Maine summary judgment: the statement of material facts decides it, and you cannot move to strike
Maine procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Most states put the summary-judgment fight in the memorandum. Maine puts it in a separate document called the statement of material facts, and Rule 56(h) is where a Maine motion is usually won or lost. Two consequences follow that catch out-of-state counsel: a fact you fail to controvert properly is admitted, and you may not move to strike anything your opponent filed.
When you may move
A claimant — Rule 56(a). A party seeking to recover on a claim, counterclaim or cross-claim, or to obtain a declaratory judgment, may move with or without supporting affidavits. But there is a hold:
A motion for summary judgment may not be filed until the expiration of 20 days from the commencement of the action.
A defending party — Rule 56(b). No 20-day wait, but a different limit:
A party against whom a claim, counterclaim, or cross-claim is asserted or a declaratory judgment is sought may, at any time, but within such time as not to delay the trial, move with or without supporting affidavits for a summary judgment in the party's favor as to all or any part thereof.
"Within such time as not to delay the trial" is a real constraint, not a formality. Maine sets no outer deadline in Rule 56 itself, so the limit is the trial date rather than a fixed number of days before it.
The clock: 21 days, and it lives in Rule 7
Rule 56 contains no opposition deadline. It is in Rule 7(c), which governs motion practice generally: opposition
must be filed not later than 21 days after the filing of the motion unless another time is provided by these Rules or set by the court.
Rule 7(c) also requires the moving party to warn the other side. The notice must state
that failure to file timely opposition will be deemed a waiver of all objections to the motion, which may be granted without further notice or hearing.
There is a saving clause for the party who misses it — if the movant omits the required notice, "the opposing party may be heard even though matter in opposition has not been timely filed." Do not rely on it. Rule 7(c) imposes an additional notice obligation for summary judgment specifically, on top of the ordinary one.
The statement of material facts is the motion
Rule 56(h) requires a statement of material facts from the moving party, the opposing party, and the replying party. Each has a defined shape.
The moving party's statement — Rule 56(h)(1):
A motion for summary judgment shall be supported by a separate, short, and concise statement of material facts, set forth in numbered paragraphs, as to which the moving party contends there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried. Each fact asserted in the statement shall be set forth in a separately numbered paragraph and shall be supported by a record citation as required by paragraph (4) of this rule.
The opposing statement — Rule 56(h)(2) — must answer paragraph by paragraph, and Maine prescribes the words:
The opposing statement shall admit, deny or qualify the facts by reference to each numbered paragraph of the moving party's statement of material facts and unless a fact is admitted, shall support each denial or qualification by a record citation as required by this rule. Each such statement shall begin with the designation "Admitted," "Denied," or "Qualified" (and, in the case of an admission, shall end with such designation).
The opposing party may also add its own facts, but only in a clearly separated part of the same document: "The opposing statement may contain in a separately titled section any additional facts which the party opposing summary judgment contends raise a disputed issue for trial, set forth in separate numbered paragraphs and supported by a record citation as required by paragraph (4) of this rule."
The reply statement — Rule 56(h)(3) is narrow. It is "limited to the additional facts submitted by the opposing party and any objections to denials or qualifications as set forth in paragraph (i)." A reply statement that re-argues the original paragraphs is outside the rule.
Two sentences that decide most Maine motions
Rule 56(h)(4) carries the consequence, and it is unforgiving:
Facts contained in a supporting or opposing statement of material facts, if supported by record citations as required by this rule, shall be deemed admitted unless properly controverted.
And the court is not going to rescue a thin citation:
The court may disregard any statement of fact not supported by a specific citation to record material properly considered on summary judgment. The court shall have no independent duty to search or consider any part of the record not specifically referenced in the parties' separate statement of facts.
That second sentence is the one to read twice. A deposition transcript in the record does not help you unless your statement cites the page or paragraph. Rule 56(h)(4) requires that an assertion "be followed by a citation to the specific page or paragraph of identified record material supporting the assertion."
You may not move to strike
Rule 56(i)(1) closes off the motion practice that grows up around statements of fact in other states:
Motions to strike factual assertions, denials, or qualifications contained in any statement of material facts filed pursuant to this rule are not permitted.
The substitute is an objection made inside the statement you are already filing. If you think the court should disregard something, "the party may set forth an objection in either its opposing statement or in its reply statement and shall include a brief statement of the reason(s) for the objection and any supporting authority or record citations."
Rule 56(i)(2) then gives the opposing party one narrow reply of its own. If the moving party objects in its reply statement, the opposing party may file a response "within 7 days of the filing of the reply statement," and that response "shall be strictly limited to a brief statement of the reason(s) why the factual assertion should be considered and any supporting authority or record citations."
Seven days is the shortest clock in Maine's summary-judgment sequence, and it is easy to miss because nothing prompts it.
What the affidavits have to do
Rule 56(e) sets the form — affidavits "shall be made on personal knowledge, shall set forth such facts as would be admissible in evidence, and shall show affirmatively that the affiant is competent to testify to the matters stated therein" — and then states the burden on the party opposing:
When a motion for summary judgment is made and supported as provided in this rule, an adverse party may not rest upon the mere allegations or denials of that party's pleading, but must respond by affidavits or as otherwise provided in this rule, setting forth specific facts showing that there is a genuine issue for trial.
If you genuinely cannot produce those facts yet, Rule 56(f) is the route: on a showing that the party "cannot for reasons stated present by affidavit facts essential to justify the party's opposition," the court "may refuse the application for judgment or may order a continuance to permit affidavits to be obtained or depositions to be taken or discovery to be had or may make such other order as is just."
Rule 56(g) is the sanction. An affidavit presented "in bad faith or solely for the purpose of delay" costs the offending party "the amount of the reasonable expenses which the filing of the affidavits caused the other party to incur, including reasonable attorney fees," and the party or attorney "may be adjudged guilty of contempt."
Foreclosures run on their own track
Rule 56(j) is Maine-specific and it is strict. No summary judgment enters in a foreclosure action under Title 14, Chapter 713 except after the court reviews and determines that
(i) the service and notice requirements of 14 M.R.S. § 6111 and these rules have been strictly performed; (ii) the plaintiff has properly certified proof of ownership of the mortgage note and produced evidence of the mortgage note, the mortgage, and all assignments and endorsements of the mortgage note and the mortgage; and (iii) mediation, when required, has been completed or has been waived or the defendant, after proper service and notice, has failed to appear or respond and has been defaulted or is subject to default.
And the opposition clock moves. Where mediation is mandatory, has not been waived, and the defendant has appeared, the defendant's opposition "shall not be due any sooner than ten (10) days following the filing of the mediator's report" — so the Rule 7(c) 21 days is a floor that the mediator's report can push back.
Partial judgment, and judgment against the movant
Two features of Rule 56(c) are easy to overlook. A summary judgment "interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages." And the motion can rebound: "Summary judgment, when appropriate, may be rendered against the moving party."
Where the case survives in part, Rule 56(d) has the court narrow it — it "shall thereupon make an order specifying the facts that appear without substantial controversy," and "[u]pon the trial of the action the facts so specified shall be deemed established." Maine adds a protection the federal rule does not: "In the event that a moving party's motion for summary judgment is denied in whole or in part, facts admitted by the parties solely for the purpose of the summary judgment motion shall have no preclusive effect at trial."