Court Opinion

ID: 9728426
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:07:38.096514+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:48.548240
License: Public Domain

SAUFLEY, J.,
with whom DANA and CALKINS, JJ., join,
concurring.
[¶ 12] I concur in the result and write separately because I believe that the time has come to address directly the perceived harsh result and consequent overreading of the Lane decision. Lane v. Williams, 521 A.2d 706 (Me.1987).
[¶ 13] In that case, an attorney left his office for a vacation, leaving a trusted secretary in charge of filing a notice of appeal in a pending matter. Unfortunately, on the very next business day, his secretary suffered a death in her family and was temporarily unable to attend to the important business of the firm. The secretary did not return to work until four days after the appeal period expired.
[¶ 14] The trial court, exercising the discretion allowed it in these matters, declined to allow the extension. We affirmed that decision because we concluded that counsel had several alternative methods of assuring that the appeal was filed on time and failed to take advantage of those options. Id. at 708. Most importantly, we noted that counsel had three weeks prior to going on vacation in which to file the appeal, and could have referred the matter directly to another attorney in his office to assure that the appeal was filed while he was gone. Id.
[¶ 15] Notwithstanding our explanation, I believe that our opinion in Lane has come to be understood for the proposition that even a personal tragedy is insufficient to constitute excusable neglect. Since we issued the opinion in 1987, many have viewed it as setting the parameters of circumstances within which a party’s error may be seen as excusable. Not surprisingly, it is often argued that if a personal tragedy did not excuse a brief delay in filing, very few other events could do so.
[¶ 16] Contrary to such arguments, however, our opinion in Lane should not be understood to require such draconian results. Indeed, we have frequently affirmed a determination of excusable neglect in much less dire circumstances than the tragic death at issue in Lane.7 The matter before us today is a perfect exam-*388pie. Thus, I concur in the opinion of the court.

. See, e.g., Solomon’s Rock Trust v. Davis, 675 A.2d 506, 508-09 (Me.1996); In re Amanda D., 549 A.2d 1133, 1134 (Me.1988); Schmid Bros., Inc. v. Roberts, 538 A.2d 291, 293-94 (Me.1988); Myrick v. Cent. Maine Med. Ctr., 506 A.2d 1156, 1157 n. 2 (Me.1986); Mailman v. Colonial Acres Nursing Home, 420 A.2d 217, 219-20 (Me.1980); Sevigny v. City of Biddeford, 344 A.2d 34, 38 (Me.1975).