Oral arguments are set to begin on Nov. 5 in the damages appeal by Jeffrey Mabee, Judith Grace and the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley Conservation Area in their long-running slander of title lawsuit against Nordic Aquafarms.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, has scheduled oral arguments to begin at 11 a.m. in the Cumberland County Courthouse in Portland. Mabee, Grace and the Friends are appealing Judge Michael Duddy’s lower court ruling that rejected their claim for damages, reimbursement of litigation expenses and attorney fees.
In its effort to develop a $500 million land-based salmon farm in Belfast, Nordic claimed an ownership interest in a strip of intertidal mudflats the Norwegian company needed to lay its industrial intake and effluent pipes to Penobscot Bay. Nordic, which left town in January 2025, used release deeds it secured from third parties to support its ownership claims.
In February 2023, the Law Court ruled unanimously that Mabee and Grace are the true, exclusive owners of the intertidal land, and that the Friends of Harriet L. Hartley hold a valid, enforceable conservation easement protecting the flats from industrial development.
Mabee, Grace and the Friends sought roughly $884,000 in damages, surveyor and other costs, plus legal fees, arguing that Nordic slandered their title by recording invalid deeds and clouding their property rights, which severely devalued their home and blocked its sale. The invalid deeds remain in the Waldo County land records, continuing to cloud their title to the historic (circa 1796) Belfast property they acquired in 1991 and gradually restored over the years. Planning to retire, they listed their home for sale in January 2017. A year later, Nordic and the city announced the company’s plans for the salmon farm.
In January 2024, Business and Consumer Court Judge Michael Duddy ruled that while Nordic’s deeds ultimately were found to be invalid, Nordic had acted in “good faith” rather than with malice or reckless disregard. Because proving malice and specific financial damages are absolute requirements for slander of title under Maine law, the court denied the damages claim, prompting this final appeal.
Mabee, Grace and the Friends also have a second appeal pending before the state’s high court.
When Nordic’s efforts failed to establish their ownership interest in the mudflats the salmon farm project needed, the Belfast City Council took the Mabee/Grace intertidal property by eminent domain for the company’s pipes, including intertidal land that lies outside Belfast’s boundary. After the Law Court ruled in Mabee/Grace’s favor in February 2023, Waldo County Superior Court remanded the eminent domain decision to the City Council for reconsideration based on the high court’s findings.
On May 7, 2024, the city vacated its eminent domain claim and restored the title to Mabee and Grace two weeks later. Deciding to take a close look at Belfast’s municipal boundary in that area, the city then hired an independent surveyor to establish the boundary line set by an 1813 statute. The surveyor found that part of the mudflats taken in August 2021 actually lay outside the municipal boundary, and the City Council adopted and recorded that survey in November 2024.
Mabee, Grace and the Friends subsequently sued Nordic Aquafarms and the city of Belfast, challenging the city’s use of eminent domain to benefit Nordic and transfer the use of Mabee and Grace’s intertidal land to the company. Duddy issued a final judgment in that case on July 16, finding in Nordic’s and the city of Belfast’s favor on all eight counts. The court’s judgment found no liability on the city’s part and did not award any penalties, attorney fees or costs to the plaintiffs.
To follow the opening arguments in the slander of title case at 11 a.m. on Nov. 5, tune into the live audio and video feed that will be broadcast directly via the Maine supreme court’s live stream. The stream typically goes live five minutes before arguments begin.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.