Firm Suing over Price of Document Access

Currently it costs $2 – $4 per page to download pages from the Register of Deeds of the Counties that post them. This company is challenging those rates.

An official with MacImage of Maine LLC said Wednesday that his firm filed a court complaint late Tuesday afternoon accusing 13 counties in the state of violating the state’s Freedom of Access Law. The complaint, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, names Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Franklin, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, Washington and York counties as defendants. MacImage is not suing Piscataquis County because that county has agreed to provide the firm with electronic copies of all of the documents filed in its Registry of Deeds. According to Linda Smith, registrar of deeds in Piscataquis County, the county avoided being sued by agreeing to have its online database contractor, Affiliated Computer Services, charge MacImage a bulk rate of 2½ cents for each page.

via Bangor Daily News.

New President at Pine Tree Legal

Robert Lingley, 66, of Bangor has served on Pine Tree’s board since 2006 and as vice president for the past two years, according to a press release issued last month.

Pine Tree is a statewide nonprofit organization that provides free legal assistance to low-income Mainers. Founded in 1967, it is Maine’s oldest and largest legal aid provider. It has six offices around the state.

via Bangor Daily News.

York County Foreclosure Diversion Program

Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley announced that on September 23, 2009 the York County Pilot Project of the Foreclosure Diversion Program will hold its first informational session for homeowners facing mortgage foreclosure.

via Maine Judicial Branch

Hannaford Get Big Break

The federal court has rejected most of the claims against Hannaford supermarket relating to massive data breach.

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed nearly all of the civil claims filed against Hannaford Bros. for the supermarket giant’s alleged failure to protect and notify consumers during an electronic data breach in late 2007 and early 2008.

Judge D. Brock Hornby ruled that the only consumers who will be allowed to proceed with the lawsuit are those who were not reimbursed by their banks for the fraudulent charges on their accounts.

Consumers who were simply inconvenienced or claimed to have suffered distress because of the data breach have no legitimate claims in this case, Hornby said in a 39-page ruling filed Tuesday afternoon at U.S. District Court. Essentially, the ruling on Hannaford’s motion to dismiss makes it unlikely that any class-action lawsuit will move forward.

– via Portland Press Herald.

Anecdotal Evidence on the Legal Industry

The Press Herald reports on how the legal industry in Maine is doing in the recession. I am not sure speaking with a handful of attorneys really demonstrates the point, but certainly some firms are doing fine. Though like any industry if you are diversified, you can hopefully find part of your business that thrives while the others wither.

And if your wondering, my rates are not in the quoted range, but that is why I can call my rates ‘affordable.’

Lawyers and others in the legal community say Maine law firms have escaped major layoffs and belt-tightening so far. They said the firms are small enough and diversified enough to switch gears so they don’t have to lay off entire divisions devoted to a recession-sensitive practice area, such as mergers and acquisitions or investment banking.
…
Some say local firms even stand to gain business because of the recession. Maine lawyers charge about half the hourly rates of the big law firms in New York and Washington. Shapiro said the going rate in Maine varies from $150 an hour to $400 an hour, a bargain compared with the $800-and-up rates in big cities.

Transmission line upgrade hearing

Portland Press Herald:

“Hearings to allow public comment on a $1.4 billion proposal to upgrade much of the state’s electrical-transmission infrastructure will begin Wednesday with a session in Waterville.The Maine Public Utilities Commission has scheduled two public hearings to allow residents to offer their opinions on a Central Maine Power Co. proposal to add 350 miles of high-voltage transmission lines.

A PUC spokesman said the agency will plan additional public sessions after November.

The proposed 345,000-volt transmission lines would stretch from the southern end of the state through 80 municipalities in the Portland, Augusta and Pittsfield areas. The lines would end near Bangor.

The Waterville public-comment session will take place at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Waterville City Hall. Lewiston City Hall will host a session at 6 p.m. on Nov. 24.”