Judge Declines Sidman's Request

APPLL's membership and financials do not have to be disclosed

Jun 14, 2023

BAR HARBOR—In a four-page order, United States Magistrate Judge Karen Frink Wolf denied Charles Sidman’s request for a discovery hearing as a motion of relief yesterday.

The discovery request was part of Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods (APPLL) et al., vs Town of Bar Harbor et al., a federal law case over the town’s new cruise ship limitations. The 1,000 disembarkations per day limit was voted in last November after a citizen’s petition led by Sidman.

APPLL, a newly formed nonprofit organization, said that the changes are unconstitutional. The changes were put into the town’s land use ordinance, but not yet enacted. Sidman joined the suit as a defender-intervenor, which is usually defined as a person or organization that has a stake in the outcome of a lawsuit, but is not an original party in that suit.

APPLL’s President Kristi Bond said that the organization was very pleased with the judge’s “good findings.”

APPLL has also been joined by other businesses that work with cruise ships such as B.H. Piers, L.L.C.; Golden Anchor L.C.; B.H.W.W., L.L.C.; Delray Explorer Hull 495 LLC; Delray Explorer Hull 493 LLC; and Acadia Explorer 492, LLC. It was also joined by the Penobscot Bay and River Pilots Association. The suit was filed in late December, 2022. An early case summary is here.

Sidman had requested the identity of all the members of APPLL “and produce certain financial information.” According to Wolf’s order “he also challenges the plaintiffs’ decision to redact certain financial documents and designate them attorney’s eyes only under the terms of the confidentiality order.”

Because of his defender-intervenor status, he also hoped to see “the documents marked attorney’s eyes only,” Wolf wrote.

She explained APPLL’s position as saying that the financials are irrelevant to the constitutionality of its case and that the financial documents were sensitive and only shown to Sidman’s lawyers to prove that they had standing.

“They designated the documents attorney’s eyes only given Sidman’s heated op-eds in a local paper where, among other things, he likened APPLL and its members to cancer cells killing the town and insinuated that they need to be exposed,” she wrote.

She decided that the request wasn’t “relevant and proportional to the needs of this case” despite her recognition that “general notions of economic harm permeate” it. She also said that “Sidman’s op-eds raise the possibility that he may have ulterior motives in seeking this information.”

The majority of Wolf’s reasoning is on the third page of the document below, but she also said, “Sidman’s op-eds and dubious economics expertise also convince me that the plaintiffs have demonstrated good cause to retain the attorney’s eyes only designation on the sensitive financial documents they produced.”

Sidman had argued as an expert rebutter to APPLL’s economic expert. APPLL then argued to exclude his testimony.

Sidman said in response to Wolf’s order, “My reaction is that this is a total miscarriage of justice, in that the plaintiffs are being allowed to get away with alleging undefined financial damages to unnamed parties. Further, I am hardly financially and economically unschooled, as a 25-year global investor and previous professor of management at a first-rate business school. Lastly, the economic facts are germane and should become generally known in and to the town that the plaintiffs are economically exploiting, to their particular benefit but the general detriment, but only as legally allowed and permitted. The suggestion that I would violate any court order is simply frivolous, defamatory and without any factual basis. Let us see if Judge Walker accepts or modifies Magistrate Wolf's decision, and how history will regard the administration of ‘justice’ in this case.”

The case is expected to be decided on this summer. We’ve reached out to The Town of Bar Harbor for a statement, and we didn’t receive any by press time. If we do, we’ll update the story.

Disclosure: While looking at the witness lists, it appears that I, as well as the editor of the Mount Desert Islander and founder of the Quietside Journal are on one witness list sent by Sidman’s attorneys. I have not been contacted by any attorneys about this, but if feels like I should tell you all.