# Sinclair v. Sinclair

> Supreme Judicial Court of Maine · February 10, 1995 · 654 A.2d 438

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9732767

## Case

- **Full name:** Linwood L. SINCLAIR Et Al. v. Rita M. SINCLAIR
- **Court:** Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
- **Decided:** February 10, 1995
- **Citations:** 654 A.2d 438; 1995 Me. LEXIS 26
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Clifford
- **Judges:** Wathen, C.J., and Roberts, Glassman, Clifford, Dana, and Lipez
- **Cited by:** 13 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9732767

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that legislative intent — not a classification of legislation as procedural or substantive— determines the applicability of new legislation to a pending claim

## Opinion text

CLIFFORD, Justice,
with whom WATHEN, Chief Justice, joins, concurring.
I agree that the notice requirement of 14 M.R.S.A. § 6111 (Supp.1994) applies to the mortgage in this case and that we should affirm the Superior Court. That conclusion can be reached, as the court did, by discernment of legislative intent. The same result is reached by a recognition that applying sec *441 tion 6111 does not constitute a retroactive application of the statute.
Statutes are not to be given retroactive effect unless the intent to do so is clearly expressed. Miller v. Fallon, 134 Me. 146 , 148, 183 A. 416 (1936). Legislation has a retroactive effect only if it changes the legal consequences of events occurring before the statute’s effective date. Norton v. C.P. Blouin, Inc., 511 A.2d 1056 , 1060 n. 5 (Me.1986); Michaud v. Northern Me. Medical Ctr., 436 A.2d 398, 400 (Me.1981); Dobson v. Quinn Freight Lines, Inc., 415 A.2d 814, 816 (Me.1980).
Section 6111 is a notice statute and deals with the procedural steps that have to be taken to effect a foreclosure following a default. It became effective on June 30, 1992, two and one-half months before the mortgage default, and seven months before the Sinclairs instituted foreclosure proceedings. Applying section 6111 to this case does not “determine! ] the legal significance of operative events occurring prior to its effective date.” Accordingly, its application to the mortgage violates no statutory rule of construction.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9732767. Public record. Not legal advice.