Justia Maine Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Eric and Martha Hankins executed a promissory note and mortgage on their residence in favor of the lender, Option One Mortgage Corporation, which later assigned the mortgage and note to Deutsche Bank. A loan modification agreement changed the lender to Liquidiation Properties. When the Hankinses stopped making payments on the note, Liquidation filed a complaint for foreclosure against the Hankinses. Deutsche Bank then assigned the mortgage to Liquidiation, which, in turn, assigned the mortgage and note to Kondaur Capital Corporation. Liquidation then moved to substitute Kondaur as the named plaintiff. The Hankinses did not challenge the motion to substitute, and the district court granted the motion. The district court then entered summary judgment in favor of Kondaur. Martha Hankins appealed. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the district court, holding (1) the district court did not err in substituting Kondaur as the named plaintiff because the substitution did not alter the underlying allegations of the foreclosure action or tend to produce a manifest injustice; and (2) entry of summary judgment was error because the record did not establish the essential elements of a foreclosure action without dispute as to genuine issues of material fact. Remanded. View "Kondaur Capital Corp. v. Hankins" on Justia Law

Sisters of Charity Health System, Inc. (SOCHS) sued its former employees, Douglas Farrago, MD, Raymond Stone, DO and Carolyn Kase, DO, to enforce restrictive covenants contained in contractual agreements between the doctors and SOCHS. The Superior Court entered a judgment in favor of SOCHS and ordered each doctor to pay liquidated damages pursuant to clauses in their contracts. On appeal, the doctors contended that the restrictive covenants and liquidated damages clauses were unenforceable. The Supreme Court's focus on appeal was whether the covenants reasonably sought to protect a legitimate business of SOCHS. The Court concluded that the covenants did protect legitimate business interests, and the contracts contained enforceable liquidated damages provisions. The Court affirmed the decision of the Superior Court in favor of SOCHS.

Petitioners Dana and Robin Murphy appealed a judgment entered in favor of Respondent HSBC Mortgage Services, Inc. (HSBC), which allowed HSBC to foreclose on and sell the Murphyâs house. The Murphys contended that the court erred by granting HSBC summary judgment when there were numerous errors that primarily concerned HSBCâs evidence of its ownership of the note and mortgage to their house. In particular, the Murphys challenged the trustworthiness of multiple affidavits filed by HSBC in support of its motion. Upon review, the Supreme Court found that the affidavits submitted by HSBC were âinherently untrustworthyâ and the business records attached to them were not admissible at trial. The Court held that the trial court erred by granting a summary judgment in this case, and remanded the case for further proceedings.