ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Late Halloween afternoon in 2008, town of Millinocket Police Officers Kevin Ingersoll, Janet Theriault and Jerry Cox pulled over, tased, and arrested Wayne Cote for allegedly committing a criminal trespass. Concluding that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the Officers had probable cause to stop and arrest Mr. Cote, the Court declines to grant summary judgment for arresting Officers. The Court...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR ATTORNEYS' FEES JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. Following their First Amendment victory, the Plaintiffs filed a motion and supplemental motion, requesting that the Court order the state of Maine to pay them $1,307,252.15 in attorneys' fees, expenses, and costs. The Court awards $678,189.64 in fees and expenses. I. INTRODUCTION Under the law, the Plaintiffs in this case are clearly entitled to an award of attorneys' fees against the state of Maine. Congress enacted 42...
ORDER ON MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT NANCY TORRESEN, District Judge. INTRODUCTION On January 31, 2011, the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices (the "Commission" ) fined the Plaintiff, Dennis Bailey, $200 for failing to provide his name and address on "the Cutler Files," his anonymous website advocating the defeat of gubernatorial candidate Eliot Cutler. The Commission found Bailey in violation of 21-A M.R.S.A. 1014, which requires that election advocacy...
ORDER ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. After Mid-State Machine Products learned that one of its employees under the Plaintiff's supervision had been subjected to approximately one year of lewd, dirty, vulgar, and inappropriate comments from two other employees under the Plaintiff's supervision, Mid-State fired the Plaintiff. Replaced by a younger worker, the Plaintiff contends he was fired because of his age and has filed suit to prove it. In response, the...
DECISION AND ORDER ON PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO CERTIFY CLASS AND DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DECERTIFY COLLECTIVE ACTION D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FXG 1 ) drivers in Maine have brought this lawsuit against FXG. They challenge FXG's classification of them as independent contractors rather than as employees. I previously certified, conditionally, a federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) collective action against FXG. Discovery is complete. The drivers have now...
ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO TRANSFER VENUE D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. In this lawsuit, Monaco resident and art dealer Joao Tovar sues Vinalhaven resident and artist Robert Indiana for damages. Tovar claims that Indiana severely diminished the value of Tovar's "PREM" sculptures, by allegedly reneging on a 2007 licensing agreement between Indiana and John Gilbert, by which Gilbert, according to Tovar, was authorized to produce the sculptures as Indiana works. Indiana has moved both to...
ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO TRANSFER VENUE D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. In this lawsuit, Monaco resident and art dealer Joao Tovar sues Vinalhaven resident and artist Robert Indiana for damages. Tovar claims that Indiana severely diminished the value of Tovar's "PREM" sculptures, by allegedly reneging on a 2007 licensing agreement between Indiana and John Gilbert, by which Gilbert, according to Tovar, was authorized to produce the sculptures as Indiana works. Indiana has moved both to...
ORDER ON THIRD MOTION FOR ACQUITTAL JOHN A. WOODCOCK, JR., Chief Judge. On December 15, 2011, the Court in a bench trial found Kevin Earl Spring, who had previously been involuntarily admitted to a mental health institution under 34-B M.R.S. 3863, a provision of Maine law, guilty of making a false statement in connection with the acquisition of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(a)(6) and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. 924(a)(1)(...
ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION FOR AUTHORITY TO DEPOSIT FUNDS IN COURT REGISTRY OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, TO IMPOSE CONDITIONS ON THE PAYMENT OF FUNDS TO PLAINTIFF JOHN A. WOODCOCK, Jr., Chief District Judge. The Defendant shipowner of an action at admiralty law seeks to remit maintenance and cure funds to the court registry pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 67 rather than directly to the seaman allegedly injured while working aboard the Defendant's vessel. Because maintenance and cure...
ORDER ON PLAINTIFF'S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO DISMISS NANCY TORRESEN, District Judge. Before the Court is Plaintiff's unopposed Motion to Dismiss with prejudice Counts II-V of its First Amendment Complaint, dismiss the individually named Defendants with prejudice, and to remand this action to Maine Superior Court, York County. For the following reasons, the Plaintiff's Motion is GRANTED. BACKGROUND In August of 2011, the Plaintiff, Sullivan School Associates LP, entered into a Letter of...
