Me. R. Civ. P. 80F
The officer delivering the Violation Summons and Complaint shall not take the defendant into custody. Within 5 days after delivery to defendant, the officer shall cause the original of the Violation Summons and Complaint to be filed with the Violations Bureau. No filing fee is required. Any Violations Summons and Complaint filed later than 10 days after delivery to the defendant will be dismissed without prejudice. All proceedings arising under a statute shall be brought in the name of the State of Maine. All proceedings arising under an ordinance shall be brought in the name and to the use of the political subdivision that enacted such ordinance.
When the attorney for the State files a traffic infraction complaint, with the condition of payment of costs, the costs must be paid to the Violations Bureau within 30 days after the date of the filing. If the costs are not paid within 30 days, the Violations Bureau shall set the case for trial.
Other than the above, there shall be no extensions of time for payment of a traffic infraction fine.
Information, data, or documents in Violations Bureau records containing a defendant's month and day of birth, physical description, address, license number, vehicle description, vehicle identification number (VIN), address on the registration, and vehicle registration number shall be available only to the parties, an attorney who has entered an appearance on behalf of a party, the prosecuting attorney or officer, members of state and federal criminal justice agencies, and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. 2 Information shall also be excluded from public access if barred under federal or state law.
Procedures and fees for online access to Violations Bureau information, documents, or data may be established by administrative order.
Me. R. Civ. P. 80F
Advisory Note - November 2023
Rule 80F is amended to update a cross-reference to M.R.U. Crim. P. 4.
Advisory Note - August 2018
Rule 80F(b)(3) is amended to provide that any Violation Summons and Complaint filed later than 10 days after delivery to the defendant will be dismissed without prejudice.
The first sentence of Rule 80F(k)(1) is amended to increase the time for a defendant's response from 20 days to 35 days, measured from the date of service of the Violation Summons and Complaint on the defendant.
Subdivision (p) is added to provide standards for access to information, data, and documents in Violations Bureau court records.
Advisory Note - October 2017
The Department of Public Safety, the Violations Bureau and the Judicial Branch are undertaking a pilot project to permit the electronic filing of a Violation Summons and Complaint in traffic infraction cases filed in the Violations Bureau. To accomplish the purposes of the project the following sections of Rule 80F are amended.
Rule 80F(c) is amended to require a defendant to file a written answer to the Violation Summons and Complaint either within a specified number of days or by a specified date, and to permit the use or an original or electronic signature of the officer issuing the Summons and Complaint.
Rule 80F(g) is amended to eliminate the requirement of "immediate payment in full" of any fine that is imposed and, in its place, require that the fine must be paid within 30 days after imposition unless the court orders a different payment date. If the fine is not paid in full within the longer of 30 days or the period of time ordered by the court, the defendants right to operate a motor vehicle in Maine is suspended immediately without further notice and the Secretary of State will be notified of the suspension.
Rule 80F(k)(2) is amended to reflect that the former Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act of 1940 has been replaced by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act of 2003.
Advisory Note - December 2013
Rule 80F(e) is amended to address situations where a defendant has been served with a Violation Summons and Complaint and files an answer with the Violations Bureau, but the officer does not submit the original Violation Summons and Complaint to the Violations Bureau. Under the prior version of subsection (e), the Violations Bureau docketed these answers, which were sometimes accompanied by a fine payment, but were uncertain whether to return the funds when no Violation Summons and Complaint was later received. This amendment clarifies that the Violations Bureau shall retain the defendant's answer and any accompanying fine payment for thirty days. If the officer does not cause the original Violation Summons and Complaint to be filed within that time period, the Clerk or the Clerk's designee may dismiss the infraction. This authority is similar to the Clerk's authority in subsection (f) to dismiss proceedings that have not been prosecuted by the State.
Advisory Notes July 1, 2005
These amendments to Rule 80F are designed to improve the processing of traffic infraction cases within the Violations Bureau.
