Sec. 1. 14 MRSA §6012, sub-§1, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 448, §4, is amended to read:

1. Action to resolve dispute. If 2 or more persons claim rights in, title to or possession of personal property, any claimant may bring an action in District Court to resolve a dispute among the claimants. The plaintiff has the option of bringing the action by way of summary proceeding or plenary proceeding.

Sec. 2. 14 MRSA §6012, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 448, §4, is repealed and the following enacted in its place.

5.__Rules.__If the action for forcible entry and detainer of personal property is brought as a summary proceeding, the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, Rule 80D applies.__If the action is brought as a plenary proceeding, the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure, other than Rule 80D(a)-(e), apply, except as otherwise provided by statute.

SUMMARY

This bill allows a choice to the plaintiff in an action for forcible entry and detainer of personal property: whether to proceed by summary proceeding or by plenary proceeding. The summary proceeding is the current procedure wherein the time between the service of papers initiating the case and the trial may be as few as 7 days. In the plenary proceeding, the case will proceed as any other civil action, except in certain respects pertaining to appeals, joinder of other actions, venue, removal, issuance of a writ of possession and stays on appeal, and the parties will be allowed to attempt to obviate the necessity of a trial by seeking judgment by default or by motion where the essential facts of the case can be shown to be uncontested.