Opinion ID: 2680019
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Technical Mootness

Text: [¶14] We review de novo the trial court’s determination of mootness. McGettigan v. Town of Freeport, 2012 ME 28, ¶ 10, 39 A.3d 48. “An issue is moot when there is no real and substantial controversy, admitting of specific relief through a judgment of conclusive character.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). In analyzing whether a case is moot, “we examine whether there remain sufficient practical effects flowing from the resolution of the litigation to justify the application of limited judicial resources.” Id. (quotation marks omitted). [¶15] The Does’ first argument, that their future conduct may subject them to registration in the future, is insufficient to constitute a “real and substantial controversy.” See id. For a controversy to be justiciable it must declare rights “upon the existing state of facts and not upon a state of facts that may or may not arise in the future.” See Madore v. Me. Land Use Regulation Comm’n, 1998 ME 178, ¶ 7, 715 A.2d 157 (quotation marks omitted). Here, the Does have alleged only facts that may or may not occur in the future, and thus their claims are moot. 10 [¶16] Additionally, the Does have been relieved of the duty to register, the crux of the litigation. See, e.g., Bennett v. State, 289 A.2d 28, 28, 32 (Me. 1972) (holding that the expiration of defendant’s sentence rendered his habeas corpus petition moot); State v. Irish, 551 A.2d 860, 861-62 (Me. 1988) (holding that the defendant’s constitutional challenge to the revocation of his intensive supervision was moot because he had been released from institutional confinement). [¶17] Further, because we conclude that the Does are not entitled to an award of their fees and costs, there is no need for the trial court to retain jurisdiction over their claim. [¶18] For these reasons, the claims of Does I, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, XIII, XVI, XVIII, and XXIV, who have been removed from the registry, no longer have controversial vitality and are therefore moot unless an exception applies.