1. The amendments to 80F(c) and 80F(d)(1) allow the Violations Summons and Complaint form to be amended to specify that an answer must be filed within 20 days in order to avoid a default. Under current practice, an officer must write in the response date on the summons and complaint. This is unnecessary. The amendment specifies that the form indicate the "number of days" within which a defendant must file an answer to avoid a default and that the answer must be filed within 20 days of service of the summons and complaint. Separately, the default rule, presently 80F(i), but 80F(k), as revised, is being amended to specify the 20-day response time.
2. Subdivision (e) and subsequent subdivisions of Rule 80F are relettered.
3. A new subdivision 80F(e) is added specifying that staff of the Violations Bureau may docket an incomplete filing in a traffic infraction matter in order to be able to respond to customer service inquiries that may be directed to the Violations Bureau before the filing of the violations summons and complaint is completed by the summonsing officer or department.
4. Subdivision 80F(f) is added to address procedures for dealing with traffic infraction complaints that are filed by the State with or without conditions. To assure that cases are completed in a timely manner, the Violations Bureau is authorized to dismiss filed cases that are not set for trial within 180 days after filing. The amendment also specifies that when a traffic infraction is filed with condition of payment of costs, costs must be paid to the Violations Bureau within 30 days of the date of filing or the case will be reset for trial.
5. The default rule is redesignated as 80F(k). It is changed to indicate that when a defendant fails to respond to a summons within 20 days, the staff of the Violations Bureau shall enter a default and impose the fine according to the fine schedule. When a defendant requests a trial but then fails to appear at trial, the clerk of the District Court at which the trial is to occur, or a member of the Violations Bureau staff, shall enter the default and adjudicate that the defendant has committed the traffic infraction alleged. The clerk or staff member shall than impose the fine from the fine schedule.
6. A new rule 80F(l) is adopted regarding extension of time to pay fines. It specifies the terms under which an extension of time to pay fines may be granted and the procedure for notification of the Secretary of State and suspension of right to operate if the fine is not paid within the requisite time.
Advisory Committee's Notes January 1, 2001
In the 2000 Legislative session, 14 M.R.S.A. §3141(2) was amended to require that, at a defendant's initial appearance in a traffic infraction proceeding, the defendant is to be informed by the court that if the defendant is adjudicated to have committed the traffic infraction, "and if a fine is imposed by the court, immediate payment of the fine in full is required."
The above amendment to Rule 80F(e) attempts to address that directive in the context of a practice regarding appearances for traffic infractions where the defendant does not appear before the court prior to a requested trial. When the defendant does appear for trial, having transferred the traffic infraction from the Violations Bureau, it would appear bad form to start the proceedings by the court advising the defendant that, if they are found to have committed the infraction, and if a fine is imposed, immediate payment of the fine is required. Such a statement, in a proceeding explicitly for trial, could be construed by citizens to suggest prejudgment of their case. Such must be avoided to assure that defendants believe that they will get a fair trial. Accordingly, the court should defer advice regarding the payment responsibility for any fine until the trial is completed with an adjudication that the defendant has committed the infraction. This advice would still be given at the defendant's "initial appearance" but at a time more appropriate in the unique context of an appearance for trial in a traffic infraction.
Advisory Committee's Notes - May 1, 2000
The amendment to subdivision (i)(2) incorporates references to Rules 55(c) and 60(b) to make clear that if an entry of default or an adjudication by default is to be set aside, the procedure of those rules governs.
Advisory Committee's Notes - February 15, 1996
Rule 80F(b)(3) is amended to make clear the original intent that the paragraph following paragraph (3) applies only to a Violation Summons and Complaint served under paragraph (3). Filing of the Violation Summons and Complaint and the answer in cases where the process is served by an officer is covered by the final separate paragraph of subdivision (b) and by Rule 80F(d)(1). See M.R. Civ. P. 80F(b) advisory committee's note to Jan. 1, 1992, amend., Me. Rptr., 589-601 A.2d XXXVII.
