobile graveyards statute, 30-A M.R.S. 3751-3760 (2010). Corbin and the LLC assert that the court erred in failing to dismiss the complaint for technical noncompliance with M.R. Civ. P. 80K and in issuing a judgment against Corbin...
LEVY, J. [ 1] This appeal arises from the failure of a fuel delivery business to fulfill its prepaid delivery contracts during the winter months of 2007-2008. Price-Rite Fuel, Inc., Veilleux Oil & Service, Inc., Perron Fuel, Inc., and Nicholas Curro III, (collectively Price-Rite) appeal from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (York County, Brennan, J. ) denying their motion for judgment as a matter of law, and finding corporate and personal liability for violations of the Maine Unfair...
GORMAN, J. [ 1] In this post-conviction matter, Jeffrey A. Cookson challenges the decision of the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Cole, J. ) denying his petition for DNA testing of items belonging to an alternative suspect in connection with Cookson's 2002 conviction of two counts of intentional and knowing murder, 17-A M.R.S.A. 201(1)(A) (1983). 1 We vacate the decision and remand for further proceedings. I. BACKGROUND [ 2] On October 15, 2002, the court entered a judgment on a jury...
GORMAN, J. [ 1] Daniel P. Luker, John M. Sullivan, and Simon C. Leeming (the Attorneys) 1 appeal from the entry of a summary judgment in the Business and Consumer Docket ( Humphrey, C.J. ) in favor of the State Tax Assessor on the Attorneys' petitions for review of tax assessments for the 2004 and 2005 tax years, pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 80C. 2 The Attorneys contend that the court erred by applying the assignment of income doctrine and taxing them individually on partnership distributions...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] In this case, we must decide whether an aircraft was exempt from Maine's use tax when it was purchased and delivered outside of Maine and was never registered in Maine but was present in the state on 156 days during its first twelve months of use. We considered a similar question in Blue Yonder, LLC v. State Tax Assessor, 2011 ME 49, 17 A.3d 667 , in which the aircraft at issue was present in Maine significantly less frequently during the first twelve months of ownership...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] This appeal requires us to address the purposes of Maine's use tax as a complement to the sales tax. Based on the statutes in effect at the time of taxation, we conclude that an aircraft that was used briefly in Maine was exempt from the use tax when the aircraft was purchased and delivered outside of Maine, was owned by an out-of-state entity, had never been registered in Maine, and was in Maine for approximately twenty-one full days during its first year of use. Because...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] Anthem Health Plans of Maine, Inc., asks us to determine whether the Maine Superintendent of Insurance may establish rates for individual health insurance products pursuant to which the insurer will not make a profit, but will break even. Because (1) the year in which the challenged rates were effective has passed, and new rates have gone into effect, (2) a favorable decision on the merits could not provide Anthem with any effective financial relief, and (3) both federal...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] Helen Muther and Paul Woods appeal from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Crowley, J. ), denying their motion for relief from judgment pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 60(b). In light of our opinion in Flaherty v. Muther ( Flaherty I ), 2011 ME 32, 17 A.3d 640 , we vacate the judgment and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion. I. BACKGROUND [ 2] The factual background of this litigation is outlined in Flaherty I, 2011 ME 32, 4-28,...
SILVER, J. [ 1] The Secretary of State suspended Michael A. Turner's commercial driving license for a period of three years based on its finding, pursuant to a blood-alcohol test, that Turner had operated a commercial vehicle with a blood-alcohol level in excess of 0.04%. Turner petitioned for judicial review pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 80C, and the Superior Court (Somerset County, Nivison, J. ) vacated the Secretary of State's decision. The Secretary of State appealed. We hold that the police...
LEVY, J. [ 1] Christopher H. appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Cole, J. ) affirming the judgment of the District Court (Portland, Eggert, J. ) ordering his involuntary commitment pursuant to 34-B M.R.S. 3864 (2009). Christopher H. contends that his due process rights were violated because the court failed to consider whether his sedation resulting from medications involuntarily administered to him the day prior to the hearing prevented him from...
SAUFLEY, C.J. [ 1] Ryan Witmer kicked in a locked door to enter the residence of his soon-to-be ex-wife, at night, with a knife, when she, his infant daughter, and her boyfriend were in the residence. 1 Witmer did so despite having been served with a court order prohibiting him from being at her residence. In the ensuing minutes, all three adults were injured, Witmer and the boyfriend quite severely. [ 2] Witmer was indicted on seven counts for his conduct that night: (1) aggravated...
SILVER, J. [ 1] Jan B. Kippax, an oral surgeon, treated Nancy Jacob in December of 2002. Jacob filed a claim alleging that Kippax was negligent in that treatment and failed to obtain informed consent before he performed a biopsy. After a trial, the jury returned a verdict finding that Kippax and his business Androscoggin Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeons were not negligent and the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Jabar, J. ) entered a judgment on the verdict. We affirm the judgment. I. FACTS...
GORMAN, J. [ 1] This case arises from an investigation by the Board of Overseers of the Bar (the Board) into the actions of six Verrill Dana LLP attorneys—David E. Warren, James T. Kilbreth III, Eric D. Altholz, Mark K. Googins, Roger A. Clement Jr., and Juliet T. Browne—who were involved in the discovery and reporting of the misconduct of John Duncan, a former partner in the law firm. The Board, acting through Bar Counsel, appeals 1 from a prehearing discovery order entered by a single...
