RULE 4A.

ATTACHMENT

(a) Availability of Attachment. In any action under these rules, real estate,
goods and chattels and other property may, in the manner and to the extent
provided by law, but subject to the requirements of this rule, be attached and held
to satisfy the judgment for damages and costs which the plaintiff may recover.
Attachment under this rule shall not be available before judgment in any action
against a consumer for a debt arising from a consumer credit transaction as defined
in the Maine Consumer Credit Code.

(b) Writ of Attachment: Form. The writ of attachment shall bear the
signature or facsimile signature of the clerk, be under the seal of the court, contain
the name of the court, the names and residences of the parties and the date of the
complaint, be directed to the sheriffs of the several counties or their deputies, and
command them to attach the goods or estate of the defendant to the value of a
specified amount ordered by the court, or to attach specific property of the
defendant designated by the court, and to make due return of the writ with their
doings thereon. The writ of attachment shall also state the name of the justice or
judge who entered the order approving attachment of property, if any, and the date
thereof.

(c) Same: Service. The writ of attachment may be procured in blank from
the clerk and shall be filled out by the plaintiffs attorney as provided in
subdivision (b) of this rule. The writ of attachment shall be served by a sheriff or a
deputy within the sheriffs county. The plaintiffs attorney shall deliver to the
officer making the attachment the original writ of attachment upon which to make
return and a copy thereof.

No property may be attached unless such attachment for a specified amount
is approved by order of the court. Except as provided in subdivision (g) of this
rule, the order of approval may be entered only after notice to the defendant and
hearing and upon a finding by the court that it is more likely than not that the
plaintiff will recover judgment, including interest and costs, in an amount equal to
or greater than the aggregate sum of the attachment and any liability insurance,
bond, or other security, and any property or credits attached by other writ of
attachment or by trustee process shown by the defendant to be available to satisfy
the judgment.

An attachment of property shall be sought by filing with the complaint a
motion for approval of the attachment. The motion shall be supported by affidavit
or affidavits meeting the requirements set forth in subdivision (i) of this rule.
Except as provided in subdivision (g) of this rule, the motion and affidavit or
affidavits with the notice of hearing thereon shall be served upon the defendant in
the manner provided by Rule 4 at the same time the summons and complaint are
served upon that defendant. In the case of an attachment approved ex parte as
provided in subdivision (g) of this rule, the defendant shall also be served with a
copy of the writ of attachment with the officers endorsement thereon of the date or
dates of execution of the attachment or, if attachment has been perfected by filing
under 14 M.R.S.A. 4154, with a copy of the order of approval with the
acknowledgment of the officer receiving the filing endorsed thereon.

A defendant opposing a motion for approval of attachment shall file material
in opposition as required by Rule 7(c). If the defendant is deemed to have waived
all objection to the motion as provided in Rule 7(c) for failure to file opposition
material within the time therein provided or as extended, the court shall, without
hearing, upon a finding that the plaintiff is entitled to an attachment under the
terms of this subdivision (c), enter an order of approval of attachment in an
appropriate amount.

Any attachment shall be made within 30 days after the order approving the
writ of attachment. When attachments are made subsequent to service of the
summons and complaint upon the defendant, a copy of the writ of attachment with
the officers endorsement thereon of the date or dates of the attachments shall be
promptly served upon the defendant in the manner provided by Rule 5. When an
attachment made subsequent to the service of the summons and complaint has been
perfected by filing under 14 M.R.S.A. 4154, a copy of the order of approval,
with the acknowledgment of the officer receiving the filing endorsed thereon, shall
be promptly served upon the defendant in the same manner.

(d) Approval of Limited Attachment or Substituted Security.

(1) Attachment of Specific Property. In the order approving an
attachment, the court shall specify that the attachment is to issue solely against
particular property or credits upon a showing by the defendant (A) that the
property or credits specified are available for attachment and would, if sold to
satisfy any judgment obtained in the action, yield to the plaintiff an amount at least
equal to the amount for which attachment is approved in accordance with the
criteria of subdivision (c), and (B) that the absence of such a limitation will result
in hardship to the defendant.

(2) Alternative Security for a Single Defendant. At the hearing on a
motion for approval of an attachment against the property of a single defendant,
the defendant may tender cash or bond at least equal to the amount of any
attachment to be approved in accordance with the criteria of subdivision (c). If the
court finds that the defendant has tendered cash in sufficient amount, it shall order
that amount to be deposited with the court as provided in Rule 67 to be held as
security for any judgment that the plaintiff may recover. If the court finds that the
defendant has tendered a bond of sufficient amount and duration and with
sufficient sureties, the court shall order the bond to be filed with the court. A
surety upon a bond filed under this rule is subject to the terms and conditions of
Rule 65(c). Upon such deposit or filing, the court shall further order that any prior
attachment against the defendant to satisfy a judgment on the claim for which
security has been tendered shall be dissolved. Thereafter, no further attachment
shall issue against the defendant except on motion of the plaintiff and a showing
that the cash deposited or bond filed has become inadequate or unavailable to
satisfy the judgment.

(3) Single Security for Multiple Defendants. At the hearing for
approval of attachment against the property of two or more defendants alleged to
be jointly and severally liable to the plaintiff, one or more of the defendants may
tender cash or bond sufficient, in the aggregate, to satisfy the total amount the
plaintiff would be entitled to recover upon execution against all such defendants.
Upon the findings required by paragraph (2) of this subdivision for a single
defendant, the court may order the cash to be deposited or the bond filed with the
court on the same conditions and with the same effect provided in that paragraph.

(e) Attachment on Counterclaim, Cross-Claim or Third-Party Complaint.
An attachment may be made by a party bringing a counterclaim, a cross-claim, or a
third-party complaint in the same manner as upon an original claim.

