COVID-19 Law Court Maine
June 2, 2022 by Joshua Dunlap
The Law Court recently weighed in on a trending legal issue – the extent to which Covid-19 restrictions trigger “force majeure” contract clauses. In 55 Oak Street LLC v. RDR Enterprises, Inc., the Law Court considered the applicability of a force majeure clause in the context of emergency pandemic orders. In what is a very […]
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Law Court Maine
April 25, 2022 by Joshua Dunlap
The Court recently clarified an important issue of civil procedure – the precise point at which a court may consolidate a preliminary injunction hearing with a hearing on the merits. Rule 65 of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure provides that a court may consolidate a preliminary injunction hearing with a trial on the merits […]
Law Court Maine Maine Constitution
March 16, 2022 by Joshua Dunlap
One of the most interesting trends in the Law Court’s jurisprudence (at least in the mind of this blogger) is the continued renaissance of the Court’s primacy doctrine – an issue addressed before on this blog. As explained in two prior blog posts (here and here), the primacy doctrine, generally speaking, directs state courts to […]
First Circuit Law Court
February 1, 2022 / February 1, 2022 by Joshua Dunlap
The Law Court recently weighed in on a matter of critical importance – the enforceability of online consumer contracts. Confronting the issue in a case involving ride-sharing giant Uber’s efforts to enforce an arbitration provision, the Law Court held in Sarchi v. Uber Technologies that online contracts are enforceable only if the consumer (1) has […]
COVID-19 First Circuit Law Court Maine
January 18, 2022 by Joshua Dunlap
Around this time last year, I took a look at statistics showing that the filing of new civil appeals had declined in federal courts and in Maine. As I observed then, the 2020 statistics had not yet fully captured the impact of the pandemic on appeals and civil appeal statistics would bear monitoring. I decided […]
Cross-Appeals Law Court Maine
November 17, 2021 / November 17, 2021 by Joshua Dunlap
Yesterday the Law Court, in an opinion written by Justice Connors, Concord General Mutual Ins. Co. v. Estate of Collette J. Boure, touched on two important appellate issues – one of which has been addressed often on this blog. The issues involve timeliness of an appeal and the need for cross-appeals. The case involved claims […]
October 19, 2021 by Joshua Dunlap
Much has been said on this blog about when one should cross-appeal, given the Law Court’s jurisprudence on the topic. I most recently addressed the issue here. As I noted then, there is some tension between the text of the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure, which provides that “[i]f the appellee seeks any change in […]
First Circuit Law Court Oral Argument US Supreme Court
September 28, 2021 by Joshua Dunlap
For Supreme Court watchers and appellate practitioners, last week brought an interesting development – the Court is changing how it conducts oral argument. Arguments will now feature both unstructured questioning by all justices and then uninterrupted questioning by individual justices. It will be fascinating to watch how this new approach affects oral arguments in the […]
Elections Law Court Maine
August 18, 2021 by Joshua Dunlap
The Law Court recently issued a decision in Caiazzo v. Secretary of State that was interesting on several levels. (Full disclosure: this blogger represented the petitioner in the appeal). One procedural aspect of the decision is particularly interesting, as it will affect the timing of future challenges to the Secretary of State’s determination regarding the […]
July 12, 2021 / July 9, 2021 by Joshua Dunlap
What is the remedy in an administrative appeal when the fact-finder doesn’t do its job by making findings of fact to explain its decision? As the Law Court recently reaffirmed in Fair Elections Portland, Inc. v. City of Portland, the proper remedy is generally a remand for further proceedings. Fair Elections Portland involved a Rule […]
