Fogg v. Town of Eddington

CourtSuperior Court of Maine
DecidedJuly 31, 2002
DocketPENap-02-9
StatusUnpublished

This text of Fogg v. Town of Eddington (Fogg v. Town of Eddington) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fogg v. Town of Eddington, (Me. Super. Ct. 2002).

Opinion

STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT PENOBSCOT, SS. CIVIL ACTION

eo ge ot

Gary A. Fogg, DONALD L. GA .

Appellant LAW LIBRARY Vv AUG 18 2002 Order on Motion to Dismiss Town of Eddington, Appellee . FILED & ENTERED and SUPERIOR COURT Peter Roderick et al., JUL 31 2002 Intervenors PENOBSCOT COUNTY

Pending before the court is the intervenors’ motion to dismiss, in which the intervenors argue that the appellant, Gary A. Fogg, did not file his notice of appeal from the decision of the Town’s Zoning Board of Appeals in a timely way. The Town has joined in that motion. Fogg has filed an objection to the motion. The court has considered the parties’ submissions.

This matter previously has been before the court in the context of Fogg’s first appeal from the Board’s denial of his application for a building permit. There, the court concluded that the basis for the Board’s action was not supported by the record evidence, and, as a result, the court remanded the matter to the Board “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.” On February 28, 2002, the Board conducted another hearing on Fogg’s permit application. The transcript of that meeting has been filed as part of the record on appeal. At that meeting, the parties and the intervenors agreed to incorporate by reference the evidence presented at the first hearing, and Fogg and the intervenors then proceeded to present additional evidence to the Board. The parties and the intervenors were fully in accord with that procedure. On the basis of those presentations, at the close of the meeting, the Board again voted to deny Fogg’s permit

application. Fogg filed his appeal to this court on May 2, 2002. The forty-fifth day after February 28 was April 14, which was a Sunday. If Fogg was subject to the statutory forty-five day limitation for filing an appeal from the Board’s February 28 decision, see 30-A MLR.S.A. § 2691(3)(G), then the present appellate action was not commenced in a timely way and is subject to dismissal.

When an order on appeal vacates a lower decision and remands the case to the lower adjudicative body, there arises the question of whether that order on appeal constitutes a final judgment. The answer to this question rests on the nature of the remand order. Wheeler v. Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission, 477 A.2d 1141, 1145 (Me. 1984). If the remand might generate further proceedings that would affect the issues reviewed on appeal, then the remand order is viewed as falling short of a final judgment. Jd. On the other hand, if the purpose of the remand is to allow the lower body to “address a procedural or ancillary matter distinct from the issue” that was considered by the appellate court, then the remand order amounts to a final judgment. Id. See also MacDougal v. MacDougal, 403 A.2d 783, 784 (Me. 1979) (in divorce actions, where Superior Court remands case to District Court for “further proceedings,” Superior Court’s order is not a final judgment). Additionally, if the purpose of the remand is to allow the lower body merely to enter a specific judgment or engage in some other ministerial act, then the appellate court’s remand order constitutes a final judgment. Zillert v. Zillert, 395 A.2d 1152, 1153 n.2 (Me. 1978).

~The record clearly shows that the parties and the intervenors themselves did not treat this court’s prior order on appeal as a final judgment. Rather, Fogg and the intervenors went to the February 28 meeting willing and ready to submit additional evidence to the Board on the issues raised in this court’s prior order. Further, the intervenors did not object to the submission of that additional evidence. Indeed, the record demonstrates that they viewed the February 28 hearing as an opportunity to supplement the record created prior to the first appeal.

