HUMPHREY , J. [ 1] Eric V. Warnquist and Rosamond C. Warnquist appeal from a summary judgment entered by the Superior Court (York County, O'Neil, J. ) in favor of the State Tax Assessor (the Assessor) on the Warnquists' appeal from the assessment of tax on certain foreign income. See M.R. Civ. P. 80C; 5 M.R.S. 11001 (2017). [ 2] The Warnquists claim that the court misinterpreted and misapplied 36 M.R.S. 5217-A (2017) regarding the income tax credit available to them for income...
GORMAN , J. [ 1] Nicholas G. appeals from a family matter judgment entered in the District Court (Biddeford, Driscoll, J. ) after a judicial review hearing in a child protection matter. The court dismissed the child protection matter without prejudice, opened a family matter, and entered an order in that family matter that conferred sole parental rights and responsibilities for the child on the child's mother and denied rights of contact to the father, who had been convicted of multiple...
HUMPHREY , J. [ 1] Malik B. Hollis appeals from a judgment of conviction of reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. 211(1), 1252(4) (2017), and criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon (Class C), 17-A M.R.S. 209(1), 1252(4) (2017), entered in the Unified Criminal Docket (Androscoggin County, Stokes, J. ) after a jury trial. According to Hollis, who describes himself as an African American male, the trial court erred when it overruled his objection to the...
Reporter of Decisions SAUFLEY , C.J. [ 1] Yvonne Michaud drove her vehicle into the oncoming traffic lane on Route 302 in Westbrook in an attempt to pass several cars ahead of her. When she was unable to return to her own travel lane, her vehicle collided with an oncoming car head on, badly injuring that car's occupants. She now appeals from the judgment of conviction entered by the court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) after a jury found her guilty of two counts of aggravated assault (...
JABAR , J. [ 1] Arthur Murdock appeals from a summary judgment entered by the trial court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) in favor of Martin Thorne and the Maine Department of Public Safety (DPS) on Murdock's negligence claim against Thorne and his underinsured motorist claim against DPS. We affirm the judgment. I. BACKGROUND [ 2] The following facts are derived from the parties' statements of material fact and are undisputed unless otherwise noted. See Estate of Kay v. Estate of...
GORMAN , J. [ 1] The State Tax Assessor appeals from the entry of a summary judgment in the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Marden, J. ) in favor of MCI Communications Services, Inc. (MCI) on an appeal by the Assessor of a decision vacating the imposition of the state service provider tax on certain charges collected by MCI. The court concluded that those charges were part of the sale of interstate or international telecommunications services and were therefore excluded or exempt...
ALEXANDER , J. [ 1] The State Board of Nursing (Board) appeals from a judgment entered in the District Court (Machias, D. Mitchell, J. ) concluding that John S. Zablotny had engaged in certain activities that constituted professional misconduct pursuant to 32 M.R.S. 2105-A(2) (2016) as alleged by the Board, but also concluding that the Board had failed to prove other allegations of professional misconduct. On appeal, the Board contends that the trial court erred when it concluded that...
ALEXANDER , J. [ 1] Walter A. Parker appeals the sentence imposed on him by the trial court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) following a resentencing hearing. The sentence was imposed following Parker's plea of guilty to three counts of gross sexual assault (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 253(1)(C) (2016), and two counts of unlawful sexual contact (Class B), 17-A M.R.S. 255-A(1)(E-1) (2016). All charges involved sexual assaults on a nine-year-old girl over an extended period of time. The...
MEAD , J. [ 1] After Kayla Doherty gave birth to a healthy son in June 2014, she filed a complaint against Merck & Co., Inc., and the United States in the United States District Court for the District of Maine, alleging that in February 2012, at a community health center for which the United States was responsible, a physician negligently failed, as a result of Merck's defective applicator, to insert into her arm an implant manufactured by Merck that was designed to prevent pregnancy for...
SAUFLEY , C.J. [ 1] Twenty-year-old Romeo Parent was killed in April 2013. He had been stabbed in the back of the neck, beaten, and choked. William True was charged with, and found guilty by a jury of, the intentional or knowing, or depraved indifference murder of Parent. 1 True appeals from the judgment of conviction entered by the court ( MG Kennedy, J. ). See 17-A M.R.S. 201(1)(A), (B) (2015). He argues that the judgment should be vacated because he was deprived of a fair trial...