(f) Subsequent or Additional Attachment. If no writ of attachment has
issued, or if the time period prescribed in subdivision (c) of this rule for making
attachments has expired, the court on motion may issue an order of approval for
attachment of real estate, goods and chattels or other property. The provisions of
subdivisions (c), (d), and (g) of this rule apply to the motion and any attachment
ordered thereunder, except that notice if appropriate shall be served upon the
defendant in the manner provided in Rule 5.

(g) Ex Parte Hearings on Attachments. An order approving attachment of
property for a specific amount may be entered ex parte only in an action
commenced by filing the complaint with the court together with a motion for
approval of the attachment as provided in subdivision (c) of this rule. The hearing
on the motion shall be held forthwith. Such order shall issue if the court finds that
it is more likely than not that the plaintiff will recover judgment in an amount
equal to or greater than the aggregate sum of the attachment and any insurance,
bond, or other security, and any property or credits attached by other writ of
attachment or by trustee process known or reasonably believed to be available to
satisfy the judgment, and that either (i) there is a clear danger that the defendant if
notified in advance of attachment of the property will remove it from the state or
will conceal it or will otherwise make it unavailable to satisfy a judgment, or (ii)
there is immediate danger that the defendant will damage or destroy the property to
be attached. The motion for such ex parte order shall be accompanied by a
certificate by the plaintiffs attorney of the amount of any insurance, bond, or other
security, and any other attachment or trustee process which the attorney knows or
has reason to believe will be available to satisfy any judgment against the
defendant in the action. The motion, in the filing of which the plaintiffs attorney
shall be subject to the obligations of Rule 11, shall be supported by affidavit or
affidavits meeting the requirements set forth in subdivision (i) of this rule.

(h) Dissolution or Modification of Attachments. On 2 days notice to the
plaintiff or on such shorter notice as the court may prescribe, any person having an
interest in property that has been attached pursuant to an ex parte order entered
under subdivision (g) of this rule may appear, without thereby submitting to the
personal jurisdiction of the court, and move the dissolution or modification of the
attachment, and in that event the court shall proceed to hear and determine such
motion as expeditiously as the ends of justice require. At such hearing the plaintiff
shall have the burden of justifying any finding in the ex parte order that the moving
party has challenged by affidavit.

Upon motion and notice and a showing by any defendant that specific
property or sufficient cash or bond is available to satisfy a judgment as provided in
subdivision (d) of this rule, the court may modify an order of attachment, whether
issued ex parte or after hearing, to limit the attachment to particular property or to
order cash or bond to be held by the court as security for the judgment, and to
dissolve the prior attachment as to all other property of the defendant. If a prior
attachment has been perfected as to property specified in the modified order, the
modified order shall relate back to the original attachment.

Nothing herein shall be construed to abolish or limit any means for obtaining
dissolution, modification or discharge of an attachment that is otherwise available
by law.

(i) Requirements for Affidavits. Affidavits required by this rule shall set
forth specific facts sufficient to warrant the required findings and shall be upon the
affiants own knowledge, information or belief; and, so far as upon information
and belief, shall state that the affiant believes this information to be true.

Advisory Committees Notes
May 1, 2000

The specific statutory citation in subdivision (a) is replaced by the general
reference to the Maine Consumer Credit Code so that the Rules are not impacted
by statutory changes.

Advisory Committees Notes
1993

Rule 4A(c) as amended effective February 15, 1992, is further amended to
eliminate the 10-day period for filing material in opposition to a motion. Under the
amended rule, filing will be subject to the 21-day period provided by Rule 7(c) for
all types of motions. Experience under the rule as originally adopted indicated that
the 10-day period was unrealistically short for parties to obtain counsel, in light of
the 20 days allowed for answer. The change will not significantly affect the
purpose of the 1992 amendment to assure expeditious proceedings.

Advisory Committees Notes
1992

Rule 4A is amended in a number of respects to address growing concerns of
both bench and bar that the standards for granting attachment were not stringently
or consistently applied and that the procedure was too cumbersome. Simultaneous
amendments to the same effect have been made in Rule 4B. Forms 6.10 and 6.20
are simultaneously amended for conformity with the amendments to Rules 4A and
4B.

Rule 4A(b) is amended to make the writ of attachment consistent with
existing provision of Rule 4A(c) that an order granting an attachment fixes the
amount of the attachment and to take into account the prospect that under new
Rule 4A(d)(1) an order granting an attachment may be limited to specific property.

Rule 4A(c) is amended to change the reasonable likelihood standard to
one requiring a showing that it is more likely than not that the plaintiff will
recover judgment in an amount that equals or exceeds the aggregate sum of the
attachment sought and other available security. The latter phrase is included in the
amendment to make clear that the amount to be approved for attachment is the
difference between the amount of the potential judgment that the court finds to be
more likely than not and the other security.

The change in the standard for attachment responds to prevailing concerns
that attachments are too freely given under the existing standard. The reasonable
likelihood standard was intended only as a constitutional minimum. See M.R.
Civ. P.. 4A Advisory Committees Note to January 1973 amendment, 1 Field,
McKusick & Wroth, Maine Civil Practice 62 (2d ed. Supp. 1981). As the Law
Court has recently affirmed, that standard requires only that the plaintiff claim is
not of such insubstantial character that its invalidity so clearly appears as to
foreclose a reasonable possibility of recovery, and abuse of discretion in the trial
court application of the standard will be found only where the record shows that
the plaintiff had virtually no chance of recovery on the claim. Bay of Naples
Condominium Assn v. Lewis, 582 A.2d 1210, 1212 (Me. 1990), quoting Northeast
Inv. Co. v. Leisure Living Communities, Inc., 351 A.2d 845, 852 (Me. 1976);
Herrick v. Theberge, 474 A.2d 870, 874 (Me. 1984). See also Precision
Communications, Inc. v. Rodrigue, 451 A.2d 300, 301 (Me. 1982); DiPietro v.
Casco N. Bank, 490 A.2d 215, 218 (Me. 1985); Barrett v. Stewart, 456 A.2d 10, 11
(Me. 1983); Anderson v. Kennebec River Pulp & Paper Co., 433 A.2d 752, 756
(Me. 1981).

