Maine Revised Statutes

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 14, § 5954 (2026)

Construction and validity of statutes

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ME-LEGlegislature.maine.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Any person interested under a deed, will, written contract or other writings constituting a contract, or whose rights, status or other legal relations are affected by a statute, municipal ordinance, contract or franchise may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the instrument, statute, ordinance, contract or franchise and obtain a declaration of rights, status or other legal relations thereunder.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 45 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1974–2024 · leading case: James Blanchard v. Town of Bar Harbor, 2019 ME 168 (Me. 2019).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

James Blanchard v. Town of Bar Harbor, 2019 ME 168 (Me. 2019). · cites it 2× “See 14 M.R.S. § 5954 (2018). The parties submitted the matter to the Business and Consumer Docket on agreed statements of fact.”

Foremost Ins. Co. v. Levesque, 2005 ME 34 (Me. 2005). · cites it 2× “See 14 M.R.S.A. § 5954 (2003). [¶ 20] The issue is whether Foremost is entitled to the relief it sought in its complaint for declaratory relief: "that Foremost Insurance Company [be] relieved of any duty to indemnify Robert Levesque because liability for the injuries complained…”

Mundy Ex Rel. Pamela v. Simmons, 424 A.2d 135 (Me. 1980). · cites it 3× “The plaintiff, Patricia Mundy, instituted the instant action for declaratory judgment in the Superior Court, Cumberland County, as next friend of her five minor children by her deceased former husband, William Mun-dy, pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. § 5954. 1 She brought in as party…”

Hodgdon v. Campbell, 411 A.2d 667 (Me. 1980). “§§ 5951-63, is remedial in nature and should be liberally construed to provide a simple and effective means by which parties may secure a binding judicial determination of their legal rights, status or relations under statutes and written instruments where a justiciable…”

Roop v. City of Belfast, 915 A.2d 966 (Me. 2007). “[¶ 5] After the adoption of the amendments, the Roops and the citizen group Belfast First filed a complaint for a declaratory judgment pursuant to 14 M.R.S. § 5954 (2006), seeking a declaration that the new district is invalid because the process employed to enact it violated…”

Virginia Parker v. Dep't of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, 2024 ME 22 (Me. 2024). · cites it 2× “12(b)(6), their complaint for declaratory judgment brought under 14 M.R.S. § 5954 (2023). The Parkers’ complaint alleged that Maine’s longstanding Sunday hunting ban conflicts with the recently enacted right-to-food amendment to the Maine Constitution.”

Berry v. Daigle, 322 A.2d 320 (Me. 1974). · cites it 2× “Berry in 1972 or a declaration of such a right. This Court has decided that the Uniform Declaratory Judgments Act (codified in Maine under 14 M.”

F.S. Plummer Co. v. Town of Cape Elizabeth, 612 A.2d 856 (Me. 1992). “Plummer sought a declaratory judgment pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. §§ 5954 and 5957 (1980) and the issues underlying its petition seeking declaratory relief are the same as those that were argued before the court when the court undertook direct judicial review of the Town Council’s…”

Nugent v. Town of Camden, 1998 ME 92 (Me. 1998). “The complaint also sought a declaratory judgment, pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. § 5954 (1980), that the Town lacked the authority to adopt paragraph 5(G) that paragraph 5(G) violated Nugent’s constitutional rights to equal protection and due process.”

Hathaway v. City of Portland, 845 A.2d 1168 (Me. 2004). “may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the ... ordinance.”

Ingrid Doyon, Tr. of the Oscar Olson Jr. Trust v. Joseph J. Fantini, 2020 ME 77 (Me. 2020). “See 14 M.R.S. § 5954 (2020). In 2015, the parties filed cross motions for summary judgment, and the court concluded, inter alia, that summary 1 The name of “Marycliff Avenue” has since been changed to “Nubble Road.”

Cline v. Maine Coast Nordic, 1999 ME 72 (Me. 1999). “[¶ 6] In March of 1998, pursuant to 14 M.R.S.A. § 5954 (1980), the Clines filed this complaint for declaratory judgment, seeking clarification of the parties’ rights with respect to the fishing weir license and the aquaculture lease.”

Show all 45 citing cases →

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.