SAUFLEY , C.J. [ 1] The State Tax Assessor appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Murphy, J.) in favor of BCN Telecom, Inc., on BCN's appeal from the assessment of a state service provider tax, 36 M.R.S. 2552(1)(E) (2011), 1 on certain flat charges that BCN imposed on some business customers' lines from March 2008 to October 2011. The charges were designed in part to reimburse BCN for presubscribed interexchange carrier charges (PICCs) 2 that...
MEAD , J . [ 1] Maria C. Amero appeals from a judgment of the District Court (Farmington, Dow, J. ) terminating a prior spousal support award based on its finding that Maria was cohabiting with an adult partner, which triggered termination of the support pursuant to the parties' divorce judgment. Maria contends that there was insufficient evidence supporting the court's finding of cohabitation. We find no error and affirm the judgment. I. BACKGROUND [ 2] Mark and Maria divorced in 2006...
HUMPHREY , J. [ 1] Roxanne Jeskey appeals from a judgment of conviction for the intentional or knowing murder and depraved indifference murder of her husband, Richard Jeskey, entered in the Superior Court (Penobscot County, Hunter, J. ) after a bench trial. Roxanne argues that (A) there was insufficient evidence to support the court's finding beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty of knowing or intentional murder or depraved indifference murder; (B) the court erred by not finding...
PER CURIAM . [ 1] Sandra Bastille appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior Court (York County, O'Neil, J. ) dismissing as untimely filed her petition for review of a decision of the Board of Trustees of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System affirming an administrative determination that Bastille was ineligible for disability retirement benefits, and from the court's subsequent denial of her motion for reconsideration. Discerning no error, we affirm the court's final judgment....
PER CURIAM . [ 1] Robert D. Rossignol appeals from a judgment entered by the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Marden, J. ) affirming the decision of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MPERS) Board of Trustees (the Board) to affirm the Executive Director's designee's denial of Rossignol's application for disability retirement benefits. Because the record does not compel the conclusion that Rossignol has a mental or physical incapacity that "is expected to be permanent" and makes...
PER CURIAM . [ 1] Sara J.T. Behr appeals from a judgment entered by the Superior Court (Kennebec County, Murphy, J. ) affirming the decision of the Maine Public Employees Retirement System (MPERS) Board of Trustees (the Board). The Board had affirmed the decision of the executive director's designee, who had denied Behr's application for disability retirement benefits. See 5 M.R.S. 17451(1), 17925(4) (2015). Because the record does not compel a finding that Behr met her burden to...
MEAD , J. [ 1] Dale M. Pinkham Sr. appeals from a judgment of conviction entered in the Unified Criminal Docket (York County, Fritzsche, J. ) following his convictions after conditional guilty pleas, and a bench trial on aggravating factors only, on three counts of aggravated trafficking in scheduled drugs (Class A), 17-A M.R.S. 1105-A(1)(H) (Count I), (1)(B)(1) (Count II), (1)(C-1)(1) (Count III) (2015); 1 and one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person (Class C) (...
SAUFLEY , C.J. [ 1] In September 2014, Mainers for Fair Bear Hunting and Katie Hansberry filed a complaint in the Superior Court contending that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife's campaign activities in opposition to a question scheduled to appear on the 2014 referendum election ballot constituted an ultra vires expenditure of public funds. In November 2014, Maine voters defeated the ballot question. In March 2015, the court (Cumberland County, Wheeler, J. ) dismissed the...
PER CURIAM . [ 1] Arthur Murdock appeals, and the Maine Department of Public Safety (DPS) cross-appeals, from summary judgments entered by the Superior Court (Cumberland County, Warren, J. ) in favor of Martin Thorne on Murdock's complaint for negligence, and in favor of DPS on Murdock's complaint for uninsured motorist coverage. Because we conclude that the court improvidently granted Murdock's motion to enter final judgments on those claims pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 54(b)(1), we...
JABAR , J. [ 1] This matter, like the matter of Edwards v. Blackman, 2015 ME 165, 129 A.3d 971 , concerns property rights in certain oceanfront lots located in the Coopers Beach neighborhood in Owls Head. In this matter, Beverly and David Gravison appeal from a judgment entered by the Superior Court (Knox County, Hjelm, J. ) denying the Gravisons' complaint for deed reformation. Joined by Darlene and Lewis Edwards, the Gravisons also challenge the court's declaration that certain...
