[Lnc-business] Advisement of proposed lawsuit - Maine

[Nicholas Sarwark]

To answer Mr. Goldstein and Mr. Ludlow's question, this expense would
be under the litigation line item that has $13,500 in the remaining
budget for the year.

-Nick

On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 10:10 AM, Kevin Ludlow <ludlow at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mr. Chair,
>
> Thank you for sending this out.  I would very likely support this kind of
> effort.
>
> I realize there would be an effort to have the legal fees refunded upon a
> favorable outcome, but ignoring that possibility, would the $4,000 come from
> our legal budgeting, would it borrow from a different category, or would it
> need to be raised separately altogether?
>
> Again, I would likely support the effort either way, but just want to
> clarify how we'd be allocating it.
>
> Thanks much.
>
> Kevin Ludlow
> Region 7
>
> On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 10:57 AM, Nicholas Sarwark <chair at lp.org> wrote:
>>
>> Dear Fellow LNC Members,
>>
>> Pursuant to Policy Manual provision Section 2.04(2), I am writing to
>> advise you of a proposed lawsuit to be filed in Maine.
>>
>> As you may be aware, the Libertarian Party of Maine undertook a voter
>> registration drive to obtain party status by obtaining over 5,000
>> Libertarian voter registrations by December 1, 2015.  The Libertarian
>> Party of Maine collected and turned in over 6,000 voter registrations.
>> However, many of those registrations were not processed by the local
>> officials who had them prior to the Secretary of State evaluating
>> whether the party had 5,000 registrations. Per the Secretary of
>> State's office, the Libertarian Party of Maine only had 4,489
>> registrations by the deadline.  More details here:
>>
>> http://ballot-access.org/2015/12/09/maine-secretary-of-state-denies-libertarian-partys-ballot-access/
>>
>> On hearing this news, I asked Oliver Hall to evaluate the cost of
>> filing suit to require the Secretary of State to count the
>> registrations that were turned in prior to the deadline but
>> unprocessed and/or challenge the early deadline (Dec. 1 in the year
>> before the election) as unconstitutionally early.  He has consulted
>> with a colleague of his in Maine  who he has worked with before and
>> would be willing to be co-counsel on the suit in Maine.  The retainer
>> for litigating the entire District Court case would be $4,000, and
>> would include: drafting and filing the complaint; drafting and filing
>> the motion for temporary restraining order/preliminary injunction;
>> preparing supporting affidavits; arguing the motion; and converting
>> the (presumably successful) motion for preliminary relief into one for
>> summary judgment (i.e., permanent relief) and filing that motion.
>>
>> Per Mr. Hall, "The complaint would probably assert both facial and
>> as-applied challenges to the statute (and the Secretary’s failure to
>> process registrations pursuant thereto) under the First and Fourteenth
>> Amendments and Section 1983. It would request declaratory and
>> injunctive relief. It would also request attorney's fees under Section
>> 1988. Assuming we win, and attorney's fees are awarded, the amount of
>> the fees awarded would be paid to the LNC, as a refund of the retainer
>> fee...."
>>
>> The attorney in Maine is prepared to work on this case over the
>> weekend to get the case filed ASAP.  It is my intention to seek
>> approval from the Executive Committee today to go forward with this
>> litigation.
>>
>> I apologize for not giving more notice, but I am writing you as soon
>> as I received an estimate from Mr. Hall.  Please let me know if you
>> have questions or concerns.
>>
>> Yours truly,
>> Nick
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
>
>
>
> --
> ========================================================
> Kevin Ludlow
> 512-773-3968
> http://www.kevinludlow.com
>
>
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