The present amendment is adopted as a matter of policy rather than
constitutional mandate. The constitutional minimum has not changed. See
Connecticut v. Doehr, --- U.S. ---, 111 S.Ct. 2105, 2114, 115 L.Ed.2d 1 (1991).
The purpose of the increased standard is to strike a more even balance between
plaintiff and defendant in the use of attachment. Its effectiveness in achieving this
goal will be subject to continuing review.

Under the reasonable likelihood standard, it was expressly held that
plaintiffs need not show that it was more likely than not that they would prevail.
See Northeast Inv. Co. v. Leisure Living Communities, Inc., supra; Bowman v.
Dussault, 425 A.2d 1325, 1328 (Me. 1981). Under the amended standard that
showing will be required. A moving party must show a greater than 50% chance
of prevailing. This change in the threshold for obtaining an attachment, which
applies to the showing of success on both liability and damage issues, will not
cause the procedure for obtaining an attachment to be more complicated. No other
change in the practice is intended. The type of evidence to be submitted will be the
same as under existing law. The required showing is to be made through
affidavits; there is no right to an evidentiary hearing. Atlantic Heating Co., Inc. v.
John Lavin, 572 A.2d 478, 479 (Me. 1990). As under existing law, specificity is
required in the showing for the amount of the attachment, and this amount cannot
be offset by claims of the non-moving party. See Casco N. Bank, N.A., et al. v.
New England Sales, Inc., et al., 573 A.2d 795, 797 (Me. 1990).

To expedite proceedings, Rule 4A(c) is further amended to provide a kind of
default procedure. An attachment in an appropriate amount will be ordered
without hearing if there is no opposition filed in accordance with Rule 7(c) within
ten days after service of the motion and if the plaintiff affidavit shows on its face
that the claimed recovery is more likely than not.

The Advisory Committee originally proposed that Rule 4A(c) also be
amended by adding provisions requiring plaintiff to schedule a hearing with the
clerk and providing that the hearing on an attachment with notice should be
scheduled on an expedited basis, at the earliest possible date requested by the
plaintiff more than 20 days after service on the defendant. See Advisory
Committee on Civil Rules, Annual Report, p. 2 and Appendix A (10/29/91). The
proposed amendment was intended to eliminate extensive delays in obtaining
hearings on notice that had caused counsel to seek ex parte attachments in cases
where they were not necessary or warranted. The Court, recognizing the need for
expedited hearings, prefers to achieve the goal by administrative means. If delays
persist, the Court will consider appropriate further amendment of the rule.

A new Rule 4A(d) is added concerning the attachment of specific property
and substitution of security. Rule 4A(d)(1) explicitly requires the motion justice to
limit the attachment to certain specific property or credits upon a showing by the
defendant that the property or credits offered by the defendant are adequate and
available to satisfy the judgment and that, otherwise, hardship to defendant will
result. The showing of adequacy should value the offered property under the
assumption that a sale may take place upon execution of a judgment. Under
present law, the Superior Court has some limited discretion to select particular
property or credits to be attached but is not required to exercise that discretion.
Compare Maine National Bank v. Anderschat, 462 A.2d 482 (Me. 1983), with
Sinclair v. Anderson, 473 A.2d 872, 874-75 (Me. 1984). The amendment is
intended to prevent inequities that may arise if the motion justice cannot specify
limitations on the attachment upon an appropriate showing of the defendant.
However, the defendant must justify the need to go through that exercise based on
a showing that prejudice would occur in the absence of such limitations.

New Rule 4A(d)(2) permits substitution of a bond or cash for an attachment
consistent with the bonding provision of 14 M.R.S.A. 4613. The amendment
makes clear that this substitution can occur before the fact, at the attachment
hearing, as well as after the attachment has actually been issued. The paragraph
also sets forth procedural guidelines, incorporating existing provisions of Rules 67
and 65(c).

New Rule 4A(d)(3) allows a single bond or cash to be substituted for
multiple attachments against defendants alleged to be jointly and severally liable to
the plaintiff on a single debt. The intent of the provision is to eliminate the
potential for over-securing a single debt, which can occur under present law. See
Chase Commercial Corp. v. Hamilton & Son, 473 A.2d 1281 (Me. 1984).

The remaining subdivisions of the rule are redesignated (e) through (i).

Redesignated Rule 4A(f) is amended to make clear that the provisions of
new Rule 4A(d) for limitation to specific property and substitution of security
apply to additional or subsequent attachments.

Redesignated Rule 4A(g), covering hearings on attachments, is amended to
provide that the hearing on an ex parte motion should be held forthwith; to
substitute the more likely than not standard for the reasonable likelihood
showing; and to incorporate the aggregate sum language of amended Rule 4A(c).

Redesignated Rule 4A(h) is amended to allow an existing attachment,
whether ex parte or on notice, to be modified by substitution of specific property,
cash or bond in the manner provided by new Rule 4A(d) for obtaining initial
attachments.

Advisory Committees Notes
1991

Rule 4A(c) is amended for consistency with new M.R. Civ. P.. 4(c) adopted
simultaneously. Under that Rule, service of the summons and complaint may now
be made by mail with notice and acknowledgement. The present amendment
makes clear that a writ of attachment may be served only by a sheriff or deputy.
See Rule 4A(b).

