Appealing in Maine: 21 Days, and What the Law Court Will Actually Look At

Two calls I get after a bad ruling. The first is the day it comes down: "Can we appeal this?" The second is about a month later: "Can we still appeal this?" The answer to the second one is usually no. Here is why, and what an appeal in Maine actually involves.

The 21 days

In a civil case, the notice of appeal has to be filed within 21 days after the judgment is entered on the docket. Not 21 days after you got the mail, or after you talked to a lawyer. From docket entry. Miss it and the appeal is gone, however strong the issue was.

A few post-judgment motions can extend that clock if they are filed on time: a motion for findings of fact, a motion for a new trial, a motion to alter or amend the judgment, and a motion for judgment as a matter of law. If one of those is filed, the 21 days runs from the order deciding the motion. Those motions have their own short deadlines, so this is not a way to buy time. It is a way to fix the record before the appeal, when that's needed.

If you are thinking about an appeal, the week the decision arrives is when to call.

What the Law Court will look at

Maine has one appellate court for civil cases, the Supreme Judicial Court sitting as the Law Court. It does not retry the case. It reads the record that was made in the trial court, and it reviews different kinds of decisions differently.

Questions of law, like what a statute means or whether the right legal test was applied, get a fresh look. This is where most successful appeals live.

Findings of fact get deference. The Law Court will not reverse a factual finding just because it would have decided differently. A finding stands unless there is no competent evidence in the record to support it. If the judge believed the other witness, that is almost never an appeal.

Discretionary calls, like how to divide property, how much to award in fees, or whether to admit a piece of evidence, are reviewed for abuse of discretion. The question is not whether the decision was right but whether it was within the range of reasonable choices.

And the issue has to have been raised in the trial court. An argument that nobody made below is generally not preserved, and the Law Court will usually decline to consider it.

What that means in practice

Most appeals that succeed turn on a legal error you can point to in the written decision or the transcript: the wrong standard, a required finding that was never made, a fee award built on the wrong numbers, a statute misread. Most appeals that fail are really a disagreement about the facts dressed up as something else.

That is the honest read I give at the start. Sometimes it means telling someone the decision they hate is going to stand.

What it costs and how long it takes

An appeal is mostly research and writing, so it generally costs less than the trial did. The timeline is driven by transcripts and briefing schedules, and a decision often comes months after the briefs are in. Enforcement of the judgment is not automatically paused while the appeal is pending, which matters in family cases especially.

I handle appeals to the Law Court in civil, family and probate cases, including appeals from trials I did not handle, and I defend judgments my clients have won. This post is general information, not legal advice. More on how an appeal goes is on the Appeals page, or call (207) 373-9302.