FIA Card Services, N.A. v. Anna M. Saintonge, 70 A.3d 1224

FIA Card Services sued Anna M. Saintonge in District Court to recover unpaid credit card charges totaling $13,071.61.
FIA moved for summary judgment and submitted an affidavit from its records custodian referencing the bank’s "books and records" and an unattached document labeled "Exhibit A."
Saintonge opposed but did not controvert FIA’s statement of facts with specific record citations as required by M.R. Civ. P. 56(h)(4); she instead denied the statements without pinpoint citations.
The summary judgment record lacked a sworn or certified assignment or other authenticated documents proving that FIA owned or was the assignee of Saintonge’s specific credit card account.
The trial court entered summary judgment for FIA; the Supreme Judicial Court reviewed the record de novo and found the summary judgment record insufficient to establish each element required of FIA as the party with the burden of proof.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether FIA established ownership/assignment of Saintonge’s account for summary judgment	FIA relied on custodian affidavit and referenced bank records/"Exhibit A" to show it succeeded Bank of America and owned the account	Saintonge denied facts; court notes absence of authenticated assignment or admissible records in the summary judgment record	Court: FIA failed to prove ownership/assignment as required at summary judgment; judgment vacated
Whether FIA met Rule 56 documentary/authentication requirements	FIA argued the affidavit and other documentary references were sufficient	Saintonge argued (and record showed) documents were not properly authenticated or attached; court emphasized strict adherence to Rule 56(e)/(h)	Court: Documents must be authenticated/attached to affidavits; unsupported factual statements cannot be deemed admitted; strict compliance required
Admissibility/use of NIC printout and other trial-court-file documents not included in summary-judgment record	FIA pointed to NIC printout and other files in the trial court record to show purchase of Bank of America’s interest	Saintonge and court noted those items were outside the summary-judgment record or not incorporated/authenticated for Rule 56 purposes	Court: Materials outside the summary-judgment record or not properly authenticated cannot be relied upon; NIC printout would not alone establish account ownership

Cach, LLC v. Kulas, 21 A.3d 1015 (Me. 2011) (requires strict compliance with Rule 56 for admissibility and authentication of documents; custodian affidavit alone is insufficient to establish account ownership)
Arrow Fin. Servs., LLC v. Guiliani, 32 A.3d 1055 (Me. 2011) (bill of sale not establishing ownership of a particular account when it does not reference the specific account)