John Simpson, general manager of MacImage of Maine, an information technology company based in Cumberland, has sued six counties, contending that under Maine's Freedom of Access Act they are obligated to provide him copies of their registries of deeds databases at a reasonable cost.
Simpson wants to create a statewide database of property records and launch a website where real estate professionals, bankers, title abstractors, genealogists and others who need copies of titles and deeds can pay fees and access the information. He estimates that the site would be used by more than 20,000 people each year.
Simpson wants to create a statewide database of property records and launch a website where real estate professionals, bankers, title abstractors, genealogists and others who need copies of titles and deeds can pay fees and access the information. He estimates that the site would be used by more than 20,000 people each year.
The trial began Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court.
Simpson says his attempts to access the property record databases have been denied or put off, and the counties have quoted him enormous fees for accessing the data. Simpson argues that the documents are already in computer databases that "can be copied easily, quickly and almost at no cost," but the counties want to charge him a total of more than $1 million for digital copies.
You can read the details in an article by Dennis Hoey in the Portland Press herald at http://www.pressherald.com/news/trial-tests-limits-on-county-fees-for-records_2010-10-05.html
My thanks to John McCall for telling me about this story.
