Supreme Judicial Court of Maine

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine vacated James Welsh's conviction for indecent conduct because the trial court predicated guilt on his naked standing inside his own apartment, which the court held is a 'private place,' whereas the charged offense under 17-A M.R.S.

The court affirmed Hart’s convictions entered after a conditional guilty plea. It held that the State’s superseding indictment did not create a reasonable likelihood of prosecutorial vindictiveness, Hart’s jail statements had already been excluded from the State’s case-in-chief, and the remaining double-jeopardy and…

The court vacated the termination of Karen J.'s parental rights because the trial court placed substantial reliance on her inability to relocate from New Mexico to Maine, despite finding that she had gone above and beyond the reunification-plan requirements.

The court affirmed the judgment upholding the Department of Marine Resources’ approval of a reduced-size, twenty-year aquaculture lease that included a permanently moored storage raft.

The court held that the traffic stop was initially supported by objectively reasonable suspicion of license-plate and seat-belt violations, and that officers had sufficient information to investigate suspected drug trafficking after identifying Belony.

The court affirmed Schnackenberg’s murder conviction and fifty-five-year sentence. It held that the toxicology issue was unpreserved and revealed no obvious error, the skull photographs were properly admitted under the balancing test for relevant evidence, and the self-defense instructions accurately stated Maine law.

The court affirmed Peters’s conviction for endangering the welfare of a dependent person. It held that the State presented sufficient independent evidence to satisfy Maine’s corpus delicti rule, sufficient evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Peters had assumed a legal duty of care, and photographs of the victim…

The court affirmed Johnson’s convictions, holding that the June 5 vehicle stop was a lawful investigatory stop supported by reasonable suspicion and did not become a de facto arrest.

The court held that Clark’s complaint alleged reviewable government action and stated a cognizable claim under the rule governing review of final government action. Accepting the complaint’s allegations as true and viewing them favorably to Clark, the court concluded that the Board’s refusal to pursue enforcement and…

The court held that Maine's equine-activity immunity statute protects only equine activity sponsors, equine professionals, and persons engaged in equine activities, so it did not immunize Temple, who was driving a UTV and was not engaged in an equine activity.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Djvan Carter's convictions for aggravated attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, kidnapping, and domestic violence aggravated assault, and affirmed his sentence of life imprisonment.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed a divided decision of the Appellate Division of the Workers' Compensation Board awarding death benefits to Carol Brewster, the former spouse of Donald Nadeau, who died in 2020 from complications of a 1985 work injury. The court held that 39 M.R.S.A. § 58 (Pamph.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Maine affirmed Nathan Lee's convictions for domestic violence aggravated assault (Class B) and domestic violence criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon (Class C).

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated Ali's sentence for a second time because, on remand to merge his duplicative convictions, the trial court merely reimposed the original sentence while maintaining its prior sentencing analysis instead of conducting the new sentencing analysis required by 17-A M.R.S.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the Business and Consumer Docket's judgment upholding a DAFS appeal committee's validation of DHHS's awards of regional nonemergency transportation (NET) contracts to ModivCare for Regions 2, 3, 4, and 8.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed a Superior Court judgment for the Maine Human Rights Commission finding that D&L Apartments and its owner violated the Maine Human Rights Act when the owner told a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, who anticipated obtaining an assistance dog, that no dogs—including…

The Law Court vacated the property-distribution portion of a divorce judgment entered after remand because the District Court valued the parties' property and calculated a $57,790.17 equalization payment using Kathleen's 2022 financial statement, which was never admitted in evidence; the only admitted statements were…

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated a District Court judgment dismissing a protection-from-abuse complaint filed by Pat Doe against Alexander Y. Miller on behalf of herself and their three children.