Advisory Committees Notes
1988

Rule 4A(c) is amended for consistency with 14 M.R.S.A. 4154, as
amended by P.L. 1983, ch. 125; P.L. 1985, ch. 187. That section now permits real
or personal property subject to attachment to be attached by filing an attested copy
of the courts order of approval in the registry of deeds for the county where real
property is located or, for personal property, in the filing office appropriate under
11 M.R.S.A. 9-401(l). The order is to be filed within 30 days after its entry
unless the court allows additional time on motion. Recording or filing fees are to
be paid as for other documents. The statute expressly provides that filing
constitutes perfection of the attachment and requires service of a copy of the court
order upon the defendant in accordance with the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure
pertaining to service of writs of attachment.

The amendment to the rule addresses two questions. First, it provides, in the
third paragraph of subdivision (c), that when an attachment which has been ordered
ex parte is perfected by filing under the statute, the defendant is to be served with a
copy of the order of approval containing the filing officers acknowledgement of
receipt, rather than with the writ of attachment itself. The second situation is that
in which an attachment is made after the filing of the summons and complaint,
whether upon ex parte order or after order of approval granted upon motion and
affidavits served with the summons and complaint. In such a case, when the
attachment has been perfected by filing under the statute, an amendment to the
fourth paragraph of subdivision (c) provides that a copy of the order of approval
with acknowledgement of filing is to be served upon the defendant in the same
manner as a copy of the writ and return are served in the case of a possessory
attachment.

In both situations, the effect of the statute is that no writ of attachment is
prepared. It is service of the order, rather than the writ, which gives the defendant
notice of the attachment.

Advisory Committees Notes
1981

Rule 4A(c) as originally promulgated required that an action in which
attachment was sought could be commenced only by filing the complaint -- the
second method provided in Rule 3. Experience under the rule has shown that there
is no practical purpose to this limitation and that inconvenience arises from it.
Accordingly, Rule 4A(c) is amended to permit the action to be commenced by
either service or filing. Whichever method is used, the procedure is the same: the
motion for approval of attachment and its supporting affidavits must be filed with
the complaint and served with the summons and complaint, regardless of the order
in which these steps are taken. Of course, attachment subsequent to the
commencement of the action may still be had under Rule 4A(e).

Rule 4A(c) is also amended to make clear that for attachment to be
appropriate a plaintiffs probable recovery must exceed the amount, not only of
available liability insurance, but of any other fund available to satisfy the
judgment.

Rule 4(f) is amended to take account of the decision in Shaffer v. Heitner,
433 U.S. 186 (1977), that attachment of assets at the commencement of an action is
no longer a constitutionally valid way of obtaining jurisdiction over a nonresident
in the absence of any other contacts with the state. See Advisory Committees
Note to simultaneous amendment of Rule 4(f).

The present amendment deletes as a ground for ex parte attachment the fact
that the defendant is not personally subject to the jurisdiction. That provision is no
longer needed or appropriate, because under Shaffer the fact of absence by itself
will not support jurisdiction. In a case in which under the long-arm statute,
14 M.R.S.A. 704-A, defendant is subject to jurisdiction and service, he can be
served personally under Rule 4 (e), by mail if appropriate under amended Rule 4
(f), or by publication if necessary under Rule 4(g). Attachment can then be sought
on notice and hearing under Rule 4A(c). Only if there is danger that defendant will
abscond with or imperil the security, may ex parte attachment issue under Rule
4A(f) as here amended.

Rule 4A(f) is also amended for consistency with the simultaneous
amendment of Rule 4A(c). The amendment limits the availability of ex parte
attachment to actions commenced by filing the complaint -- except when
subsequent attachment is appropriate under Rule 4A(e). The amended rule makes
clear that the court must have the complaint before it when it passes on an ex parte
motion for attachment and that the motion must be acted upon before it is served
on defendant.

Rule 4A(g) is amended to make clear that an ex parte attachment obtained
under Rule 4A(f) may be quashed by a person other than the defendant if that
person has an interest in the property.

Advisory Committee's Note
September 1, 1980

This rule is amended to conform to statutory requirements. The Uniform
Consumer Credit Code, 9-A M.R.S.A. 5.104, expressly forbids attachment or
garnishment before judgment "in an action against the consumer for debt arising
from a consumer credit transaction." A creditor authorizing such a procedure may
be subject to penalties under 9-A M.R.S.A. 5.201. A consumer credit transaction
is defined by 9-A M.R.S.A. 1.301(12) as "a consumer credit sale, consumer lease
or consumer loan or a modification thereof including a refinancing, consolidation
or deferral." Definitions of "consumer credit sale", "consumer lease", and
"consumer loan", 1.301(11), (13), (14), make clear that these are non-business
transactions.

Advisory Committee's Note
April 15, 1975

This amendment cures a practical problem that has arisen in the use of Rules
4A and 4B. A comparable change is being made simultaneously in the latter rule.
These amendments will be applicable in the District Court as well, because the
Civil Rules are incorporated by District Court Rules 4A and 4B.

Rules 4A and 4B as originally promulgated and as amended in 1973 treated
attachment and trustee process as incident to the commencement of an action.
Accordingly, subsequent attachment was available under Rules 4A(e) and 4B(g)
only when such process had been employed at the outset. Since under the
amended rules neither property nor credits of any kind may be attached without
hearing and consequent expense and delay, it is no longer feasible for plaintiffs to
commence virtually every action with an attachment, as was common in prior
practice. A plaintiff who has not attached, however, has no protection against
changes in the debtor's financial position and is unable to attach assets discovered
or acquired after the action is commenced. The present amendments to Rules 4A
and 4B are intended to remedy that situation by making attachment and trustee
process available in circumstances where they are otherwise appropriate not only at
the commencement of the action but at any time during the pendency of the action
in the Superior Court.

