The trial has been postponed again in a lawsuit seeking to force the sale of a sliver of working waterfront on Orr’s Island known as Barleyfield Point.
A three-day bench trial originally scheduled for late November in Maine Business and Consumer Court had been moved to Tuesday, Jan. 9, but a court official said the trial has been postponed a second time.
The court’s clerk, Danielle Young, said in an email dated Tuesday, Jan. 2, that the trial is now expected to be held in May, although “no firm dates have been set.” Young didn’t specify a reason for the latest postponement, and a visit to the courthouse didn’t turn up any additional information.
Detailed case records are currently inaccessible online due to a reported security vulnerability with the court’s software, developed by Texas-based Tyler Technologies.
Multiple co-owners of Barleyfield Point, which has been treated as a public amenity for generations, may be forced to sell their shares if plaintiff and property co-owner John E. “Jack” Sylvester Jr., of Orr’s Island, prevails in the case.
Sylvester wants to become the site’s sole owner, according to court documents. He alleges the property is “unmanaged, unsecured and in deteriorating condition” with too many owners to manage effectively.
The small property is fractionally owned by at least 16 people, including Sylvester, according to a lawsuit filed in spring 2022. The site is a narrow, rocky projection into Lowell’s Cove that was conveyed by its original owners to 12 local residents in the late 1800s. Many of the current co-owners are their heirs.
In court filings, defendants in the case have disputed some of Sylvester’s claims and argued that there is no compelling legal reason to force them to sell property their families have owned, used, and paid taxes on for generations.
One co-defendant, Craig Ramsay, has told the court that any forced sale of the property would be premature because of an ongoing boundary dispute involving Barleyfield Point and the abutting property owned by Sylvester. He has filed a crossclaim to that effect.
The lawsuit has drawn criticism from some area residents, who fear the loss of a public amenity, and a local working waterfront advocate, who said such cases threaten the future viability of “discreet” wharves that remain vital to small commercial fishing operations in Maine.
