Fournier v. Flats Indus., Inc.

298 A.3d 810

2023 ME 40

Brian J. FOURNIER

v.FLATS INDUSTRIAL, INC., et al.

Docket: BCD-22-312

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: May 10, 2023

Decided: July 25, 2023

Brendan P. Rielly, Esq. (orally), Jensen Baird, Portland, for appellant Brian J. Fournier

Brett R. Leland, Esq. (orally), Verrill Dana LLP, Portland, for appellees Flats Industrial, Inc., Beth Fournier, Douglas Fournier, and Patrick Fournier

Panel: STANFILL, C.J., and MEAD, JABAR, HORTON, CONNORS, LAWRENCE, and DOUGLAS, JJ.

HORTON, J.

[¶1] Brian Fournier, a shareholder of Flats Industrial, Inc., appeals from an order entered by the Business and Consumer Docket (Duddy, J. ) that dismissed two of three counts in Fournier's action against Flats and three other Flats shareholders, Beth Fournier, Patrick Fournier, and Douglas Fournier (collectively, the Fourniers). The parties later stipulated to the dismissal of the remaining count. Flats and the Fourniers contend that Fournier's notice of appeal was untimely filed. We agree and dismiss Fournier's appeal for lack of jurisdiction without reaching the issues raised in the appeal.

I. BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

[¶2] "The following substantive facts are taken from the allegations in the [operative] complaint and are viewed as if they were admitted, and the procedural facts are drawn from the record." 20 Thames St. LLC v. Ocean State Job Lot of Me. 2017 LLC , 2021 ME 33, ¶ 2, 252 A.3d 516 (citation omitted).

[¶3] Flats is incorporated in Delaware, has its principal place of business in Cleveland, Ohio, and owns a four-mile stretch of railroad in northern Ohio. Arthur Fournier was the sole shareholder of Flats until he died testate in 2013. When Arthur died, Flats's stock was conveyed to his family in the following manner: his four children, Fournier, Douglas, Patrick, and Catherine (who is not a party to this action), each received twelve and a half percent, and Arthur's widow, Beth, received the remaining fifty percent.¹ Fournier and the other shareholders all reside in Maine. Flats has several bank accounts in Maine.

[¶4] On February 18, 2020, and on other occasions since that date, Fournier requested to inspect and copy corporate records to determine the status and financial health of Flats and the value of the shares he owns. Fournier provided a written demand under oath as required by Del. Code Ann. tit. 8, § 220(b) (2023). Flats failed to make the requested documents available for inspection and copying.

[¶5] On or about July 13, 2020, Fournier made a written demand upon Flats to investigate and bring an action against the Fourniers for breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, and other wrongful acts. See Del. Ch. Ct. R. 23.1. Four days later, Fournier filed his initial complaint in this action. It contained two counts: (1) a claim in Count 1 against Flats for failing to disclose records in violation of Del. Code Ann. tit. 8, § 220(b) and (2) a claim in Count 2 against the Fourniers for breaching their fiduciary duty.² Flats and the Fourniers filed an answer with affirmative defenses. On February 11, 2021, the shareholders of Flats voted not to bring claims against the Fourniers. The Fourniers did not abstain from this vote.

[¶6] On March 4, 2021, Fournier amended his complaint with the court's permission, see M.R. Civ. P. 15(a), and without objection by the Fourniers. The first amended complaint repeated the two counts in the original complaint and added a third count asserting a derivative claim on behalf of the corporation against the Fourniers. On April 22, 2021, Fournier filed a second motion to amend his complaint. See M.R. Civ. P. 15(a). Although the Fourniers opposed the motion, the court again granted leave to amend on May 25, 2021. Fournier's second amended complaint—the operative complaint on appeal—contained the same three counts from the first amended complaint, with additional factual allegations to support the derivative claim in the third count. On June 4, 2021, Flats and the Fourniers filed a motion to dismiss Counts 2 and 3 of Fournier's second amended complaint, and Fournier opposed the motion. While the motion was pending, Fournier filed a third motion to amend his complaint to add a fourth count seeking appointment of a receiver pursuant to Del. Code Ann. tit. 8, § 291 (2023). Flats and the Fourniers opposed the motion. On August 12, 2021, the court denied Fournier's third motion to amend.[¶7] On September 20, 2021, the court granted Flats and the Fourniers’ motion to dismiss and the order was entered on the docket dismissing Counts 2 and 3 of Fournier's second amended complaint. The court's dismissal order, which is the subject of Fournier's appeal,³ left Count 1 of Fournier's second amended complaint—the claim against Flats based on alleged nondisclosure of records—as the only remaining claim for relief in the action.

