Justia Maine Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court in favor of the City of Sanford following a jury trial on Plaintiff's complaint alleging that the City discriminated against him because of his disability, in violation of the Maine Human Rights Act (MHRA), Me. Rev. Stat. 5, 4553-A(1)(A)(C)-(D), holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.On appeal, Plaintiff argued that the superior court erred in excluding his proposed jury instruction that "it is illegal as a matter of law for any employer to impose a 100% healed or 100% fit policy on any applicants for employment or any employees." The Supreme Court disagreed and affirmed, holding (1) Plaintiff properly preserved his objection to the court's instructions; and (2) the trial court did not err by rejecting Plaintiff's proposed instruction because it was sufficiently covered in the court's instructions. View "Smith v. City of Sanford" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment entered by the district court divorcing Katharine Allerding from Neill Ewing-Wegmann, holding that Allerding was not entitled to relief on her allegations of error.On appeal, Allerding challenged portion of the order awarding her and Ewing-Wegmann shared parental rights of their daughter and allocating Father's Day with the child to Ewing-Wegmann. Allerding also appealed the court's judgment ordering her to contribute to the fees of the appointed guardian ad litem (GAL). The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) there was no abuse of discretion in the trial court's determinations of rights of contact; and (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allocating GAL fees. View "Ewing-Wegmann v. Allerding" on Justia Law

In the underlying matter involving a longstanding dispute between two condominium owners (Owners) and the Compass Harbor Village Condominium Association and Compass Harbor Village, LLC (collectively, Compass Harbor) the Supreme Court dismissed this instant appeal from orders of the business and consumer docket, holding that the appeal was interlocutory.The district court entered a judgment awarding Owners damages and attorney fees against Compass Harbor, and the Supreme Court affirmed in part. The instant action involved a complaint brought against Compass Harbor and Owners seeking to enforce the judgment. Here, Owners appealed from orders granting motions to dismiss filed by some of the defendants. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal as interlocutory, holding that the orders did not dispose of all claims against all defendants, and therefore, the interlocutory appeal must be dismissed. View "Maples v. Compass Harbor Village Condominium Ass'n" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the district court ordering Torrey Sears's divorce from Bobby Sears but vacated the portion of the district court's order awarding Bobby spousal support, distributing the parties' property and debt, and awarding Bobby attorney fees, holding that the court's income and valuation findings did not provide a sufficient predicate to assess the specific awards.On appeal, Torrey argued that the district court erred in its financial rulings because it failed to conduct sufficient fact finding with respect to his income. The Supreme Judicial Court agreed and vacated the order in part, holding that while the district court's rulings appeared reasonable on this record, because the court failed to make sufficient findings regarding Torrey's income this court was unable to conduct appellate review of the majority of the court's financial rulings. View "Sears v. Sears" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed Jean Voelker's appeal of a judgment of the probate court concluding that a document proffered by Voelker as the last will and testament of Theodore Ackley (the Decedent) was not a valid holographic will, holding that this appeal was an improper interlocutory appeal.Joseph Ackley, the Decedent's son, filed an application for informal probate of the Decedent's last will and testament. Thereafter, Voelker filed a petition for formal probate and submitted the petition of a purported copy of the Decedent's holographic will. The probate court granted Ackley's motion for judgment as a matter of law, finding that the document was not a valid holographic will. The court, however, did not render a decision on Voelker's counter-motion for judgment as a matter of law arguing that the document she submitted was valid as a holographic will. Voelker appealed. The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed the appeal brought from the probate court's interlocutory order, holding that the order was not a final judgment, and therefore, the appeal must be dismissed. View "Estate of Theodore C. Ackley" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of the superior court affirming the decision of the Belfast Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) to issue five permits to Nordic Aquafarms in connection with a proposed land-based salmon aquaculture preoject, holding that the ZBA erred as a matter of law in determining that Upstream Watch did not have standing to appeal.In dismissing the appeal, the ZBA determined that Upstream, a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the restoration of Maine mid-coast rivers and streams, had not demonstrated a particularized injury sufficient to establish standing. The superior court dismissed Upstream's complaint for judicial review, ruling that the ZBA correctly found that Upstream had failed to exhaust its administrative remedies because it did not file a cognizable appeal with the ZBA. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment below and remanded the case, holding that, as a matter of law, the administrative record sufficiently demonstrated that Upstream had standing to appeal to the ZBA. View "Upstream Watch v. City of Belfast" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated a portion of the summary judgment entered by the superior court in this action related to the estate of Patricia Spofford, the mother of Michael Zani and Peter Zani, holding that the Zanis' claim for declaratory judgment was not properly before the superior court.The Zanis brought this lawsuit seeking a declaratory judgment that Spofford lacked testamentary capacity when she executed her will and claiming that Kathryn Read committed fraud when she swore that Spofford had testamentary capacity at the time of the will's execution. The superior court entered partial summary judgment for Defendants. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the order in part, holding (1) the claim for declaratory judgment was within the probate court's exclusive jurisdiction and was not properly before the superior court; and (2) the Zanis failed to establish a prima case for at least one element of their fraud claim. View "Zani v. Zani" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs and falsifying physical evidence, entered after a jury trial, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.Specifically, the Supreme Judicial Court held (1) the trial court did not err in denying Defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized as the result of what Defendant argued was an unlawful arrest; (2) there was no obvious error in the admission of lay opinion testimony by law enforcement officers on certain matters; (3) the record evidence was sufficient to justify the trial court's giving a permissible-inference instruction; and (4) there was no error or abuse of discretion in the denial of Defendant's motion for new trial and for judgment of acquittal. View "State v. Abdullahi" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court dismissing Appellant's appeal from an order entered by the business and consumer docket dismissing two of three counts in Appellant's action against Flats Industrial, Inc. and three other Flats shareholders (collectively, Appellees), holding that Appellant's notice of appeal was untimely filed.Appellant, a Flats shareholder, filed this action claiming that Flats improperly failed to disclose records and breach of fiduciary duty. The court dismissed counts two and three of the second complaint and left count one as the only remaining claim for relief in the action. The parties later stipulated to the dismissal of count one. Appellant appealed, and Appellees moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that Appellant's notice of appeal was not timely filed under Me. R. App. P. 2B(c)(1). The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction, holding that Appellant's appeal was filed after the deadline for appeal had expired. View "Fournier v. Flats Industrial, Inc." on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of burglary, entered following a jury trial, holding that Defendant was not entitled to relief on his argument that he should be granted an acquittal.Defendant was indicted for various offenses, including burglary. During the jury trial, after the State rested, Defendant moved for a judgment of acquittal on the grounds that the State had not proven that he was not licensed or privileged to be in the house at issue because he was legally present on the premises as a tenant. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding (1) there was sufficient evidence in the record from which the jury could find that Defendant knew that he lacked the right to possess or occupy the premises the night of the offense; and (2) therefore, Defendant was not entitled to an acquittal. View "State v. Every" on Justia Law