An Act To Provide Another Alternative to the Civil Order of Arrest Process
Maine Legislature, Session 126, LD 0912
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: NELSON, KATZ, DION, HOBBINS, MORIARTY, NUTTING, PRIEST, BOYLE, HASKELL, HILL
Amends: 14 MRSA §3134, 14 MRSA §3135

Legislative Document 
No. 912 
H.P. 636 
House of Representatives, March 7, 2013 
An Act To Provide Another Alternative to the Civil Order of Arrest 
Process 
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed. 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative NELSON of Falmouth. 
Cosponsored by Senator KATZ of Kennebec and 
Representatives: DION of Portland, HOBBINS of Saco, MORIARTY of Cumberland, 
NUTTING of Oakland, PRIEST of Brunswick, Senators: BOYLE of Cumberland, HASKELL 
of Cumberland, HILL of York. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  14 MRSA §3134, sub-§2, as amended by PL 1987, c. 708, §9, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place: 
2.  Alternative methods.  Instead of requesting a civil order of arrest pursuant to 
subsection 1: 
A.  The judgment creditor may request the court to issue an order for appearance, and 
the court shall order the debtor to appear in court at a certain date and time for further 
disclosure proceedings.  This order must be served upon the debtor in hand by the 
sheriff, who shall obtain from the debtor a personal recognizance bond to appear in 
court at the specified date and time; or 
B.  The creditor may proceed by way of a motion for contempt for failure to appear.  
This motion must be served upon the debtor with a contempt subpoena in the manner 
set forth in section 3136.  If the debtor, after being duly served with a contempt 
subpoena, fails to appear at the time and place named in the contempt subpoena, the 
court may find the debtor in civil contempt and shall issue a civil order of arrest 
under section 3136, subsection 4 or, at the creditor's request, shall issue an order for 
appearance pursuant to paragraph A. 
Sec. 2.  14 MRSA §3135, 4th and 6th ¶¶, as enacted by PL 2011, c. 177, §1, are 
amended to read: 
If the debtor fails to appear at the time and place specified in a disclosure subpoena or 
contempt subpoena issued pursuant to section 3134, subsection 2 or in a personal 
recognizance bond obtained by the sheriff, clerk or court, and upon request of the 
judgment creditor, the court shall order the Department of Labor to provide the judgment 
creditor with the name and address of the current or most recent employer of the debtor, 
if any, together with the date the employer last reported wage information concerning the 
debtor and issue an additional civil order of arrest pursuant to section 3134 directing the 
sheriff to cause the debtor named in the order to be arrested and delivered to the District 
Court without obtaining from the debtor a personal recognizance bond. 
A debtor admitted to personal recognizance bond under this section or section 3134 
shall date and sign the bond and provide the following information: date of birth, hair 
color, eye color, height, weight, gender, race, telephone number, name of employer, 
address of employer and days and hours of employment. 
SUMMARY 
This bill allows a judgment creditor to request a court to issue an order for 
appearance as an alternative means of enforcing a debtor's failure to appear in court after 
having been served with a disclosure subpoena.