Gunter v. Merchants Warren National Bank; Lake Arrowhead Estates, Inc. v. Cumming

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Maine held that Maine statutory and procedural provisions permitting prejudgment attachment of real estate without prior notice and an opportunity for a hearing violated the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause. The court declared the challenged provisions void and unenforceable, made its decree prospective except as to the two attachments before it, and remanded damages for determination.

Holdings

1. Maine statutory provisions and Rule 4A that permit prejudgment attachment of real estate without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and are void and unenforceable.
2. An opportunity to seek dissolution or modification after attachment does not substitute for the constitutionally required prior notice and hearing.
3. Maine's prejudgment real-estate attachment procedure does not qualify for the extraordinary-situation exception allowing postponement of notice and hearing.
4. McKay v. McInnes did not control or foreclose the court's holding because Fuentes limited McKay to whatever was established by the authorities on which McKay completely relied.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Maine's prejudgment attachment statute and Rule 4A of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure violate the Fourteenth Amendment by permitting attachment of real estate without prior notice and an opportunity to be heard.
2. Whether the availability of an expedited post-attachment motion to dissolve or modify the attachment satisfies procedural due process.
3. Whether the challenged procedure falls within an extraordinary situation permitting postponement of notice and hearing.
4. Whether the Supreme Court's decision in McKay v. McInnes controlled the constitutional issue.

Disposition

remanded