Rule 4A(a) is amended to eliminate the limitation of attachment to the
commencement of the action.

Rule 4A(c) is amended to provide that to approve an attachment the courts
must find that the plaintiff is likely to recover an amount in excess not only of
defendant's liability insurance but of any other attachments under this rule or Rule
4B. The new provision applies whether other attachments have been made
previously or are being made simultaneously with. the attachment before the court.
The amendment thus requires an aggregating of all assets available that was not
required in former practice. The effect is to prevent plaintiffs from combining a
series of motions for attachment and trustee process that would encumber more of
defendant's assets than are necessary to secure the judgment.

Amended Rule 4A(e) provides for two distinct types of attachment after the
action has commenced. "Subsequent" attachment may be approved by the court at
any time, if no attachment has previously issued under this rule. "Additional"
attachment may be approved if attachment has previously issued either at the
commencement of the action. under subdivisions (c) or (f) or subsequently or
additionally under this subdivision. As under former Rule 4A(3), "additional"
attachment is appropriate only after expiration of the time for making an
attachment already issued. Other changes in the subdivision make clear that the
motion .and findings upon which the court may approve subsequent or additional
attachment are the same as those required at the commencement of the action. The
motion may either be on notice under subdivision (c) or ex parte under subdivision
(f) according to the circumstances of the case. The only difference with procedure
at the commencement of the action is that, under the present subdivision, notice to
the defendant if otherwise required may be given under Rule 5 rather than Rule 4,
because he has already appeared.

The amendment is silent as to the availability of subsequent or additional
attachment after judgment and pending appeal. Although an order of attachment
presumably may be granted during the automatic 30-day stay of execution
provided by Rule 62(a) and thereafter if an appeal is taken, an order for immediate
execution or bond in lieu thereof under Rule 62(c), or commencement of disclosure
proceedings under 14 M.R.S.A. 3121 et seq., may be more effective remedies. If
there is an appeal, the power of the Superior. Court to act is terminated by the
transmission of the record to the Law Court under Rule 74(p). In an extreme
situation, however, the Law Court might be persuaded to exercise its inherent
power, reserved under Rule 62(g), "to preserve . . . the effectiveness of the
judgment." On remand to the Superior Court for new trial, that court regains the
power to order subsequent or additional attachment under amended Rule 4A(e).

Rule 4A(f) is amended for consistency with the amendment of Rule 4A(c).
At the same time subdivision (f) is amended to provide that an ex parte order for
attachment is available if "there is a clear danger that the defendant if notified in
advance of attachment of the property will . . . make it unavailable to satisfy a
judgment." The quoted language is from item (ii) as amended and recognizes the
practical fact that the defendant if forewarned may sell or encumber the property.
The amendment generalizes on the occasions (previously only threatened removal
from the state, concealment or destruction) when an attachment may be obtained
without notice to the defendant. Both the affidavit filed with a motion for such an
ex parte order and also the finding of the court should identify with specificity the
nature of the action the defendant is in danger of taking if forewarned.

Advisory Committees Note
August 1, 1973

These amendments, and the simultaneous amendments of Form 2, Alternate
Form 2, and Forms 2D through 2G, are made for the purpose of applying to real
estate attachments the identical procedures required on personal property
attachments by the amendments which became effective on January 1, 1973.
Those January 1, 1973, amendments, as explained in the accompanying Advisory
Committee's Notes, did not go beyond the requirements of the cases previously
decided in the First Circuit. At that time Gunter v. Merchants Warren Nat. Bank,
360 F.Supp. 1085 (D.Me.1973), testing the constitutionality of the Maine real
estate attachment procedure, was pending before a three-judge district court in the
District of Maine. On June 25, 1973, that court decided the Gunter case and a
companion case, Lake Arrowhead Estates, Inc. v. Cumming, 360 F.Supp. 1085
(D.Me.1973), holding that a defendant is constitutionally entitled to the same prior
notice and opportunity to be heard on a real estate attachment as on a personal
property attachment and on trustee process. The present amendment brings the
real estate attachment procedure into conformity with the requirements of due
process as construed by the three-judge federal district court. All of the procedures
which previously applied only to "attachments of property other than real estate"
will hereafter apply generally to "attachments".

Advisory Committee Note
January 1, 1973

The amendment of this rule, as well as the simultaneous amendments to
Rule 4B, Rule, 64 and the associated official forms, are made for the purpose of
complying with the constitutional requirement of notice and hearing on mesne
process as recently laid down by the United States Supreme Court in Fuentes v.
Shevin, 407 U.S. 67, 92 S.Ct. 1983, 32 L.Ed.2d 556 (1972) [rehearing denied 409
U.S. 902, 93 S.Ct. 177, 34 L.Ed.2d 165], and subsequent decisions of three-judge
federal district courts in the First Circuit, namely, McClellan v. Commercial Credit
Corp., 350 F.Supp. 1013 (D.R.I.1972) [affirmed sub nom. Georges v. McClellan,
409 U.S. 1120, 93 S.Ct. 935, 35 L.Ed.2d 253 (1973)], and Schneider v.
Margossian, 349 F.Supp. 741 (D.Mass.1972) . Each of those cases --Fuentes
(replevin), McClellan (tangible personal property attachment) and Schneider
(trustee process)--held that mesne process of a type similar to that used in Maine
was constitutionally deficient for failure to give the defendant notice and
opportunity to be heard. There is now pending before a three-judge district court
in the District of Maine a case testing the constitutionality of real estate
attachments in Maine, which attachments by recording in registries of deeds have
continued to be made, at least in Cumberland County and some other counties of
the State. Gunter v. Merchants Warren Nat. Bank, Civil Action Docket No. 13-
117, now pending in the District of Maine (real estate attachment) [360 F.Supp.
1085 (1973)].

