Case Information
*1
MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT
Reporter of Decisions
Decision:
Docket: Kno-14-458
Argued: September 17, 2015
Decided: October 6, 2015
Panel: SAUFLEY, C.J., and ALEXANDER, MEAD, GORMAN, JABAR, and HUMPHREY, JJ. BRIAN M. BAILEY
v.
DEPARTMENT OF MARINE RESOURCES
ALEXANDER, J.
[¶1] Brian M. Bailey appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court (Knox County, Billings, J. ) dismissing his M.R. Civ. P. 80C appeal from a decision of the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) setting his 2014 elver [1] fishing quota at four pounds. See 12 M.R.S. §§ 6505-A(3-A), 6575-K (2014). The basis for the quota was stated in a March 25, 2014, letter and confirmed by issuance of a 2014 elver transaction card following a personal meeting between Bailey and DMR officials on March 31, 2014. [2]
[¶2] No appeal was filed within thirty days after Bailey’s March 31 receipt of the 2014 elver transaction card. See 5 M.R.S. § 11002(3) (2014) (requiring that appeals of State administrative decisions must be filed within thirty days after receipt of notice of final agency action). Instead, on May 1, 2014, Bailey, through counsel, sent a letter to the Commissioner of Marine Resources requesting an explanation of the quota decision. After the Commissioner responded, and after the close of the 2014 elver season on May 31, 2014, Bailey filed this appeal on July 10, 2014.
[¶3] Before reaching the merits, we must examine whether this appeal is
moot because, regarding the 2014 elver season, there remains no “real and
substantial controversy, admitting of specific relief through a judgment of
conclusive character.”
See Anthem Health Plans of Me., Inc. v. Superintendent of
Ins.
,
[¶4] There are three generally recognized exceptions to the mootness
doctrine that may justify addressing the merits of an otherwise moot issue on
appeal. Thus we may address the merits of an otherwise moot case if (1) sufficient
collateral consequences will result from the determination of the questions
presented so as to justify relief; (2) there exist questions of great public concern
that we address in order to provide future guidance; or (3) the issues are capable of
repetition but evade review because of their fleeting or determinate nature.
In re Christopher H.
,
[¶5] Pursuant to 5 M.R.S. § 8002(4) (2014), “final agency action” is defined
as an agency decision affecting the “legal rights, duties or privileges of specific
persons, which is dispositive of all issues, legal and factual, and for which no
further recourse, appeal or review is provided within the agency.” Bailey contends
that this definition requires that the agency decision include specific fact-findings
on the issues. All the definition requires, however, is that the agency decision,
here the elver fishing quota, resolve “all questions necessarily involved in the
underlying subject matter.”
Wheeler v. Me. Unemployment Ins. Comm’n
,
[¶6] Contrary to Bailey’s assertion, DMR’s issuance of Bailey’s 2014 elver transaction card on March 31, 2014, constituted a final agency action, and Bailey’s appeal was, therefore, not timely filed. The Superior Court properly dismissed the action.
The entry is:
Judgment affirmed. On the briefs:
Joseph W. Baiungo, Esq., Belfast, for appellant Brian M. Bailey Janet T. Mills, Attorney General, Emily K. Green, Asst. Atty.
Gen., and Mark A. Randlett, Asst. Atty. Gen., Office of the Attorney General, Augusta, for appellee Maine Department of Marine Resources
At oral argument:
Joseph W. Baiungo, Esq., for appellant Brian M. Bailey Emily Green, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee Maine Department of Marine Resources
Knox County Superior Court docket number AP-2014-17
F OR C LERK R EFERENCE O NLY
Notes
[1] Elvers are recently hatched eels that populate some Maine rivers in the spring and are in demand as a delicacy in Asian seafood markets.
[2] The record indicates some uncertainty as to whether the elver transaction card was issued after a meeting on March 31 or April 30, 2014. At oral argument, counsel confirmed that the meeting occurred and the elver transaction card was issued on March 31, 2014.