“When the Superior Court remands to an administrative board or agency for the purpose of having it take further action reviewable by the Superior Court, the court should retain jurisdiction awaiting the outcome of those further administrative board or

agency proceedings.” Valdastri v. City of Bath, 521 A.2d 691, 692-93 (Me. 1987). That was the case here, based at least on the manner in which the parties and intervenors themselves viewed the procedural posture of the case on remand to the Board. At the February 28 hearing before the Board, the parties continued their presentation of evidence on the merits and substance of Fogg’s permit application. In its essence, the parties and intervenors treated the February 28 hearing as an extension of the prior hearing that led to the first appeal. In that circumstance, because the court retains jurisdiction, the court “preserves its authority to rule on the appeal,” and a second notice of appeal becomes “superfluous.” Hanson v. Hanson, 654 A.2d 424, 425 (Me. 1995). The date when Fogg filed his notice of appeal from the Board’s February 28 decision is consequently immaterial. Therefore, under the circumstances at bar, the court is deemed to retain jurisdiction, and the intervenors cannot now be heard to contend that this court’s order on appeal constituted a final judgment that would trigger a separate appellate process from any decision made by the Board following remand.

The court acknowledges that the “better practice” would have been to make the retention of jurisdiction “explicit.” Hanson, 654 A.2d at 425 n.3. However, the parties also had the opportunity to seek clarification of the status of the court’s role following remand but did not do so, id., and, in any event, the nature of the February 28 hearing makes clear that the parties viewed that hearing as the next chapter in a continuous

process.

The entry shall be:

For the foregoing reasons, the intervenors’ motion to dismiss is denied.

| wt ow) fj fa ° Dated: July 31, 2002 ch! In U/

J ustice, Maine Supefior Court

Date Filed 5/2/02

Penobscot Docket No. AP-2002-9°

Action

County _ AP-00-60 Consolidated

Rule 80B Appeal

ASSIGNED TO JUSTICE JEFFREY L. HJELM

GARY A FOGG Vs.

Peter Roderick and Carol Roderick,

Intervenor 7/8/02 TOWN OF EDDINGTON

Plaintiff's Attorney Donald Brown Esq Stillwater Professional Park 36 Penn Plaza Bangor ME 04401 BY:

Defendant’s Attorney

GILBERT & GREIF, P.A.

82 COLUMBIA ST. - P O BOX 2339 BANGOR, ME 04402 2339

CHARLES E. GILBERT, IIL FOR: TOWN OF EDDINGTON

RUDMAN & WINCHELL, LLC

84 HARLOW ST - P O BOX 1401 BANGOR, ME ~ 04402-1401

BY: EDMOND J. BEAROR, ESQ.

Date of Luke M. Rossignol, Esq.

Entry FOR: Intervenors, Peter & Carol Roderick

5/2/02 Complaint filed.

5/6/02 Notice and Briefing Schedule (80B Appeal of Governmental Actions)

forwarded to attorney for the Plaintiff and to Town of Eddington, 906 Main Road, Eddington, ME 04428

5/10/02 Letter received by Charles E. Gilbert, III, Esq., entering his appearance on behalf of the Tow of Eddington.

5/10/02 Copy of Notice and Briefing Schedule (80B Appeal of Governmental Actions) forwarded to Atty. Charles Gilbert III.

5/15/02 Officer's Return of Service as to Defendant Town of Eddington filed. (s.d. 5/7/02 to Pamela Violette, Clerk) 5/24/02 Motion to Extend Time to File Appellant's Brief pursuant to Rule 80B(G) MRCivP. filed. 5/29/02 Amended Motion to Extend Time to file Appellant's Brief pursuant to Rule 80b(G) MRCivP filed. by Plaintiff/Appellant.

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Related

Leadbetter v. Ferris
485 A.2d 225 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1984)
Zillert v. Zillert
395 A.2d 1152 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1978)
Wheeler v. Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission
477 A.2d 1141 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1984)
Town of Shapleigh v. Shikles
427 A.2d 460 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1981)
MacDougall v. MacDougall
403 A.2d 783 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1979)
Doggett v. Town of Gouldsboro
2002 ME 175 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2002)
Town of Union v. Strong
681 A.2d 14 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1996)
Springborn v. Town of Falmouth
2001 ME 57 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2001)
Veilleux v. City of Augusta
684 A.2d 413 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1996)
Kurlanski v. Portland Yacht Club
2001 ME 147 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 2001)
Valdastri v. City of Bath
521 A.2d 691 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1987)
Hanson v. Hanson
654 A.2d 424 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1995)

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Fogg v. Town of Eddington, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fogg-v-town-of-eddington-mesuperct-2002.