LYNCH v. CHRISTIE et al

Filing 52

ORDER denying 47 Motion to Stay By JUDGE D. BROCK HORNBY. (jgw)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
DISTRICT OF MAINE
ROBERT P. LYNCH,
PLAINTIFF
v.
JOAN L. CHRISTIE,

ET AL.,

DEFENDANTS

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NO. 2:11CV70-DBH

ORDER ON MOTION TO STAY
I denied the defendant Joan L. Christie’s special motion to dismiss under
Maine’s anti-SLAPP statute. Dec. and Order on Mots. to Dismiss (Docket Item
43). Christie has appealed that interlocutory order.

Interlocutory Appeal

(Docket Item 48); see also Godin v. Schencks, 629 F.3d 79, 85 (1st Cir. 2010)
(denial of a special motion to dismiss under Maine’s anti-SLAPP statute is
immediately appealable). Christie then filed this motion requesting that I stay
discovery while her appeal is pending with the Court of Appeals for the First
Circuit. Mot. to Stay Proceedings, Including Discovery, Pending Appeal (Docket
Item 47). The plaintiff Robert P. Lynch has objected to the stay. Pl.’s Objection
to Def.’s Mot. to Stay (Docket Item 51). I DENY the stay.
The Maine Anti-SLAPP statute affords for a stay as follows:
All discovery proceedings are stayed upon the filing of
the special motion under this section, except that the
court, on motion and after a hearing and for good
cause shown, may order that specified discovery be
conducted. The stay of discovery remains in effect until
notice of entry of the order ruling on the special motion.

14 M.R.S.A. § 556 (emphasis added).

Thus, even if I follow these state

procedural provisions, the statute does not provide for an additional stay while
the case is on appeal.

I have found no Law Court case law concerning

extension of the statutory stay through the appeal period. My order made it
clear that this was not a close case. Therefore, I see no reason to continue the
discovery stay.

Moreover, there are two other defendants who have not

asserted the anti-SLAPP affirmative defense and have not requested the stay.
Christie is, of course, free to renew her request in the Court of Appeals.
SO ORDERED.
DATED THIS 18TH DAY OF NOVEMBER, 2011
/s/D. Brock Hornby
D. BROCK HORNBY
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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