The Law Court affirmed the Superior Court's judgment confirming an arbitration award that found Joseph and Laura Grady breached their commercial agricultural lease with Neils Point, LLC, by failing to pay proper rent and to grow productive crops, and denying their motion to vacate.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court vacated the Superior Court's Rule 12(b)(6) dismissal of a condominium unit owner's breach-of-contract count seeking specific performance of a February 13, 2023 settlement agreement obligating the developer to complete infrastructure work, pay $35,000, and convey a buildable lot.

The court affirmed Truman’s convictions for victim tampering and improper victim contact. It held that the State was not required to prove that A.D. was actually the victim of the dismissed underlying assault, and it upheld admission of the jail-call recordings because the State presented sufficient authentication…

The court affirmed Murray’s sentences for unlawful sexual contact and visual sexual aggression against a child. It held that the sentencing court was not constitutionally required to treat Murray’s borderline intellectual functioning as inherently mitigating, did not improperly double-count grooming, and did not abuse…

The court affirmed the order finding that the father had placed his children in circumstances of jeopardy. It held that the trial court’s findings concerning the father’s substance misuse, untreated mental-health issues, aggressive conduct, and the children’s resulting fear and distress were sufficient to establish by…

The court held that Danielle’s claims were not barred by the statute of limitations because the evidence established that Jason committed an enumerated sexual act toward a minor.

The Court affirmed the Secretary of State’s invalidation of an initiative petition because four nonresident circulators had not consented to Maine jurisdiction when they submitted their signatures and affidavits.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the conviction for domestic violence criminal threatening, holding that the trial court did not err by omitting a self‑defense jury instruction because the evidence did not generate a basis for such an instruction, and the omission did not constitute obvious error.

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the Superior Court’s judgment that the Kittery Planning Board acted within its statutory authority to waive street‑design standards for a conservation subdivision.

The court held that the interlocutory appeal was ripe because the lower court’s remand left the municipal board only a ministerial task: approving the campground application and directing issuance of a permit.

The court held that the plaintiff lacked standing to prosecute the foreclosure because it admitted that it did not own the mortgage and failed to show that it was claiming under the mortgage owner.

The court affirmed summary judgment for Vermont Mutual, holding that Dickau's umbrella policy neither expressly provided uninsured motorist coverage nor acquired such coverage by operation of Maine's uninsured motorist statute.

The court held that the Board's decision, rather than the Department's decision, was the operative decision for appellate review because the Board independently reviewed the record and made its own factual findings.

The court vacated the foreclosure judgment because the Bank failed to establish ownership of the mortgage and therefore lacked standing to foreclose. The court also concluded that the Bank independently failed to prove the amount due through admissible business-record evidence and failed to provide a statutorily…

The court affirmed summary judgment for the State officials, holding that the amended SORNA of 1999 is civil and regulatory rather than punitive and therefore does not violate the Ex Post Facto Clauses.

The court affirmed summary judgment for the county and deputy because the Estate presented no evidence from which a fact-finder could determine that the deputy's conduct caused the motorcyclist to lose control and crash.

The court affirmed Linda Dolloff’s convictions for attempted murder, elevated aggravated assault, and false public alarm or report. It held that the challenged electronic documents, relationship testimony, and expert footprint testimony were properly admitted, and that any prosecutorial misconduct was either addressed…

The court affirmed dismissal of Ramsey's complaint against the title company and closing attorney. The alleged facts did not establish the actual trust, confidence, and disparity of influence required for a fiduciary relationship, and the attorney owed no independent duty to advise Ramsey that the lender's loan terms…

The court affirmed summary judgment against the Lougees on invasion of privacy, conversion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and punitive damages, but vacated summary judgment on negligence.

The court held that the trial court’s omission of the dwelling-place exception from the self-defense instruction was error, but did not constitute obvious error because the unpreserved error was not reasonably probable to have affected the verdict.

The court vacated a foreclosure summary judgment because the affidavit of the mortgage servicer's employee did not establish the foundation required to admit Beneficial's mortgage records under the business-records exception to hearsay.

The court vacated summary judgment for the assignee of a credit-card account because the summary judgment record did not establish without dispute either the assignment of the account or the amount allegedly owed.