Court Opinion

ID: 9755603
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 20:44:01.702721+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:28:09.435558
License: Public Domain

CALKINS, J„
with whom DANA and SAUFLEY, JJ., join, dissenting.
[¶ 22] I respectfully dissent.
[¶ 23] The appeal is not moot.5 “ ‘The test for mootness is whether there remain sufficient practical effects flowing from the resolution of the litigation to justify the application of limited judicial resources.’ ” Maine Civil Liberties Union v. City of South Portland, 1999 ME 121, ¶ 8, 734 A.2d 191, 194 (quoting Nugent v. Town of Camden, 1998 ME 92, ¶ 6, 710 A.2d 245, 247).
[¶ 24] There remains a live case or controversy between the Lewiston Daily Sun and the Board of Directors of SAD 43 as to whether an official action was taken at the executive session of the Board on April 14, 1998. Even when an executive session is permitted under the Freedom of Access Act, 1 M.R.S.A. §§ 401-M10 (1989 and Supp.1998), “official actions” may not be taken during executive sessions. See 1 M.R.S.A. § 405(2) (1989). “Official action” is not defined in the statute. Official actions taken during executive sessions are illegal and are subject to an order that they are null and void. See 1 M.R.S.A. § 409(2) (1989).
[¶ 25] The action of the Board in this case, as found by the trial court, was the reaching of a consensus or agreement by the Board members during the executive session to investigate further the complaint regarding the superintendent.6 The Board’s agreement resulted in the hiring *1245of a second attorney to do the investigation. The second attorney made a report to the Board and billed SAD 43 approximately $10,000 for her services. There is a case or controversy as to whether this action taken by the consensus of the Board was the type of “official action” that is prohibited during executive session. If it is an official action, it can be declared null and void pursuant to section 409(2). The practical effect of an order declaring the action null and void is to undo it, which in this case would be to invalidate the hiring of the second attorney and void the authorization to pay her for her services. This would require the Board to revisit the issue in a manner that "conforms to the letter and spirit of the Freedom of Access Act. This is a sufficient practical effect to avoid a mootness dismissal.
[¶26] The Court concludes that because the second attorney was in fact hired and completed her report, which the Board acted upon, there is now no practical relief that can be granted. This conclusion is contrary to our holdings in Cook v. Lisbon School Committee, 682 A.2d 672 (Me.1996) and Campbell v. Town of Machias, 661 A.2d 1133, 1135 (Me.1995). In those cases we refused to find that the governmental entities’ actions in providing the requested records to the plaintiffs after the court action was filed made the lawsuits moot. This appeal is not rendered moot simply because the official action was completed by the time the trial was held.
[¶ 27] By holding that this appeal is moot, we are telling governmental entities that as long as the work authorized by their actions in executive session is completed, they cannot be sanctioned for taking such actions unless the Attorney General seeks the statutory penalties in a civil violation complaint. This result substantially debilitates the Freedom of Access Act. Because I conclude that the statutory remedy of declaring illegal actions null and void is sufficient to raise a justiciable controversy, I would reach the merits of this appeal.

. Neither parly raised or briefed the issue of mootness in either the Superior Court or this Court. The Superior Court did not discuss mootness although the posture of the case is no different in this Court than it was at the time the record was closed in the Superior Court.

. The trial court made a legal conclusion that an “official action” was not taken at the executive session. The court, however, expressly found: "The consensus [of the Board], without any formal vote, was to follow the advice of their attorney and have further investigation conducted.”