Maine Appeals
Maine Appeals

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In this blog, we seek to discuss issues relating to appeals and appellate law in Maine, including the activities and decisions of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the First Circuit Court of Appeals relevant to Maine, and other participants in the Maine appellate community.

January 27, 2017

Hot off the press – the proposed changes to the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure
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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 […]

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January 17, 2017

A rare sentencing victory
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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 […]

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January 11, 2017

Still here
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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 […]

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November 10, 2016

San Antonio Download, Pt. 3
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Time for our report on the remainder of the AAAL conference. In the last sessions, we heard from a panel of the current and two preceding Chief Justices of Texas, a panel on how the Texas court engages in rulemaking, and, finally, a panel of two veteran 5th Circuit judges. The panel of Chiefs Chief […]

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November 03, 2016

San Antonio Download, Pt. 2 – appellate ethics & recent appointee observations
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Ethics Continuing my summary of the last AAAL meeting, as appellate nerds know, Texas is the one appellate jurisdiction that has a separate and additional set of ethical rules applicable to appellate bar practice.  The folks who instigated this development gave an interesting talk on how this happened. First, here’s a link to those Texas’ […]

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October 11, 2016

San Antonio download, Pt. 1 – Justice, Texas style.
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The latest meeting of the American Academy of Appellate Lawyers took place last week in San Antonio (yee haw!), and yours truly is here to provide a summary of relevant learning. The first session was a panel on Texas Access to Justice programs.  The panel included the Dean of a new Texas law school (there […]

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September 22, 2016

Only the original, please – whatever that might be
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We all knew that whether you have the original Mona Lisa or a copy matters.  Now we know this matters with mortgage releases, too – even if the original may not exist.  Sabina v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., 2016 ME 141. In Sabina, the Law Court, in a 4-2 split decision, ruled that under the […]

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September 16, 2016

The down side of judging
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If you’ve ever fantasized about moving to the other side of the bench, a recent First Circuit decision coming out of Maine highlights what to me would be one of the worst parts of putting on the robe – having to look at child porn.  U.S. v. Ross. I once had to look at (relatively) […]

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September 01, 2016

Bad lawyer
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It takes an awful lot for the Law Court to impose fees, and even then, it is typically only a minimal spanking (e.g. treble regular costs). So you can bet that when the Court awarded $10,000 in attorney’s fees on appeal, the conduct of the attorney at issue there was pretty … special.  Lincoln v. […]

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August 08, 2016

Public prescriptive easements AGAIN?
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The Law Court has addressed the issue of public prescriptive easements again in Cedar Beach/Cedar Island Supporters, Inc., et al. v. Gables Real Estate LLC, 2016 ME 114.  As with its earlier decision in the Goose Rocks case (Almeder v. Town of Kennebunkport, 2014 ME 139, P18) – upon which we have blogged multiple times […]

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