Justia Maine Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Judicial Court remanded this matter challenging the superior court's judgment affirming a decision of the Board of Dental Practice sanctioning Appellant, a licensed dentist in Maine, for unprofessional conduct for her failure to timely provide patient medical records, holding that the Board's findings of fact were insufficient to permit judicial review.An attorney who represented one of Appellant's patients sent a request to Appellant for the patient's medical records. When the request was refused, the attorney filed a complaint with the Board. The Board found that Appellant had engaged in unprofessional conduct, thereby violating Me. Rev. Stat. 18325(1)(E), and sanctioned Appellant. The superior court upheld the Board's decision. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the superior court's judgment and remanded the matter, holding that the Board did not make sufficient factual findings, precluding review. View "Narowetz v. Board of Dental Practice" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the superior court reversing the decision of the Board of Appeals affirming the Town of China code enforcement officer's (CEO) issuance of an after-the-fact permit to allow the placement of a trailer on Nicholas Namer's lot, holding that the operative decision of the CEO was deficient for purposes of judicial review.Kimberly and Anthony LaMarre, whose property abutted the lot at issue, objected to the trailer's placement, arguing that the trailer was not a "recreational vehicle" within the meaning of the town's land use ordinance allowing such placement. The Board of Appeals affirmed. The superior court reversed. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment below and remanded the matter with instructions to remand to the code enforcement officer, holding that the CEO's decision was deficient for purposes of judicial review. View "LaMarre v. Town of China" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated Defendant's conviction for intentional or knowing murder entered in the trial court following a jury trial, holding that the trial court erred in denying Defendant's motion to suppress evidence and statements that were obtained in violation of Defendant's constitutional rights.In denying Defendant's motion to suppress, the trial court determined that the searches of Defendant's property were not unreasonable because the emergency aid doctrine supported the searches, that suppression would not be justified even if they were, and that Defendant's statements were made voluntarily. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of conviction, holding that Defendant's rights under the Fourth, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Me. Const. art. I, 6, 6-A were violated, and that the trial court erred in denying Defendant's motion to suppress. View "State v. Akers" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the superior court granting a partial summary judgment in favor of Defendants on count two of Plaintiff's second amended complaint seeking a declaratory judgment interpreting and/or reforming part of the Shea Family Living Trust, holding that the judgment was proper except as to reformation.At issue was a trust established by Patricia and William Shea that included stock issued by a particular bank. When William died, the bank redeemed its stock, and after Patricia died, the successor trustee distributed the remaining assets of the trust, which no longer included the bank stock. Plaintiffs, Patricia's nieces and nephews, brought this action, arguing that Plaintiffs were entitled to the proceeds from the sale of the bank stock. In count two, Plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that the trust provided for a general devise of the bank stock and, alternatively, brought a claim for reformation. The court entered partial summary judgment for Defendant on count two of the complaint and denied and dismissed the reformation claim. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment as to the reformation claim and otherwise affirmed, holding that Defendant was entitled to summary judgment on the reformation claim. View "Connary v. Shea" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court affirming the decision of the Secretary of State to draft a single ballot question for a direct initiative, holding that the Secretary of State did not err or abuse her discretion in writing a single question in this instance.The direct initiative at issue proposed "An Act To Require Legislative Approval of Certain Transmission Lines, Require Legislative Approval of Certain Transmission Lines and Facilities and Other Projects on Public Reserved Lands and Prohibit the Construction of Certain Transmission Lines in the Upper Kennebec Region.” Appellant argued that the Secretary of State was statutorily required to prepare a separate question for each of three separate issues addressed by the direct initiative. The Supreme Judicial Court disagreed, holding that the Secretary of State did not abuse her discretion in reading the initiated bill in the conjunctive and drafting a single, concise ballot question describing the single Act. View "Caiazzo v. Secretary of State" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of the trial court accepting Defendant's conditional guilty plea to escape, holding that, by separately trying Defendant for criminal threatening in Sagadahoc County and then for escape in Kennebec County, the State violated Me. Rev. Stat. 17-A, 14.Defendant was arrested for criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon shortly after he allegedly left the custody of a psychiatric center without permission. A jury acquitted Defendant of the criminal threatening charge in Sagadahoc County. Thereafter, the State charged Defendant with escape in Kennebec County. Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea to the charge and then appealed. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the trial court's judgment, holding (1) Sagadahoc County was a proper venue to prosecute Defendant for escape because it was the county in which he was apprehended; and (2) the trial court's finding that Defendant's alleged threat against a family member arose from the same criminal episode was supported by the record. View "State v. Gessner" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the judgment of the district court declining Patricia Monteith's request to register in Maine a child support order issued in Maryland against George Monteith as to the parties' four children, holding that the district court did not err.In 2002, Patricia and George were divorced in Maine by a decision requiring George to pay child support to Patricia. Patricia and the children subsequently moved to Maryland. Ten years after the divorce, Patricia initiated a proceeding in Maryland seeking modification of the Maine child support order. The Maryland modification proceedings culminated in the entry of an agreed-to modified child support order. The district court vacated the registration of the Maryland order, concluding that the order was void ab initio based on the parties' failure to file the required consents in Maine to the Maryland court's exercise of jurisdiction. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that the parties' failure to file consents pursuant to Me. Rev. Stat. 19-A, 2965(2)(A) deprived the Maryland court of subject matter jurisdiction to modify Maine's 2002 support order, rendering the Maryland order void ab initio. View "Monteith v. Monteith" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Defendant's sentence of forty years' imprisonment imposed in connection with his guilty plea to murder, holding that the trial court did not misapply any principle or abuse its discretion in its sentencing analysis or in its exercise of its sentencing power.Defendant pleaded guilty of intentional or knowing murder. Based on its findings and consideration of sentences imposed in comparable cases, the trial court set the basic sentence at fifty to fifty-five years' imprisonment. After weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors, the court set the final sentence of forty years' imprisonment. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the sentence, holding that although the court was not required to consider comparable cases, the court correctly applied sentencing principles at both steps of the sentencing analysis. View "State v. Bentley" on Justia Law

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of the superior court vacating the determination of the Town of Wells Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) denying Plaintiff's application for two setback variances on the grounds that Plaintiff had not met his burden of proof, holding that the evidence did not compel the ZBA to grant him a variance.The ZBA denied Plaintiff's application on the basis that he did not meet his burden of proof to show that granting the variances would not alter the essential character of the locality. The superior court vacated the ZBA's determination, concluding that Plaintiff had met his burden of proof. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment below and remanded with instructions to affirm the ZBA's denial, holding that the ZBA properly decided that Plaintiff failed to show that the nature of his proposed residence with the variances would conform with the neighborhood as zoned and would not degrade the value of surrounding environmental structures. View "Hill v. Town of Wells" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the district court denying Mother's second motion for relief from the judgment of the district court terminating her parental rights to her four children, holding that Mother made a prima facie showing that she received ineffective assistance of counsel at the trial phase and post-judgment phase of the case.Mother did not appear for the termination hearing, and trial counsel was also absent when the hearing began. After Mother's parental rights were terminated trial counsel moved to withdraw from the case, and interim counsel was appointed to represent Mother. Appellate counsel filed a Rule 60(b) motion for relief of judgment, alleging ineffective assistance of trial counsel and interim counsel. The trial court denied the motion as untimely. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment, holding (1) Mother made a prima facie showing of ineffective assistance of counsel at both the trial phase of the case and the post-judgment phase; and (2) Mother's Rule 60(b) motion was both proper and timely in light of the extraordinary circumstances presented in this case. View "In re Children of Kacee S." on Justia Law