Latest 3 Cases: A.I. v. State (Juvenile Law), Hamilton v. Woodsum (Personal Injury), Town of Gorham v. Duchaine (Real Estate & Property Law)

The Equal Rights Amendment and Article V

MICHAEL C. DORF

Cornell law professor Michael C. Dorf discusses the possible consequences of the Virginia legislature’s ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) just last week, becoming the 38th state to do so. Dorf explains why there remains a question as to the validity of Virginia’s ratification, given the Amendment’s purported deadline, and explains why both liberals and conservatives alike should urge Congress to deem the ERA now valid.

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The Framers Would Want You to Know: Alan Dershowitz Is Wrong About Impeachment, and So Is the President

MARCI A. HAMILTON

Marci A. Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, argues that abuse of power is a sufficient ground for presidential impeachment, notwithstanding the argument to the contrary by President Trump’s impeachment defense lawyer, Alan Dershowitz. Hamilton explains that abuse of power by the President was the very fear of the Framers of the Constitution, and to reject it as an impeachable offense would subvert the spirit of the Constitution, as evidenced by the Framers’ debates at the Constitutional Convention.

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A.I. v. State

Citation: 2020 ME 6

Opinion Date: January 21, 2020

Judge: Leigh Ingalls Saufley

Areas of Law: Juvenile Law

The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed this appeal from the judgment of a single justice of the Supreme Judicial Court denying Appellant's petition for habeas corpus, holding that this appeal presented issues that were moot and that none of the exceptions to the mootness doctrine applied. Appellant was charged with multiple juvenile offenses. The district court ordered him held at Long Creek Youth Development Center while awaiting trial. The proceedings were suspended when Appellant was determined to be incompetent to stand trial. Thereafter, Appellant filed a petition for habeas corpus seeking release from Long Creek. The single justice denied the petition. Appellant appealed. Before oral argument, Appellant was released from Long Creek and placed in a residential treatment facility, and the charges against him were dismissed. The Supreme Judicial Court dismissed the appeal, holding that the appeal was moot and that none of the exceptions to the mootness doctrine applied.

Hamilton v. Woodsum

Citation: 2020 ME 8

Opinion Date: January 21, 2020

Judge: Donald G. Alexander

Areas of Law: Personal Injury

In this case involving the report of a neutral investigator - an employee of a law firm and the law firm - retained to provide a report to a governmental entity in a personnel matter, the Supreme Judicial Court held that that the employee and the law firm were protected by the employee immunity provision of the Maine Tort Claims Act (MTCA), Me. Rev. Stat. 14, 8108-8188. Appellee filed a claim alleging that Appellants, a law firm and its nonattorney employee, were negligent and preparing and presenting an investigative report regarding Appellee's conduct while serving as the coordinator of the University of Southern Maine's Multi-Cultural Student Affairs. The district court denied Appellants' special motion to dismiss pursuant to the anti-SLAPP law and denied Appellants' motion asserting immunity pursuant to the MTCA. The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the order on the special motion to dismiss and vacated the motion to dismiss on MTCA grounds, holding (1) the trial court correctly determined that the investigative report at issue in this appeal did not constitute petitioning activity within the meaning of the anti-SLAPP statute; and (2) because Appellants were performing a governmental function on behalf of a governmental entity, the trial court erred in denying the motion to dismiss based on MTCA immunity.

Town of Gorham v. Duchaine

Citation: 2020 ME 7

Opinion Date: January 21, 2020

Judge: Joseph Jabar

Areas of Law: Real Estate & Property Law, Zoning, Planning & Land Use

The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the order of the district court granting the Town of Gorham's motion to enforce a consent decree entered earlier in a land-use dispute, holding that there was not a proper record to support the trial court's findings. The Town filed a land-use enforcement claim in the district court charging Defendants with violations of the Gorham Land Use and Development Code. The parties settled the dispute by agreeing to terms set forth in a consent decree, and the trial court ordered the consent decree to be entered as a judgment. The Town then filed a motion to enforce the consent decree, alleging noncompliance on the part of Defendants. The court granted the Town's motion. The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment below, holding that the court order was not supported by competent evidence in the record.