Advisory Committee's Notes - 1993
Rule 80F(b)(2) is amended to eliminate the procedure under which a District Court clerk could fill out and deliver for service a traffic infraction Violation Summons and Complaint if satisfied upon examination of the complainant and any witnesses that a traffic infraction had been committed. This provision was seldom used. It represents an unnecessary step that could impose an undue burden upon clerks who may have difficulty in applying the standard. Under the amended rule, if an officer with probable cause cannot, or does not wish to, make service in person under Rule 80F(b)(1), the officer may either deliver the process to another traffic enforcement officer for service, or cause it to be served in any other manner appropriate for a criminal summons under M.R. Crim. P. 4(c)(4).
Comparable amendments are being made simultaneously in Rules 80H(b) and (c) and 80K(b) and (c).
Advisory Committee's Notes - 1992
Rule 80F is amended to implement P.L. 1991, ch. 549, authorizing the Chief Judge of the District Court to establish a violations bureau to process all traffic infraction matters beginning January 1, 1992.
Rule 80F(b) is amended to refer to the charging instrument in traffic infraction matters as the Violation Summons and Complaint. The amendment permits service of the complaint either on the defendant personally by an officer with probable cause or by any method of service of a criminal summons under M.R. Crim. P. 4(c)(4). There seems to be no reason to continue the provision of the current rule imposing a stricter requirement for service of a Violation Summons and Complaint than for a summons in a criminal case. Rule 80F(b)(3) is added to permit a Violation Summons and Complaint to be prepared by a prosecutor and filed with the local District Court clerk after service on the defendant or the defendant's counsel. The purpose of this amendment is to permit the prosecutor freedom in plea bargaining situations. This subdivision is also amended to conform with the statute requiring the officer who serves the Violation Summons and Complaint to file the complaint in the Violations Bureau within 5 days.
Rule 80F(c) is amended to require that the defendant's answer to a Violation Summons and Complaint be filed in writing with the Violations Bureau on or before the date set forth in the complaint. This changes current practice under which the defendant must appear in court personally or by counsel to enter a denial and seek a trial.
New Rule 80F(d) omits any reference to oral answers of "admit" and "deny," substituting written answers of "contested" and "not contested." The new rule also provides for the answer to be filed with the Violations Bureau. As with the current answer of "admit," an answer of "not contested" may not be admitted into evidence as an admission in any other civil or criminal proceeding involving the same incident. In Rule 80F(d)(4) "not contested" is substituted for "admit," and all reference to a schedule of fines set by the resident judge is eliminated. The latter change is necessitated by P.L. 1991, ch. 549, § 3, amending 4 M.R.S.A. §164(12).
New Rule 80F(e) provides that the place of trial in a contested traffic infraction matter shall be in the division in which the alleged infraction occurred, although the court is given discretion to order that the trial be in another division. It is anticipated that transfers for trial will be authorized in those situations in which the interests of justice will be served by permitting the defendant or the State a more convenient trial location or by permitting the court to group together a number of traffic infraction matters to save administrative expenses.
Rule 80F(i) is added as a result of the repeal of 14 M.R.S.A. §3143, which detailed the procedure to be followed in a situation in which a defendant failed to appear. This repeal was a part of P.L. 1991, ch. 549. The new rule provides a method for disposition of those traffic infraction cases in which the defendant takes no action to answer the summons and complaint or, having answered, fails to appear for trial. It also provides that the defendant will be given the opportunity to answer in the event the defendant's default should not have been entered because of the applicability of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act, 50 U.S.C.A. App. § 520(4). See 2 Field, McKusick & Wroth, Maine Civil Practice § 55.5 (2d ed. 1970).
Rule 80F(l) is amended by adding that notice of the judgment need not be served on a political subdivision that initiated the Violation Summons and Complaint. It also changes the reference from an answer of "admit" to one of "not contested."
Annotations:
Rule 80F(b): State v. Mayberry, 2001 ME 176.