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Law court hears public access case
12.15.2011
PORTLAND — Six Maine counties are hoping the state's highest court will overturn a lower court decision that sided with a company seeking registry of deeds documents at a lower cost than the counties want to charge.
MacImage of Maine LLC, joined by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine and the Maine Freedom of Information Coalition, argued Tuesday that the registries of deeds' records are public under Maine law and that the public is allowed to inspect and copy those records at a reasonable cost.
The company intends to create a website containing the registries of deeds records and charge for access, undercutting the price charged by the counties' offices.
Sigmund Schutz, a local lawyer who represented MacImage, said a legislative effort to retroactively impose a different fee schedule for public records was unconstitutional.
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