# Sandra Bastille v. Maine Public Employees Retirement System

> Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · August 9, 2016 · 146 A.3d 1102

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4022795

## Case

- **Court:** Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
- **Decided:** August 9, 2016
- **Citations:** 146 A.3d 1102; 2016 ME 124; 2016 Me. LEXIS 136
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Opinion
- **Cited by:** 0 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

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## Opinion text

MAINE	SUPREME	JUDICIAL	COURT Reporter	of	Decisions
Decision: 2016	ME	124
Docket: Yor-15-432
Submitted
On	Briefs: May	26,	2016
Decided: August	9,	2016

Panel: SAUFLEY,	C.J.,	and	ALEXANDER,	GORMAN,	JABAR,	HJELM,	and	HUMPHREY,	JJ.

SANDRA	BASTILLE

v.

MAINE	PUBLIC	EMPLOYEES	RETIREMENT	SYSTEM

PER	CURIAM

[¶1] Sandra Bastille appeals from a judgment entered in the Superior

Court (York County, O’Neil, J.) dismissing as untimely filed her petition for

review	of	a	decision	of	the	Board	of	Trustees	of	the	Maine	Public	Employees

Retirement System affirming an administrative determination that Bastille

was ineligible for disability retirement benefits, and from the court’s

subsequent	denial	of	her	motion	for	reconsideration. Discerning	no	error,	we

affirm	the	court’s	final	judgment.

[¶2] The	Board	sent	its	January	23,	2014,	decision1	via	certified	mail	to

legal counsel who had represented Bastille during oral argument before the

1 Although Bastille filed a motion for reconsideration with the Board, the applicable agency

rules	do	not	authorize	such	a	motion,	and	therefore	the	January	23,	2014,	decision	of	the	Board	was
final. See 12 C.M.R. 94 411 702-1 to -7 (2014) (incorporating adopted rule number 2013-296,
2

Board. The	decision	was	mailed	to	the	address	counsel	had	provided—a	post

office box in Winthrop. The mail was returned as unclaimed after three

delivery attempts made on January 25, February 5, and February 11, 2014,

and	was	then	successfully	faxed	on	February	26,	2014,	and	also	delivered	by

certified	mail	to	counsel’s	physical	address	on	March	7,	2014.

[¶3] Twenty	days	later,	Bastille	filed	an	incomplete	petition	for	review

of	final	agency	action	in	the	Superior	Court. The	clerk	of	court	sent	a	notice	of

incomplete	filing	to	counsel’s	office	on	April	1,	2014,	stating	that	the	petition

had	not	been	docketed	and	that	the	filing	deadline	had	not	changed. See	M.R.

Civ.	P.	5(f). The	complete	petition	was	not	filed	until	April	15,	2014.

[¶4] Bastille’s	petition	was	required	to	be	filed	within	thirty	days	after

she	received	notice	of	the	decision,	see	5	M.R.S.	§§	11002(3),	17451(2)	(2015);

M.R.	Civ.	P.	80C(b). Assuming,	without	deciding,	that	the	thirty	days	began	to

run,	at	the	latest,	on	March	7,	2014,	when	her	counsel	received	the	decision	by

certified	mail	at	his	office,	the	complete	petition	was	required	to	be	filed	on	or

before	April	7. See	M.R.	Civ.	P.	6(a). She	did	not	file	a	complete	petition	until

April 15, 2014—thirty-nine days after her attorney received notice of the

decision	by	certified	mail	and	eighty	days	after	the	first	attempted	delivery	of

which eliminated the authorization of motions for reconsideration of Board decisions effective
December	10, 2013, as summarized in the Weekly Notices of State Rule-Making published by the
Bureau	of	Corporations,	Elections	and	Commissions	on	December	11,	2013).
3

the	certified	mail	to	the	address	provided	by	counsel. The	court	did	not	err	in

dismissing the petition as untimely filed or in denying the motion for

reconsideration. See	M.R.	Civ.	P.	7(b)(5),	59(e).

The	entry	is:

Judgment	affirmed.

On	the	briefs:

Brian D. Condon, Esq., Law Office of Brian D. Condon,
Winthrop,	for	appellant	Sandra	Bastille

Janet T. Mills, Attorney General, and Christopher L. Mann,
Asst.	Atty.	Gen.,	Office	of	the	Attorney	General,	Augusta,	for
appellee	Maine	Public	Employees	Retirement	System

York	County	Superior	Court	docket	number	AP-14-13
FOR	CLERK	REFERENCE	ONLY

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4022795. Public record. Not legal advice.