The opinion
£ ~ TERE D AUG 2 7 2014
STATE OF MAINE SUPERIOR COURT
CIVIL ACTION
YORK, ss. DOCKET NO. CV-13-218
fA F,..rDR-- o~-;zS-JY-
JANE BENNETT,
Plaintiff
V. ORDER
KENNETH LOVELL,
Defendant
Ms. Bennett has brought a five-count complaint alleging that Mr. Lovell
borrowed $50,000 from her pursuant to a loan agreement of August 10, 2006 and has
not paid the loan. She has moved for summary judgment. The motion has been
briefed and argued.
The loan agreement fully supports Ms. Bennett's claim that the transaction with
Mr. Lovell was a loan to be secured by land rather than a down payment on a home and
lot to be provided by Mr. Lovell as he claims. There appears to be no documentation
to support Mr. Lovell's claims. His affidavit, however, creates genuine issues of
material fact which preclude summary judgment despite the apparent weaknesses in
his claims and the fact that Ms. Bennett has not received her $50,000, a house or any
land.
I have read Brown Development Corporation v. Hemond, 2008 ME 146, 956 A.2d 104
which was cited by the plaintiff and Rogers v. Jackson, 2002 ME 140, 804 A.2d 379.
While the loan agreement between the parties states in paragraph 13 that it " ...
constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and there are no further items or
provisions, either oral or otherwise" the more expansive Lovell versiOn of the
transaction arguably "supplements but does not contradict the writing "Brown at <][16
quoting Rogers at <][12. While I find much merit inJustice Alexander's dissent in Brown,
at <][20, the majority opinion suggests that the motion for summary judgment must be
denied. Also see Paine v. Paine, 458 A.2d 420, 421 (Me. 1983) where the Law Court
quoted the Restatement (Second) of Contracts for the proposition that, "Where the
parties to a written agreement agree orally that performance of the agreement is subject
to the occurrence of a stated condition, the agreement is not integrated with respect to
the oral condition."
The entry is:
Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment is denied.
Dated: August 25,2014
t?k(/ ;£_~
Paul A. Fritzsche
Justice, Superior Court
2
CV-13-218
ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF:
PATRICK BEDARD ESQ
LAW OFFICE BEDARD & BOBROW
POBOX366
ELIOT ME 03903
ATTORNEY FOR DEFENDANT:
JAMES B SMITH ESQ
WOODMAN EDMANDS DANYLIK AUSTIN ET AL
POBOX468
BIDDEFORD ME 04005