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November 8, 2017 / November 3, 2017 by Heather Stevens
A reader has alerted me to a dandy notice of appeal issue now pending before the Law Court involving the apparent clash of two civil rules – catnip to appellate jockeys! The case is Perry v. Dean, Docket No. BCD-17-412. Attached is a copy of an order reinstating the appeal that presents the issue. (Order […]
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November 1, 2017 by Heather Stevens
One area of law I find of interest, given its First Amendment grounding, is the Noerr-Pennington doctrine – the protection of the right to petition from antitrust liability. There’s a new First Circuit decision discussing the sham exception to that doctrine, under which an antitrust suit is allowed to go forward based on the defendant’s […]
October 23, 2017 by Heather Stevens
I am now back from the First Circuit Judicial Conference, held every other year, and this time in Maine. The juxtaposition of the content of this conference with the AAAL conference I blogged on last time presents an interesting perspective. First, here is a very quick rundown of the events: Chief Judge Howard noted that […]
October 18, 2017 by Heather Stevens
I have returned from The American Academy of Appellate Lawyers’ conference on the future of appellate practice, leaving San Francisco just before the fires put an orange glow in the sky. While I was there, the weather was terrific and clear, with the Blue Angels flying overhead in a spectacular display. As reported by the […]
September 27, 2017 / September 29, 2017 by Heather Stevens
Next week I am off to the biannual meeting of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers in San Francisco, and the program looks great. A gaggle of in-house counsel will be discussing the future of legal practice, taking a snapshot of 2027. Then law school representatives will speak about what they are doing to meet […]
September 20, 2017 by Heather Stevens
We last reported on the Maine court statistics in this blog entry – http://www.maineappeals.com/still-here/ – covering 2012-16. The 2013-2017 period has now been posted (the FY ends June 30). The 2017 numbers reflect a continuation of the trend we commented upon in our discussion of the 2012-16 period: the total number of appeals are declining, […]
September 15, 2017 by Heather Stevens
There are two names that have probably never been juxtaposed before. One is a judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals; the other Government and Media Counsel for the Maine Judicial Branch. What do they have in common? They are both retiring! Mary Ann Lynch After serving in this position for nine years, as […]
September 7, 2017 by Heather Stevens
Recently, I blogged on a Law Court decision reflecting the predicament that arises with ordinances with appellate, not de novo, ZBA review of CEO decisions. See Appletree, or CEO, J.D.? I’m now updating the chapter on civil appeals in A Practical Guide to Superior Court Practice in Maine (MCLE 2015), a process that involves reviewing […]
September 1, 2017 / September 1, 2017 by Heather Stevens
In our last entry, we took a look backwards at decisions issued by the Law Court in August. Now let’s look forward, at arguments scheduled for September 12-14. These arguments will be held in Augusta, as the SJC continues to ride the circuit. Of the ten sessions schedule from September 2017 through July 2018, five […]
August 30, 2017 by Heather Stevens
Now that we are approaching the end of summer and the beginning of a new term for the Law Court, let’s peruse some recent rulings. While you may have been frolicking in the ocean’s surf or skimming your jet ski across a lake this month, our SJC justices were cranking out decisions. UM Insurance – […]
