Me. R. App. P. 6
When more than one appeal is taken following a single trial or hearing, a consolidated trial court clerk's record shall be prepared.
"Documentary exhibits" include papers, maps, photographs, videos, digital images, diagrams, CDs, DVDs, flash drives, and other similar materials. If a documentary exhibit can be easily and inexpensively reproduced, a copy thereof shall be retained by the clerk of the trial court.
Exhibits that consist of tangible objects, such as weapons or articles of clothing, shall be retained by the clerk of the trial court, except upon order of the Law Court. If a documentary exhibit is of unusual bulk or weight, it shall be retained by the clerk of the trial court, except upon order of the Law Court.
Any party that qualifies for appointed counsel may have one copy of the trial court clerk's record without charge.
Me. R. App. P. 6
Advisory Committee Note - November 2024
Rule 6(b) is amended to allow "[a]ny party that qualifies for appointed counsel" to obtain one free copy of the trial court clerk's record.
Advisory Note - October 2021
Rule 6(a)-(b) is amended to recognize the implementation of an electronic case management and filing system by the Maine Judicial Branch and the adoption of the Maine Rules of Electronic Court Systems.
Advisory Note - June 2019
This amendment to Rule 6(c)(1) changes the procedure for the filing of electronic transcripts by official court reporters. The same procedure is being adopted for the filing of transcripts created by electronic recordings. See Rule 5(b).
Restyling Notes - June 2017
Rule 6(a)(1) is revised to introduce a 28-day period in which the trial court clerk will retain the trial court record for most appeals. Once the 28-day period expires, the trial court clerk must file the record with the Clerk of the Law Court within 7 days. The purpose of the change, concurrent with amendment to Rule 3(b)-(d) and Rule 6(a)(2), is to hold the record in the trial court to allow for the filing and trial court resolution of timely post-judgment motions listed in Rules 2B(b)(2) and 2B(c)(2).
As part of the change in the time for filing the record in the Law Court, the Rule is also amended to clarify that the record in extradition appeals must be filed within 7 days after filing of the notice of appeal. The amendment to restyled Rule 6(a)(3) also clarifies that the trial court record may be temporarily retained for an additional period of time, by order of the trial court or stipulation of the parties, when such a retention is necessary, for example, to accomplish trial court action permitted by Rule 3(c) of these Rules.
Because Rule 6(b) specifies the contents of the trial court clerk's record, the provision in the current rule allowing parties to designate additional items for the record is eliminated. The provision had created confusion and efforts to add items to the record. Corrections to the record are addressed in Rule 5(e).
Rule 6(b)-(d) is subject to significant editing to recognize modern developments relating to preparing records, particularly the treatment of videos and digital evidence and the means by which such videos and digital evidence may be prepared and transmitted to the Court. Further, the portion of the Rule regarding what may be retained in the trial court is expanded to include other items that, absent court order or apparent need, should be retained with the trial court file rather than transmitted as part of the appeal to the Law Court. The amendment also adds indigent parents in appeals of child protection cases filed by the Department of Health and Human Services as entitled to receive without charge a copy of the record on appeal. Presently that entitlement is limited to indigent criminal defendants.
In Rule 6(c)(1), the deadline for filing the reporter's transcript is changed to 56 days after the filing of the notice of appeal, rather than the later receipt of the notice of appeal mailed from the trial court clerk. The reference to "native" .pdf format means a .pdf format that allows limited cutting and pasting from the .pdf document to a Word document.
Rule 6(d) is added, addressing appeals filed directly with the Law Court from proceedings in which a record may be prepared only in electronic or digital format, without a printed or paper copy of the record. In such appeals, the record filed with the Law Court must include a printed or paper index to each separate document or item in the record, and the electronic or digital record itself shall include a search feature permitting searches for documents or items in the record by index number or title and by key words within the document.
Rule 6(d)(2) indicates the procedure for preparing and submitting digital records to the Law Court, which includes submitting the record by use of a CD, DVD, flash drive, or hard drive, with the record submitted in two identical electronic copies by whatever means submitted. Further, the copies must be in a format that allows them to be read as .pdf documents or is otherwise compatible with Maine Judicial Branch computer systems for reading documents.
As this draft is being prepared, the only agency known to prepare and file such electronic or digital records in Law Court appeals is the Maine Public Utilities Commission. However, the Rule anticipates that this record filing practice may expand to other agencies in the future, and may apply to court records after implementation of electronic filing. At that time, with experience gained by implementation of this change, further adjustment of the electronic record filing requirement may be necessary.