The constitutional deficiency of the existing rules in regard to personal
property attachment, trustee process and replevin cannot be ignored, and the
pertinent rules are here promptly amended in order to provide the notice and
hearing that are constitutionally required. The amendments do not, however, go
beyond the requirements of the decided cases. The amendment of Rule 4A does
not modify the procedures for making real estate attachments. Fuentes and the
cases thus far decided in the First Circuit do not in terms outlaw real estate
attachments which do not disturb the defendant's possession. of the attached
property. The Committee also wishes to avoid causing any prejudice to either
party in the pending Gunter case, supra. No inference, one way or the other, as to
the views of members of this Committee on the merits of the Gunter case is to be
drawn from the retention of the present rule as to real estate attachments.

Furthermore, the amendments of these rules do not go beyond the decided
cases in that they do not completely eliminate personal property attachment or
trustee process, as has been urged upon the Committee by some members of the
Bar. These mesne attachment procedures have been a part of the legislative policy
of Maine and Massachusetts since the Colonial Ordinances of the 17th Century
(see the history of attachment in Massachusetts and Maine set forth in McInnes v.
McKay, 127 Me. 110, 141 A. 699 (1928), affirmed McKay v. McInnes, 279 U.S.
820, 49 S.Ct. 344, 73 L.Ed. 975 (1929), limited in Fuentes, supra at n. 23), and
were reexamined as recently as the 1971 Legislature, L.D. 1614, after Sniadach v.
Family Finance Corp. of Bay View, 395 U.S. 337, 89 S.Ct. 1820, 23 L.Ed.2d 349
(1969), had held trustee process of wages without prior notice and hearing to be
unconstitutional. This matter will almost certainly be the subject of debate in the
1973 Legislature where the whole policy question may be fully debated in
committee hearings and on the floor of the two houses by interested members of
the public.

_______

The finding which the Superior Court justice must make before approving
attachment of property other than real estate is "that there is a reasonable likelihood
that the plaintiff will recover judgment, including interest and costs, in an amount
equal to or greater than the amount of the attachment . . . . This finding wraps
into itself both a finding of probable cause to believe that the plaintiff will succeed
on the merits of the dispute and a finding that the attachment is reasonable in
amount. The Fuentes, McClellan and Schneider cases, supra, do not require any
greater showing. The Fuentes case at footnote 33 states:

Leeway remains to develop a form of hearing that will minimize unnecessary cost
and delay while preserving the fairness and effectiveness of the hearing in
preventing seizures of goods where the party seeking the writ has little probability
of succeeding on the merits of the dispute." (Emphasis added)

Immediately thereafter the Fuentes decision quotes with approval the
concurring opinion of Justice Harlan in the Sniadach case as follows:

[D]ue process is afforded only by the kinds of 'notice' and 'hearing' which
are aimed at establishing the validity, or at least the probable validity, of the
underlying claim against the alleged debtor before he can be deprived of his
property . . . . (First emphasis added, second in original) (92 S.Ct. at 2002-03)

Similarly the three-judge District Court in Schneider, holding a hearing prior
to attachment on trustee process to be constitutionally required, stated:

"Absent some such justification, reflecting an 'important governmental or general
public interest', however, a defendant's property could not be subject to attachment
unless he had an opportunity to contest at least the probable validity of the
underlying claim before the attachment." (Emphasis added)

There is nothing in this cases to indicate that the Constitution requires the
additional showing "that there is good cause for the attachment", as required in
Vermont Rule 4.1 (personal property attachment) and Vermont Rule 4.2 (trustee
process). The Vermont Reporter's Note to its Rule 4.1 explained the "good cause"
requirement of the rule as follows: "it may be assumed that a showing that
defendant is beyond the reach of process or is about to dissipate assets or take
some other step that would frustrate satisfaction of a judgment will be necessary".
These showings may well be necessary to justify an ex parte order approving an
attachment, as provided by the present amendments which add subdivision (f) to
Rule 4A and subdivision (h) to Rule 4B, but the decided cases do not lay down any
constitutional requirement of such showing in an adversary hearing on the
proposed attachment.

The required finding "that there is a reasonable likelihood that the plaintiff
will recover judgment, including interest and costs, in an amount equal to or
greater than the amount of the attachment" does, however, require more than a
mere finding that plaintiff makes out a prima facie case or that there is probable
ground to support plaintiff's claim. The defendant has an opportunity through
affidavits and other evidence under oath to contradict the plaintiff's initial showing
of "reasonable likelihood" through contrary evidence and through the assertion of
affirmative defenses such as the statute of limitations or discharge in bankruptcy.

Also the amount of the attachment must be reduced to the extent of any
liability insurance which the defendant shows is available to satisfy any judgment
that may be obtained against him in the action. Although this provision of the
amendment in its specificity goes beyond the decided cases, it is consistent with
the constitutional requirement declared by Fuentes that any attachment (including
its amount) be supported by a "probable cause" type finding by the court after
hearing the defendant. It is the defendant that has the burden of establishing to the
satisfaction of the court the amount of liability insurance that will be available. In
situations where potentially there are multiple claimants against a single liability
insurance fund, this showing by the defendant may be very difficult if not
impossible. In Rule 4A(f) providing for ex parte approval of attachment in certain
specified special situations, the plaintiff's attorney is required to certify, subject to
the obligations of Rule 11, the amount of liability insurance that he knows or has
reason to believe will be available.