ORDER ON MOTION TO DISQUALIFY GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court is Defendant's Motion to Disqualify Brann & Isaacson as Counsel (ECF No. 11). On July 25, 2012, the Court held an evidentiary hearing on the Motion. For reasons explained herein, the Court now DENIES the Motion. I. LEGAL STANDARD This Court has adopted the Maine Rules of Professional Conduct and, thus, applies Maine law in determining whether disqualification is warranted in this case. See D. Me. Local Rule...
ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS GEORGE Z. SINGAL, District Judge. Before the Court are Defendant RTH Mechanical Contractors, Inc.'s Motions to Dismiss (ECF Nos. 7 & 16). For the reasons stated herein, the Court GRANTS IN PART and DENIES IN PART the Motions. I. LEGAL STANDARD "To survive a [Rule 12(b)(6)] motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim for relief that is plausible on its face.'" Ashcroft v. Iqbal , 556 U.S. 662, 678 (...
ORDER RE: DISCOVERY DISPUTES MARGARET J. KRAVCHUK, Magistrate Judge. Robert Goguen filed a complaint in state court on August 30, 2011, alleging that five officers from the Somerset County Jail violated his constitutional rights by the manner in which the officers enforced jail regulations regarding Goguen's legal materials and their retaliatory actions aimed at Goguen. The complaint was 10 pages long. The defendants removed the action to this Court. (Notice of Removal, ECF No. 1.) Without...
MEMORANDUM DECISION ON MOTION TO STRIKE AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. The plaintiffs ask this court to strike the defendant's second affirmative defense. Motion to Strike by Plaintiff[s] ("Motion") (ECF No. 9). I deny the motion. The second affirmative defense provides, in its entirety: "Plaintiffs[] are estopped from claiming any alleged unpaid overtime by their own actions and conduct." Answer (ECF No. 4) at 3. 1 The plaintiffs point out that Maine law prohibits...
MEMORANDUM DECISION ON MOTION FOR ENTRY OF CONFIDENTIALITY ORDER JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. The defendant, ConAgra Grocery Products Company, LLC, moves for the entry of a confidentiality order that it has drafted, departing from the language of the court's form confidentiality order. 1 Motion for Entry of Confidentiality Order ("Motion") (ECF No. 30). The plaintiff government responds with a motion and draft of its own. Response to Defendant's Motion for Entry of Confidentiality...
MEMORANDUM DECISION ON MOTION TO STRIKE AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. The United States moves to strike the following affirmative defenses from the defendant's answer in this action brought under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act ("CERCLA"): paragraphs Six, Seven, Nine, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Seventeen, Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-Five, Twenty-Six, and Twenty-Eight. United States' Motion . . . to Strike Thirteen of...
REDACTED DECISION AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS FOURTH SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT FOR VIOLATION OF SPEEDY TRIAL RIGHTS D. BROCK HORNBY, District Judge. This case presents a Speedy Trial Act question of first impression in this Circuit: Is the Speedy Trial Act clock (70 days to trial) stopped for a particular defendant during the period between a codefendant's guilty plea pursuant to a plea agreement that the court has not yet accepted and that codefendant's sentencing After...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDED DECISION 1 JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. This Social Security Disability ("SSD") and Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") appeals raises questions about whether substantial evidence supports the administrative law judge's conclusion that some of the plaintiff's claimed impairments were not severe, whether the residual functional capacity ("RFC") that he assigned to the plaintiff is supported by substantial evidence, and whether the hypothetical question that he...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDED DECISION 1 JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. This Social Security Disability ("SSD") appeal raises the question of whether the administrative law judge supportably found the plaintiff capable of performing work existing in significant numbers in the national economy. The plaintiff seeks reversal and remand on the bases that the administrative law judge (i) failed to address two severe impairments, (ii) did not properly evaluate whether the plaintiff's impairments...
REPORT AND RECOMMENDED DECISION 1 JOHN H. RICH, III, Magistrate Judge. The plaintiff in this Social Security Disability ("SSD") and Supplemental Security Income ("SSI") appeal contends that the administrative law judge committed reversible error in failing to find that his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder was a severe impairment and in assigning to him a residual functional capacity ("RFC") that was not supported by substantial evidence. I recommend that the court affirm the...
