Where Was I?
Where Was I? When we last corresponded, my wife and I were about to set off on our sailboat (a 34 foot Cabo Rico cutter), the goal being the Bahamas. We did the trip, and it was both a blast and relatively uneventful, by which I mean with no disasters and few close...
Saving Taxes on Boat Purchases
Last month's column addressed the question of whether to state register or federally document a boat, and I observed that federally documenting a boat would not typically allow the owner to avoid paying Maine sales and use tax. But there is a way, entirely legal...
Crew Agreements? Yes, crew agreements.
Yes, crew agreements. Federal law requires that the owner of a fishing vessel sailing from a U.S. port and of 20 gross tons or over must have a written employment agreement with each seaman. The agreement must state the effective dates of the agreement, and “the terms...
Duty
A farmer had a draft horse to sell and a man from a nearby town was interested. "There's just two things wrong with that horse", the farmer told his prospect. "I'll tell you one now, and one if you buy the horse." The prospect agreed and asked what the first thing...
Behind the Veil
Until modern times the investors in a company were personally liable for its debts and other liabilities. The enactment of laws allowing investors in a company to limit their liability to the amount invested is reckoned by many economists as among the greatest of...
Home Grown Estate Planning
Home Grown Estate Planning Not long after I started my law practice an older lady found her way to my door. She had three grown children and her husband was gone. After she was widowed she worried about what would happen to her Portland home when she passed away. The...
Boilerplate
In the 19th century, advertisers sometimes supplied copy to newspapers in curved steel plates, ready to be placed in the rotary printers of that day. This prepared text became known as "boilerplate", after curved plates used to make boilers, and the term applies today...
A Freezer Warehouse for Portland
Here's a piece I wrote for the Portland Press Herald. It appeared January 18, 2017. The Port of Portland has been offered a generational opportunity: a modern freezer warehouse, accessible by sea, rail, air and highway, available to every food producer in the region,...
Damaged, Part Two – Damages Recoverable in a Personal Injury Lawsuit
Last month I described the elements of an injury case: duty, breach of the duty, damages, and a sufficiently direct link between the damages and the breach. This column will focus on what kinds of damages a claimant can recover. The great majority of injury cases can...
Will Contests
Contesting a Will A will contest - a court action to disqualify a will - is a little like a murder trial: the most important witness is dead. Because the author of a will is not around to defend it, the law has a strong bias in favor of giving effect to a will. A...