[Advisory Notes to Rule 6 of former Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure]
Advisory Note - July 2012
Rule 6(a) is amended to make clear the need for payment of the filing fee in those cases where a filing fee is required. This requirement is also discussed in M.R. App. P. 2(a)(1) and (4), M.R. App. P. 2(b)(3) and M.R. Civ. P. 5(f).
The amendments to Rule 5(c) and 6(c), above, require parties to file condensed transcripts in accordance with M.R. Civ. P. 5(i)(2) as part of the record on appeal.
Advisory Notes - 2004
This amendment to M.R. App. P. 6(c) directs the Electronic Recording Division and court reporters, when they file a paper transcript with the Law Court to also include with the transcript sent to the Clerk of the Law Court, an electronic copy of the transcript in whatever format they have used to prepare and print the transcript. This electronic copy is not intended to replace the paper transcript but is intended to be available to the Justices of the Law Court, in addition to the paper transcript, to support their review of the record on appeal.
Advisory Notes - January 1, 2001
Rule 6(a) relating to filing the record with the Law Court follows the provisions of M.R. Civ. P. 74A(a) and M.R.U. Crim. P. 39(e). The requirement in the present criminal rule that the clerk must copy and furnish copies of the record to the State and the defense is eliminated. The current practice places a significant burden on the clerk's offices that is largely unnecessary with today's record keeping where both the State and the defense already have copies of most materials that are in the record. Where parties believe that their record material may be incomplete, they are, of course, free to review the clerk's file and request copies of any materials they do not have.
The rule continues the provision allowing indigent criminal defendants to have a copy of the clerk's record without charge.
Rule 6(b) addresses the contents of the clerk's record to be submitted to the Law Court. It tracks very closely the current language of M.R. Civ. P. 74A(b) and M.R.U. Crim. P. 39(c). However, the requirement in the current rules that the clerk prepare a table of contents of a sometimes voluminous record is eliminated. The contents of any record may be easily reviewed by following the docket entries which are presumed to accurately reflect the history of the case. As the rule notes, exhibits that are tangible objects generally are not forwarded from the trial court to the Law Court except upon special order of the Law Court. Likewise, documentary exhibits of unusual bulk or weight are to be retained by the clerk of the trial court unless specially ordered by the Law Court. The contents of the record are, of course, to be distinguished from the material required to be included in the appendix. An appendix, as addressed in Rule 8, is to include only those selected portions of the record required by the rule or otherwise deemed by the parties of particular importance to appellate review of the trial court's actions.
The provision of this rule allowing any party to designate additional portions of the trial court clerk's record within 7 days of the filing of the notice of appeal is not designed to allow parties to supplement the record by filing materials not presented to the trial court in the course of its decision making process. An attempt to supplement the record by filing and attempting to designate materials not considered by the trial court is inappropriate and may subject the person attempting to file such materials to sanctions on appeal. This provision allowing designation of additional portions of the trial court clerk's record relates to requests to submit tangible object exhibits or bulky documentary exhibits to the Law Court or to include with the record other materials that were available to the trial court for consideration but may not have been included in the official clerk's record. Examples of such materials would be visual aids that were displayed to the fact-finders or other visual aids or exhibits that the record will reflect were displayed or offered for admission into evidence but may not have been admitted or otherwise become part of the clerk's record.
Rule 6(c) relating to filing of the reporter's transcript tracks similar provisions presently in M.R. Civ. P. 74A(b) and M.R.U. Crim. P. 39(d). The rule emphasizes that, even if the reporter may have some difficulty meeting the 56-day time limit, the party ordering the transcript is expected to exercise due diligence to promote and assure the timely filing of the transcript. See Putnam v. Albee, 1999 ME 44, 6-9, 726 A.2d 217, 219.
Rule 6(d) relates to retention of the record in the Superior Court for use by the parties in preparing appellate papers or for further trial court use. It consolidates the significantly repetitive provisions of M.R. Civ. P. 74A(c), (d), (e), & (f). Although there is no comparable provision in the criminal rules, subdivision (d) will apply to both criminal and civil cases. In addition to this subdivision, parties may use M.R. App. P. 14(c) to seek adjustment of record transfer requirements.
Rule 6(e) makes provision for special transmission of parts of the original record to the Law Court where such is required for preliminary hearings in the Law Court. This reflects present practice adopted in M.R. Civ. P. 74A(g) and M.R.U. Crim. P. 39(h).