Holland v. Crickard

This is an appeal1 from a judgment excusing the defendants’ obligation to the plaintiffs on a note secured by a second mortgage. The case stems from a conveyance by warranty deed of a hotel and its grounds in Maine. The issue on appeal revolves around a Maine statute, Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., tit. 14, § 151,2 which the Maine courts themselves have not construed. It would be of no practical use to describe the facts of the case more fully, or to explicate this Maine statute without guidance from the Maine courts. Suffice it to say that we find error because the trial court impermissibly shifted…