The procedure in commencing an action will be unchanged by the
amendments of Rule 4A if the plaintiff does not seek to go beyond an attachment
of real estate. On the other hand, if the attachment of either tangible personal
property or attachment on trustee process is desired, the new procedures as
specified in the amendments to Rules 4A and 4B must be followed. In a case
where one or both of those forms of attachment are sought, the action can be
commenced only by the method of filing the complaint with the court, the second
method specified in Rule 3. Along with the complaint there will be filed a motion
for approval of the attachment supported by one or more affidavits setting forth
specific facts showing that there is a reasonable likelihood that the plaintiff will
recover in judgment at least as much as the attachment. In many instances the
plaintiff will seek approval for both attachment of tangible personal property and
attachment on trustee process. The motions for approval of both forms of
attachment may be combined as a single motion and the official form that is added
simultaneously with the amendment of Rules 4A and 4B, namely, Form 2D, as
well as the order thereon, Form 2E contemplate the combination of both motions.

The next step will be service on the defendant of the summons and
complaint, together with the motion for approval of attachment, with the
supporting affidavits. A real estate attachment may also have been made even
prior to filing the complaint with the court ; and if so, the copy of the writ of
attachment with the officer's endorsement of the date of the real estate attachment
must also be served on the defendant at the same time as the summons and
complaint. The notice of hearing (see new Form 2D) also served upon the
defendant will state the time and date of the hearing on the motion, which in
accordance with Rule 6(d) must be not sooner than seven days after service on the
defendant. Also by Rule 6(d) the defendant should file any opposing affidavits not
later than one day before the hearing. The court may hear the motion on the
affidavits presented by the parties, but is also authorized by Rule 43(e) to hear the
matter partly on oral testimony, and, in the event that the defendant appears at the
hearing with witnesses ready to testify, reasonable opportunity should be accorded
the defendant to present such evidence consistent with "minimiz[ing] unnecessary
cost and delay" (Fuentes, supra, n. 33). Upon making the required finding of
"reasonable likelihood" the judge will sign the order approving the attachment,
which order may combine approval of trustee process under Rule 4B. See Form
2E. The motion for an approval order may be granted by default if the defendant
does not file counter affidavits or otherwise appear.

After court approval of the attachment and/or trustee process, the plaintiff's
attorney will, as now, fill out the writ of attachment and/or the trustee summons
which he has procured in blank from the clerk. However, under the amendment of
Rules 4A(b) and 4B(b), both the writ of attachment and the trustee summons
contain a specific recitation of the amount of attachment approved by the court, the
name of the justice of the court granting the order of approval, and the date of the
order. See the additions made to Forms 2 and 2A and Alternate Form 2 and
Alternate Form 2A. Any attachment of personal property or on trustee process
must be made within 30 days after the order approving the attachment subject, as at
present, to the court's permitting a subsequent attachment on motion and notice and
for cause shown. See Rule 4A(e); cf. Rule 4B(g). Any such order for additional
attachments will of course also require the same finding of "reasonable likelihood"
and may be granted ex parte on a proper showing by affidavit.

The addition of subdivision (f) to Rule 4A, and the simultaneous addition of
subdivision (h) to Rule 4B, make a limited exception to the constitutional
requirements for notice and hearing where necessary to serve an important
governmental or general public interest. Fuentes recognized, at note 23, that no
notice and hearing are required where the defendant is not subject to personal
jurisdiction of the courts of the state so that attachment is necessary for the state
court to secure quasi-in-rem jurisdiction, called by Fuentes "clearly a most basic
and important public interest." Fuentes cited Ownbey v. Morgan, 256 U.S. 94, 41
S.Ct. 433, 65 L.Ed. 837 (1921). The Ownbey case involved the situation where the
defendant could not be served personally within the state. Our Maine "long arm"
statute substantially extends the jurisdiction of Maine courts over out-of-state
defendants as to causes of action having the required nexus with Maine, see 1
Maine Civil Practice 4.10, and in the same measure restricts the availability of ex
parte attachment orders. Although Rule 4A (f)(i) speaks of "the person of the
defendant", obviously the defendant may be a corporation and an ex parte order for
attachment may be rendered against a corporate defendant which is beyond the
personal jurisdiction of the court. Very recently the Delaware Chancery Court,
citing Fuentes and also Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 379, 91 S.Ct. 780, 28
L.Ed.2d 113, 119 (1971) [conformed to 329 F.Supp. 844 (D.Conn.)], which
recognized "extraordinary situations where some valid governmental interest is at
stake that justifies postponing the hearing until after the event," held that the state's
interest in aiding its citizens in prosecuting claims against nonresidents with
property in the state justified ex parte attachment of Delaware property owned by a
foreign corporation sued in a stockholder's derivative suit. Gordon v. Michel, 41
U.S.L.W. 2264 (Del.Chan.Ct., Oct. 24, 1972). Prior notice and hearing would, the
Delaware court said, permit the defendant to defeat a "most basic and important
public interest." Ibid.

Under Rules 4A(f) and 4B(h) the second ground for permitting an ex parte
order of approval, that is, where there is a clear danger that the defendant will
conceal the property to be attached or will remove it from the state if given prior
notice of the attachment, has much the same purpose as the old ne exeat writ,
namely, the protection of the power of the court to enforce a judgment in the
action. The Fuentes case, in recognizing that special situations may demand
prompt action, points by way of illustration to "cases in which a creditor could
make a showing of immediate danger that a debtor will destroy or conceal disputed
goods." (92 S.Ct. at 2000-01) The third ground stated in Rule 4A(f) for permitting
an ex parte order approving an attachment is where "there is immediate danger that
the defendant will damage or destroy the property to be attached."

