Opinion ID: 1968378
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Suspension of the Statutory Penalty

Text: [¶ 9] When a statute imposes a minimum civil penalty a court may not assess a lesser penalty unless the Legislature has provided it with the discretion to do so. Department of Environmental Protection v. Emerson, 616 A.2d 1268, 1272 (Me.1992). In Emerson, we reviewed the State's appeal from a judgment imposing a penalty less than the statutory minimum required by 38 M.R.S.A. § 349(2) (1989). Because the statute made no provision for imposing less than the minimum penalty of $100 for each day of the continuing violation, we modified the judgment to impose the minimum penalty of $191,600. Id. at 1272. Defendant's appeal implicates the Emerson rule and requires that we determine the minimum statutory penalty and the extent of the court's discretion in assessing that penalty. [¶ 10] Junkyards and automobile graveyards are subject to state regulation administered locally by municipal and county officials pursuant to Title 30-A §§ 3751-3760. The operation of a junkyard without a permit from the municipality or county is subject to civil penalties. The specific statute penalizing unlicensed junkyards provides as follows: Whoever violates this subchapter [§§ 3751-3760] or the rules of the Department of Transportation adopted under section 3759 must be penalized in accordance with section 4452. Each day that the violation continues constitutes a separate offense. 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3758(2) (1996) (emphasis added). The procedures for local enforcement of land use laws and ordinances in general are set forth in 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452. This section provides that the minimum penalty for a specific violation [of the applicable ordinance or law] is $100, and the maximum penalty is $2,500. Section 4452(3)(B). [¶ 11] Defendant argues that $2,500 is the absolute maximum penalty regardless of the number of days he operated without a permit. This interpretation, however, is contrary to a plain reading of the statute. Unless the statute itself reveals a contrary legislative intent, the plain meaning of the language will control its interpretation. Murphy v. Board of Environmental Protection, 615 A.2d 255, 258 (Me.1992). The maximum penalty of $2,500 pertains to a specific violation or separate offense, not a series of separate violations or offenses. [¶ 12] Defendant next argues that, notwithstanding the express directive in section 3758 that each day constitutes a separate offense, the prefatory language to the general provisions set forth in section 4452 grants the court the discretion to impose penalties for less than all of the days he operated without a permit. He relies on the following language: Except for paragraph H, monetary penalties may be assessed on a per-day basis. 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452(3) (emphasis added). The language in question was added to section 4452 in 1989 [2] and provides a court with discretionary authority to impose penalties for continuing violations on a per-day basis. Prior to 1989, section 4452 provided no authority to impose daily penalties for continuing violations. See Town of Falmouth v. Long, 578 A.2d 1168, 1172-73 (Me. 1990); Town of Freeport v. Brickyard Cove Associates, 594 A.2d 556, 558 (Me.1991); Town of Ogunquit v. McGarva, 570 A.2d 320, 321(Me.1990). Thus, in the absence of any other provision authorizing daily penalties, $2,500 was the absolute maximum penalty for most land use violations. Section 3758, however, is such an other provision and since 1963 [3] it has specifically mandated that each day of illegal operation of a junkyard constitutes a separate offense. Read together, section 3758 and 4452(3)(B) mandate a minimum penalty of $100 for each day that the junkyard is operated without a permit. The court is without discretion to consider each day of unlicensed operation as anything other than a separate offense. Defendant does not challenge the court's determination that he operated in such a manner for 730 days. The only discretion permitted to the court is in assessing the penalty for each separate offense between the minimum of $100 and the maximum of $2,500. The District Court correctly assessed the minimum penalty of $73,000 but erred by suspending any part of it.