ME · rules
M.R. Civ. P. 76D
APPEAL TO THE SUPERIOR COURT
This Rule applies only to appeals from District Court judgments which, by
law, may be appealed to the Superior Court. It does not apply to direct appeals
from the District Court to the Law Court. Such appeals are governed by the
Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Whenever a judgment of the District Court is by law reviewable by the
Superior Court, an aggrieved party may appeal from a judgment of the District
Court to the Superior Court in the county in which the division of the District
Court entering judgment is located. The time within which an appeal may be
taken shall be 30 days from the entry of the judgment appealed from, except
that: (1) upon a showing of excusable neglect the court in any action may extend
the time for filing the notice of appeal not exceeding 30 days from the expiration
of the original time herein prescribed; and (2) if a timely notice of appeal is filed
by a party, any other party may file a notice of appeal within 14 days of the date
on which the first notice of appeal was filed, or within the time otherwise herein
prescribed, whichever period last expires. The running of the time for appeal
is terminated by a timely motion made pursuant to any of the rules hereinafter
enumerated, and the full time for appeal fixed in this subdivision commences
to run and is computed from the entry of any of the following orders made upon
a timely motion under such rules: making findings of facts or conclusions of law
as requested under Rule 52(a); or granting or denying a motion under
Rule 52(b); or granting or denying a motion under Rule 59 to alter or amend
the judgment; or denying a motion for a new trial under Rule 59. An appeal
from a judgment, whenever taken, preserves for review any claim of error in
the record including any claim of error in any of the orders specified in the
preceding sentence, even if entered on a motion filed after the notice of appeal.
The filing of a motion for any such order does not waive or otherwise render
ineffective a previously filed notice of appeal from the same judgment if timely
filed, and the time periods for taking any further steps to secure review of the
judgment appealed from shall be measured from the date of the entry of such
an order on a timely motion. An appeal shall not be dismissed because it is
designated as being taken from such an order, but shall be treated as an appeal
from the judgment. The appeal shall be taken by filing a notice of appeal with
the clerk of the District Court. Rule 2(a) of the Maine Rules of Appellate
Procedure rules shall govern the form of the notice of appeal and notification
of other parties. The notice of appeal is a pleading for the purposes of Rule 11.
The appeal shall be on questions of law only and shall be determined by
the Superior Court without jury on the record on appeal specified in Rule 76F.
Any findings of fact of the District Court shall not be set aside unless clearly
erroneous.
Within the time for filing the notice of appeal the appellant shall pay to
the clerk of the District Court the entry fee in and the cost of forwarding to the
Superior Court the record on appeal specified in Rule 76F. The clerk of the
District Court shall then transfer the record to the Superior Court. The clerk of
the Superior Court shall then promptly enter the appeal. If by accident or
mistake the required payment is not made within the time prescribed, the court
may, on motion of either party, allow the late payment of the required fees and
direct the clerk to enter the appeal in the Superior Court; but attachment or bail
shall not thereby be revived or continued.
An appeal may be dismissed by stipulation filed with the clerk, or, after
entry in the Superior Court, with the clerk of the Superior Court.
If an appellant fails to comply with the provisions of Rules 76D through
76G within the time prescribed therein, the Superior Court may, on motion of
any other party or on its own motion after notice to the parties, dismiss the
appeal for want of prosecution.
The Superior Court may enter a judgment reversing or affirming, in
whole or in part, the judgment appealed from and shall thereupon remand the
case to the District Court from which it originated for entry of the appropriate
judgment, or for any further proceedings. If the Superior Court remands the
case for further proceedings, all issues raised on the appeal from the District
Court shall be preserved in a subsequent appeal taken from a final judgment
entered in the action.
Provenance
- Source
- courts.maine.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
1873144d1863e4960517b806c68b08d196638d6e25948adbcc0fb4b675ec702c
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.