Wuori v. Otis
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The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment of the district court ordering the turnover and sale of Travis Otis's boat satisfy a money judgment against him in favor of Erik Wuori, holding that the court erred in concluding that the boat was not used "primarily for commercial fishing" within the meaning of Me. Rev. Stat. 14, 4422(9) and was therefore not exempt from attachment and execution.
The boat at issue was a thirty-six-foot boat that Otis used to catch lobsters for the Maine Department of Marine Resources in order to collect data on juvenile lobsters. The district court concluded that the boat was not exempt from attachment and execution because Otis did not harvest the lobster he caught but, rather, returned them to the ocean. Thus, the court reasoned, Otis did not use the boat "primarily for commercial fishing." The Supreme Judicial Court vacated the judgment, holding that because Defendant's hauling and catching was compensated by the Department, the use of his boat constituted "commercial fishing."
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