Sunday, October 21, 2018
- US District Court ME: Newly appointed United States District Court Judge Lance E. Walker will serve the Court from Bangor
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court: Oral comments on the proposal to adopt civil justice reform in Maine through the implementation of Differentiated Case Management will be accepted on Wednesday, October 24, 2018, at 1:30 p.m., in the Supreme Judicial Courtroom of the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland
- Law Court: The court affirmed dismissal of nurse practitioner’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, tortious interference, and Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress claims against former physician employer who allegedly denigrated her to prospective employer in retaliation for her prior testimony against physician during Unemployment hearing, finding physician’s conduct fell within absolute immunity provisions in Maine Health Security Act as statements about her professional background, employment qualifications or performance, and professional competence; and that bad faith in making statements does not alter immunity coverage
- First Circuit: Summary judgment based on qualified immunity affirmed in Fourth Amendment claim arising out of fatal police shooting where an objectively reasonable officer standing in defendant’s shoes “would have thought it appropriate to deploy deadly force against an armed man who, after a nearly three-and-one-half-hour standoff in which he was repeatedly warned to drop his weapon, persisted in pointing a loaded semi-automatic firearm narrowly above the heads of three officers and within easy firing range”
- US Supreme Court: Cert. granted in case to decide the following questions presented: (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals in the 2nd Circuit erred in rejecting the Supreme Court’s state actor tests and instead creating a per se rule that private operators of public access channels are state actors subject to constitutional liability; and (2) whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit erred in holding—contrary to the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 6th and District of Columbia Circuits—that private entities operating public access television stations are state actors for constitutional purposes where the state has no control over the private entity’s board or operations
- MHRC: October 22, 2018, Meeting Agenda and Consent Agenda posted
- MHRC: November 19, 2018, Meeting Agenda posted