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May 31, 2017 by Heather Stevens
The Maine and Massachusetts SJCs have both recently issued multiple SLAPP suit decisions, so let’s compare, contrast and ponder. This is a very long blog entry, so I’ll summarize what’s coming: Both SJCs have long wrestled with this area of the law; One reason why is because the SLAPP statutes are being applied in ways […]
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May 24, 2017 by Heather Stevens
As many know, the Maine SJC yesterday issued its unanimous advisory opinion concluding that ranked choice voting is unconstitutional under the Maine Constitution. Opinion of Justices, 2017 ME 100. It’s been the subject of various press stories, e.g.: Maine Supreme Judicial Court rules ranked-choice voting unconstitutional, bangordailynews.com; Maine’s highest court rules ranked-choice voting is unconstitutional, presshearld.com; […]
March 20, 2017 by Heather Stevens
A First Circuit decision interpreting Maine’s overtime law, 26 M.S.A. § 664, issued last week, has been much in the news, given the prominence in the opinion of grammatical rules, in particular, regarding commas. O’Connor v. Oakhurst Dairy, No. 16-1901. See e.g., Lack of Oxford Comma Could Cost Maine Company Millions in Overtime Dispute, N.Y. […]
March 9, 2017 by Heather Stevens
Time for a tour around the Law Court to see what our SJC has been up to recently, opinion-wise. Two decisions came out yesterday of note: 1. Scamman v. Shaw’s Supermarkets, 2017 ME 41 This was on a certified question from the District Court of Maine pursuant to 4 M.R.S. § 57, asking whether Maine’s anti-age discrimination […]
February 23, 2017 by Heather Stevens
As many as aware, PA’s Ralph Lancaster, with the trusty aid of Joshua Dunlap, recently completed a special master process for the Supreme Court in a dispute between Florida and Georgia. The docket sheet and links, including to the final report, is found here. http://www.pierceatwood.com/floridavgeorgia142original In a nutshell, Florida said Georgia was taking too much […]
February 17, 2017 by Heather Stevens
From time to time we have discussed some judge’s growing inclination to roam around the internet to investigate factual issues on their own. Judge Posner, in particular, thinks it’s fine to act as his own investigator in deciding matters on appeal. The following are links to some recent articles on this movement to keep you […]
February 1, 2017 by Heather Stevens
The link below is to an amici brief in pending case before the Supreme Court in which the Patent and Trademark Office rejected trademarking the name of the rock band under a provision of the Lanham Act prohibiting registration of marks that contain “disparaging” language. The brief is by the Cato Institute, joined by various […]
January 27, 2017 by Heather Stevens
As we’ve mentioned, the Advisory Committee has worked with Justice Alexander on potential changes to the rules. The results are now out and ready for public comment – Notice; Proposed Amendments. The deadline is short – February 16 – so please move quickly. The notice asks in particular about three of the (relatively) bigger substantive […]
January 17, 2017 by Heather Stevens
We don’t often delve into the criminal law decisions, particularly sentencing, but I wanted to shout out to ex-Pierce Atwood-iste Tina Schneider, who landed a victory in U.S. v. Cotto-Negrón, No. 14-1670. Basically, the trial judge, (Judge Fusté) gave a two level enhancement when he didn’t give the same enhancement to the other defendants in […]
January 11, 2017 by Heather Stevens
We took a sabbatical for a bit while I shoveled work off my desk, but with 2017 here already, let’s get back in the saddle by making some general observations about 2016. Statistics Law Court caseload statistics have been posted for 2012 through 2016. On the civil front, overall, total filings show 477 in 2012, 420 […]
