State of Maine v. Brandon Oakley McCoy

Summary

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court held that Brandon Oakley McCoy could not be adjudicated for evading Maine registration fees and excise taxes because the pickup truck was owned and registered by an out-of-state LLC, and the record did not establish that McCoy was its owner under Maine law. The court distinguished that offense from operating an unregistered vehicle and concluded that the truck's Montana registration appeared to qualify for Maine's reciprocity exemption. The court vacated the judgment and remanded for entry of judgment for McCoy.

Holdings

1. A person can violate 29-A M.R.S. § 514 only if that person is required to register the vehicle in Maine. Under 29-A M.R.S. §§ 101(50) and 351, the registration responsibility falls on the vehicle's owner, defined as the title holder or a person with the exclusive right to use the vehicle for at least thirty days. Because the evidence did not establish that McCoy met either definition, he could not be adjudicated responsible under section 514.
2. The evidence indicated that the pickup's out-of-state registration conformed to Maine's reciprocity law and relieved the LLC, as the nonresident owner, from having to register the vehicle in Maine.
3. McCoy's possible liability for operating an unregistered vehicle under 29-A M.R.S. § 351(1) could not sustain the judgment because he was charged only with evading registration fees and excise taxes under section 514, and the evidence showed that the pickup was registered in Montana.

Questions Presented

1. Whether a person may be adjudicated responsible under 29-A M.R.S. § 514 for evading Maine registration fees and excise taxes when the vehicle was owned and registered by an out-of-state limited liability company and the person was not shown to be the vehicle's owner.
2. Whether the vehicle's Montana registration and Maine's reciprocity statute relieved the out-of-state owner from Maine's registration requirement.
3. Whether McCoy could instead be liable for operating an unregistered vehicle under 29-A M.R.S. § 351(1) when he was charged only under section 514.

Disposition

vacated