I recently wrote about the orders affecting appellate practice during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the importance of staying up to date with current developments. While those developments continue at a relentless pace, there was one I thought it particularly helpful to highlight here. The Maine Supreme Court recently issued a consolidated Pandemic Management Order. That order addresses the 49-day extension to appellate deadlines, and makes it clear that the deadline for filing notices of appeal are no longer extended. It also specifically addresses the deadlines applicable to appeals that ripened between March 17 (the date of the Court’s prior order) and March 30 (the date of the consolidated Pandemic Management Order). For appeals that ripened during that timeframe, the appeal period began to run as of the date of the consolidated Pandemic Management order. This is an important clarification for appellate practitioners.
