Recent Amendments To Rule 80B Should Provide Needed Clarity

In case you missed it over the summer, the Supreme Judicial Court approved a couple of amendments to M.R.Civ.P. 80B effective September 1, 2014, that are of interest to those handling appeals from decisions of municipal agencies.  The first amendment clarifies when the clock begins to run on the deadline for filing a petition for review in the Superior Court.  The new amendment establishes that the general rule is that the time for filing a petition for review begins to run on the date of the public vote or announcement of a final decision by the municipal agency.  There are, however, two exceptions – when a statute, ordinance, or rule requires the action at issue to be made or evidenced by a written decision, the clock starts when the written decision is adopted; when a written decision is required by a statute, ordinance, or rule to be delivered to a person or persons, the clock starts upon delivery.  The new amendment should go a long way toward eliminating the uncertainty caused when, for example, a planning board votes to deny an application on September 5, but issues a written decision on September 19.

The second amendment makes clear in a re-written subsection (m) that when the Superior Court remands a case to a municipal agency for further action or proceedings, the Superior Court’s decision is not a final judgment – so, if you want to get to the Law Court immediately, you’d better be able to bring the case within one of the exceptions to the final judgment rule.   Although this amendment simply codifies the holdings of several recent Law Court decisions, it is helpful to have this rule set forth in the text of Rule 80B, particularly for those who may not practice extensively in this area.