Law Court concludes York County complied with law in setting fees for copies of land records

On March 27, 2012, the Law Court decided a case brought against York County and several other counties by a private company, MacImage of Maine, LLC. MacImage sought access to electronic copies of all of the land records in the counties’ Registry of Deeds databases.  After York County agreed to provide the records for a fee, MacImage filed a lawsuit claiming that the fee was too large and therefore was a constructive denial of the request. The Superior Court ruled on the case, and the parties appealed. While the case was pending on appeal, the Maine Legislature amended the pertinent law, and made the changes retroactive. On appeal, the Law Court agreed with York County and the other counties that the new law applied to the case, and that the fee charged by York County was lawful. Gene R. Libby and Hillary J. Massey handled the appeal for York County.