[¶8] About a year later, on September 2, 2022, the parties filed and the court docketed a stipulation of dismissal of Count 1 of Fournier's second amended complaint, along with an agreed-upon motion for a protective order. The stipulation stated that Fournier and Flats, "pursuant to Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1)(ii), hereby stipulate to the dismissal of Count I of the operative Complaint in this matter—which is the sole remaining pending Count in this matter—with prejudice, without costs, expenses, fees, attorney's fees, and/or interest, and waiving all rights of appeal."⁴ The proposed order filed with the motion indicated that the purpose of the requested protective order was to preserve the confidentiality of "documents and/or information produced pursuant to Paragraph 4 of the Parties’ Release and Settlement Agreement ...." Four days after the stipulation of dismissal was docketed, the court granted the motion for protective order by signing the proposed protective order on September 6, 2022. On September 7, 2022, the protective order was entered on the docket. On September 26, 2022, twenty-four days after the stipulation of dismissal of Count 1 was filed and docketed and nineteen days after the court's protective order was docketed, Fournier filed a notice of appeal from the court's order dismissing Counts 2 and 3 of his second amended complaint. See 14 M.R.S. § 1851 (2023) ; M.R. App. P. 2B(c)(1).

[¶9] On October 24, 2022, Flats and the Fourniers moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that Fournier's notice of appeal was not filed within the twenty-one-day limit prescribed by the Maine Rules of Appellate Procedure. M.R. App. P. 2B(c)(1) ("The time within which an appeal may be taken in a civil case shall be 21 days after entry into the docket of the judgment or order appealed from, unless a shorter time is provided by law."). The motion to dismiss asserted that the appeal deadline began to run on September 2, 2022, when the stipulation of dismissal was filed and docketed. Fournier's opposition to the motion asserted that the appeal period began to run on September 7, 2022, when the court docketed the protective order. We ordered that the motion to dismiss the appeal be considered with the merits of the appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

[¶10] A notice of appeal must be filed within twenty-one days from the entry in the docket of a final judgment. See M.R. App. P. 2B(c)(1) ; Bourke v. City of S. Portland , 2002 ME 155, ¶ 3, 806 A.2d 1255. We require strict compliance with the time limits of M.R. App. P. 2B because it is a prerequisite to our jurisdiction to entertain an appeal.⁵ Bourke , 2002 ME 155, ¶ 4, 806 A.2d 1255.

[¶11] An appealable final judgment is a trial court decision that resolves all claims against all parties. See Kittery Point Partners, LLC v. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC , 2018 ME 35, ¶ 6, 180 A.3d 1091 ("Absent an exception to the final judgment rule, a trial court's decision is not appealable unless it resolves all claims against all parties."); Murphy v. Maddaus , 2002 ME 24, ¶¶ 12-13, 789 A.2d 1281. "It is the consummating effect that identifies an appealable final judgment." Estate of Kerwin , 2020 ME 116, ¶ 8, 239 A.3d 623 (quotation marks omitted).

[¶12] Flats and the Fourniers contend that Fournier's notice of appeal was untimely filed because the parties’ stipulation dismissing Fournier's sole remaining claim created an appealable final judgment—effective when the stipulation was docketed because the court did not need to approve the dismissal or enter a final judgment separately.

[¶13] We have noted that the filing and docketing of a stipulated dismissal of all remaining pending claims in a civil case pursuant to M.R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(ii) can create an appealable final judgment without any action by the court. See, e.g. , Larrabee v. Penobscot Frozen Foods, Inc. , 486 A.2d 97, 98-99 (Me. 1984) ; Camplin v. Town of York , 471 A.2d 1035, 1037 n.5 (Me. 1984) ; Fortney & Weygandt, Inc. v. Lewiston DMEP IX, LLC , 2019 ME 175, ¶ 11 n.7, 222 A.3d 613.⁶

[¶14] Fournier argues that his appeal is timely because the stipulation of dismissal and the motion for a protective order "were inextricably intertwined and, in fact, interdependent," meaning that the appeal period did not begin to run until the court had signed and docketed the proposed protective order. For four reasons, we do not agree.

[¶15] The first reason is that the continued pendency of a motion at or after the entry of judgment does not necessarily prevent the judgment from being final. See True v. Harmon , 2015 ME 14, ¶ 4 n.1, 110 A.3d 650 ("Although the court never explicitly ruled on Harmon's cross-motion to modify, the court's conclusion that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction functioned as a final judgment on all pending motions."). The second reason is that neither the stipulation nor the motion mentions the other. In other words, there is nothing in either indicating that the effect of the stipulation was intended to be conditioned on the granting of the motion, or that the docketing of the stipulation should be deferred until after the motion was granted. The third reason is that...