Opinion ID: 4013748
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admission of Insurance Letter

Text: [¶18] Lastly, Goroshin contends that the court erred by admitting a February 26, 2015, letter from an insurance carrier to McCarthy. At the hearing, McCarthy testified that she signed the quitclaim deed to the marital home because Goroshin threatened to not transfer title to a truck he left in her possession, thereby preventing her from obtaining insurance payments for an accident, if she did not sign. In support of her contention that she was forced to sign the deed under duress, she proffered the letter, which stated that the insurance carrier had made several attempts to obtain the necessary paperwork on the vehicle from Goroshin before finally receiving it on April 11, 2013. Goroshin objected on the ground that the letter was hearsay, but the court allowed McCarthy to introduce the letter for the nonhearsay purpose of showing what McCarthy believed at the time she signed the quitclaim deed. 3 Goroshin challenges the court’s statement that if he “really thought that part of the [j]udgment was obviated by the conveyance of [McCarthy]’s interest in [the marital home] to him, he would have brought the issue forward in any number of his motions to modify.” Contrary to his contention, Goroshin could have moved under Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 60(b) for relief from the terms of the divorce judgment regarding the marital home if he believed that this portion of the judgment had been satisfied or released based on McCarthy’s assignment of her interest in the property. See Wardwell v. Wardwell, 458 A.2d 750, 752-53 (Me. 1983). 12 [¶19] We review a ruling on the admissibility of evidence for clear error or an abuse of discretion. See Bard v. Lord, 2010 ME 48, ¶ 8, 997 A.2d 101. However, whether or not the court erred, we conclude that any error was harmless because the court’s judgment regarding the marital home did not in fact rely on a finding that McCarthy signed the quitclaim deed under duress. See In re Scott S., 2001 ME 114, ¶¶ 24-25, 775 A.2d 1144.