Supreme Judicial Court Calendar

 At Cumberland County Courthouse, Portland

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The trial court denied Dennis Winchester’s petitions for post-conviction review of his convictions for various burglaries and thefts. On appeal, Winchester argues that his attorneys in the original criminal proceedings provided ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to pursue speedy-trial claims in the trial court and on appeal. This Court invited amicus briefs to address whether Winchester’s right to a speedy trial was violated under article 1, section 6 of the Maine Constitution or under the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

The Superior Court granted summary judgment and awarded damages to the State of Maine in its suit against Moosehead Mountain Resort that sought to enforce covenants on a ski area once owned by the state and now owned by Moosehead, to ensure that the land remained available to the public. Moosehead appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in determining that (1) the deed to a predecessor-in-interest of Moosehead’s required that the land be maintained in a certain way; (2) a covenant can run with the land without a benefited parcel, (3) there were no genuine issues of material fact regarding whether a certain parcel retained by the State was a benefitted parcel or whether the defense of latches applied, (4) the ambiguities in the deed regarding the covenants must be resolved in favor of the state, (5) the covenant requiring that the land be available for “public use” is reasonable, and (6) the state was not required to give notice of its interpretation of the public-use covenant before suing Moosehead.

The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Francis and Maryann Janusz on their complaint for foreclosure against Eric Bacon. Bacon appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in determining that (1) the parties had completed mediation, which is a statutory prerequisite to a judgment of foreclosure; and (2) Bacon received proper notice of the motion for summary judgment even though the Januszes did not mail a copy of the motion to Bacon’s address of record.

In 2018, while she was the subject of a guardianship and conservatorship, Patricia Spofford executed a will that was admitted to probate upon her death. Spofford’s sons, Michael Zani and Peter Zani, filed suit in the Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment that their mother lacked testamentary capacity when she executed the 2018 will and the imposition of a constructive trust on Spofford’s property, and alleging wrongful interference with an expectancy of inheritance against a beneficiary of the will and fraud against a witness to the will.

The Superior Court entered summary judgment against the Zanis on all counts. The Zanis appeal, arguing that the Superior Court erred in determining that there was no dispute of material fact regarding Spofford’s testamentary capacity on the date that she executed the 2018 will given that there was evidence of Spofford’s lack of testamentary capacity both before and after that date.

After a bench trial, Zachary Borg was convicted of domestic violence aggravated assault (Class B), domestic violence reckless conduct (Class D), and endangering the welfare of a child (Class D). The victim was a child who ingested fentanyl that she found in the house after Borg and some guests of his used fentanyl in the house and one of the guests lost some of the fentanyl. Borg appeals, challenging the conviction for assault and arguing that (1) the court failed to make the necessary findings that the State had proved that Borg had the required mental state as to his conduct; (2) before a court may convict a person of assault, the State must prove that the person engaged in the “use” of “force” against the victim, and Borg did not use any force against the victim and (3) the conduct that the court found that Borg committed was not legally sufficient to cause the required resulting harm.

The Town of Eliot’s Zoning Board of Appeals reversed the decision of the town’s Planning Board approving Odiorne Lane Solar, LLC’s application to install ground-mounted solar arrays on land owned by the Estate of Lillian H. Cromwell. Odiorne sought review by the Superior Court, which reversed the decision of the Board of Appeals, thereby permitting the project to proceed.

Jay Meyer, whose property abuts the Estate’s land, appeals, arguing that (1) the Planning Board erred in determining that Odiorne’s application was for a “public utility facility,” which is permitted in any zone in the town; (2) the Superior Court erred in determining that he had waived any challenge to the project based on the town’s back-lot ordinance; and (3) the proposed solar array violates the back-lot ordinance because the land does not have access to a public road through an adequate right-of-way.

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Roger Ouellette entered a conditional guilty plea to OUI. Ouellette appeals from the denial of his motion to suppress, arguing that the trooper who charged him was not permitted to enter the curtilage of his home at night either to summons him for a traffic violation or for the purposes of an “OUI investigation” after seeing him drive partially in the lane for opposing traffic on a two-lane road, drive up a private road to a garage, and then, ten minutes later, cross the two-lane road, drive down another private road, and stop in front of a house.

The Superior Court granted summary judgment and awarded damages to the State of Maine in its suit against Moosehead Mountain Resort that sought to enforce covenants on a ski area once owned by the state and now owned by Moosehead, to ensure that the land remained available to the public. Moosehead appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in determining that (1) the deed to a predecessor-in-interest of Moosehead’s required that the land be maintained in a certain way; (2) a covenant can run with the land without a benefited parcel, (3) there were no genuine issues of material fact regarding whether a certain parcel retained by the State was a benefitted parcel or whether the defense of latches applied, (4) the ambiguities in the deed regarding the covenants must be resolved in favor of the state, (5) the covenant requiring that the land be available for “public use” is reasonable, and (6) the state was not required to give notice of its interpretation of the public-use covenant before suing Moosehead.

The District Court granted summary judgment in favor of Francis and Maryann Janusz on their complaint for foreclosure against Eric Bacon. Bacon appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in determining that (1) the parties had completed mediation, which is a statutory prerequisite to a judgment of foreclosure; and (2) Bacon received proper notice of the motion for summary judgment even though the Januszes did not mail a copy of the motion to Bacon’s address of record.

In 2018, while she was the subject of a guardianship and conservatorship, Patricia Spofford executed a will that was admitted to probate upon her death. Spofford’s sons, Michael Zani and Peter Zani, filed suit in the Superior Court seeking a declaratory judgment that their mother lacked testamentary capacity when she executed the 2018 will and the imposition of a constructive trust on Spofford’s property, and alleging wrongful interference with an expectancy of inheritance against a beneficiary of the will and fraud against a witness to the will.

The Superior Court entered summary judgment against the Zanis on all counts. The Zanis appeal, arguing that the Superior Court erred in determining that there was no dispute of material fact regarding Spofford’s testamentary capacity on the date that she executed the 2018 will given that there was evidence of Spofford’s lack of testamentary capacity both before and after that date.