Except for the elimination of notice to the defendant and of an adversary
hearing, the procedure for obtaining ex parte an order of approval of personal
property attachment or of trustee process is generally the same as for an adversary
hearing. However, the plaintiff's attorney is required to certify to the court the
amount of any liability insurance which he knows or has reason to believe will be
available. Furthermore the plaintiff's attorney is, in filing the motion for an ex
parte order with the supporting affidavits, subject to the obligations of Rule 11;
that is, he certifies "that to the best of his knowledge, information and belief there
is good ground to support it." In any event, the absence of any notice to the
defendant and any opportunity for him to be heard puts an extra obligation upon
the court to scrutinize with particular care the affidavits presented by the plaintiff
on the "reasonable likelihood" issue.

Subdivision (g) of Rule 4A, and subdivision (i) of Rule 4B, are added in
order to give the defendant whose property is attached without notice an
opportunity to get the plaintiff promptly into court to justify the attachment. The
ex parte order approving attachment is closely analogous to a temporary restraining
order issued ex parte under Rule 65(a). The defendant whose property is attached
is given a similar opportunity to move its dissolution or modification, and at the
hearing on that motion there is put on the plaintiff the burden of justifying any of
the findings in the ex parte order which the defendant challenges by affidavit.
Fairness requires that a defendant beyond the reach of process be able to challenge
an ex parte attachment order without thereby submitting to personal jurisdiction,
and Rule 4A(g) and Rule 4B(i) so provide. Also, the defendant whose demand
bank account is trusteed on an ex parte order is given a $100 exemption
representing living expenses pending the hearing on a dissolution. or modification
hearing. See Advisory Committee's Note to Rule 4B(h).

The modification and dissolution procedures of Rule 4A(g) and Rule 4B(i)
apply to personal property attachments and to attachments on ex parte orders. Real
estate attachments are also made subject to modification or dissolution on an
expedited hearing. These rules are in addition to any other means which are
available for obtaining dissolution, modification or discharge of attachments, see,
e. g., 1.4 M.R.S.A. 4601-13, and each of the new provisions expressly excludes
any intention to abolish or limit those other remedies.

Rule 4A(h) setting forth the required contents of affidavits filed in support of
motions for attachment is drawn from the comparable provision of Rule 65(a)
relating to affidavits in support of motions for temporary restraining orders. Rule
4B relating to trustee process and Rule 64 relating to replevin require the same
contents for affidavits filed under those rules. It is to be noted that the affidavits
must set forth specific facts sufficient to warrant the required findings.
Compliance with this requirement may well be difficult with reference to the
danger of removal or concealment of the property. It is contemplated that the
plaintiff must show specific facts applicable to the particular case and not merely
rely upon the possibility, present in every case, that the property to be attached
may be removed or concealed if prior notice to the defendant is given.

Explanation of Amendment
February 1, 1960

The amendment eliminated the necessity for the officer to transcribe a
complete copy of his return of service on the copy of the writ of attachment which
he delivers to the defendant, often difficult and sometimes impossible to do under
the usual circumstances of making a personal property attachment. All the officer
need do now is indorse the writ in the appropriate space, as follows: Writ
executed on _________ (date). A number of different dates, all of which should
be indicated in the indorsement, may be involved in attachments under the same
writ. Of course, if the officer does place a complete copy of his return, describing
the property attached, etc., upon the copy given the defendant (as he might well do
in the case of a real estate attachment), then he has more than adequately complied
with the rule.

Reporter's Notes
December 1, 1959

The purpose of this rule is to preserve the essentials of existing practice with
respect to attachment. Subdivision (a) incorporates existing statutory law by
reference. Thus R.S.1954, Chap. 112, Sec. 24 ff. [now 14 M.R.S.A. 4151 ff.]
will continue to control the manner in which and extent to which attachment may
be used.

The form of the writ of attachment is prescribed by subdivision (b). See
Form 2 and Alternate Form 2 in the Appendix of Forms. The plaintiff's attorney
fills out the writ and delivers the original and a copy thereof to the officer for
service. When the summons and complaint are served upon the defendant, he is
also to be served with a copy of the writ of attachment and the return of service
thereof.
*
As with other process, the serving officer makes proof of service upon
the original writ of attachment and returns it to the plaintiff's attorney. In substance
and effect this reproduces existing practice. Although the rule requires a separate
writ of attachment, summons and complaint, in contrast to the existing practice of
inserting the declaration in a writ of attachment, the summons and writ of
attachment might well be combined in printing so as to minimize the number of
separate papers to be handled.

The amount of the attachment, as filled in by the plaintiff's attorney, should
include a reasonable allowance for interest and costs. The intention is to do away
with the arbitrarily fixed ad damnum of existing practice, which has the effect of
attaching property of substantially greater value than the plaintiff's real
expectations of recovery, and at the same time to assure an attachment sufficient in
amount to satisfy the judgment, including interest and costs.

The rule prescribes a uniform time limit of 30 days from the date of the
complaint for the making of an attachment, but this time is subject to enlargement
under Rule 6(b). Under present law this limit is a variable one, depending upon the
relationship between the date of commencement of the action and the return term.

Subdivision (d) makes it clear that attachment is available to a party bringing
a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party complaint.


*
[Field, McKusick & Wroth note: By virtue of the amendment of February 1, 1960, the
officer's endorsement on the writ of the date of execution is sufficient. 1 Field, McKusick &
Wroth, Maine Civil Practice at 118 (2d ed. 1970)].
Subdivision (e) permits a subsequent attachment by order of the court after
service upon the defendant. This is to cover the situation where the plaintiff's
attorney later learns about property subject to attachment. It incorporates
R.S.1954, Chap. 113, Sec. 20 (amended in 1959) [now 14 M.R.S.A. 4102].