PORTLAND, Maine (Legal Newsline) – The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has dismissed an appeal from a plaintiff who sought to disqualify an attorney from representing the defendant in a suit over a dog attack.
In the six-page ruling issued Nov. 26, Justice Thomas E. Humphrey denied a motion by Kathleen Flanders to disqualify Fern Gordon’s counsel, Eric Morse, from representing him in the personal injury suit. Flanders had appealed an interlocutory order issued by the Rockland County district court that denied her motion to disqualify.
The justice said that when considering such a motion, there has to be a “judicially created exception to the final judgment rule” in order to be eligible for immediate review.
There are three exceptions to the rule. These include “the death knell exception, the judicial economy exception, or the collateral order exception,” the ruling states. Humphrey ruled that none applied.
"Far from establishing a final disposition, permitting an interlocutory appeal here would unnecessarily delay the litigation in the trial court regardless of the outcome of the appeal," Humphrey wrote. "Thus, allowing the appeal of this interlocutory order to proceed would not be in the interest of judicial economy. We therefore decline to reach the merits of this appeal."
Flanders initially sued Gordon over allegations of personal injury after she was allegedly attacked by a dog owned by Gordon. Afterward, both parties retained lawyers for the lawsuit, with Gordon retaining Morse of Strout & Payson. While the lawsuit was still ongoing, Flanders was hurt in an auto accident. She then retained an attorney from the same law firm that represented Gordon in the dog attack lawsuit.
After discussing potential conflict of interest issues with Flanders, the attorney for the firm had her sign a waiver form. Eventually, Flanders decided to hire another lawyer and ended her relationship with the Strout & Payson attorney. Flanders then later moved for disqualification because of this conflict of interest.