Office of the Maine Attorney General

Litigation

The Litigation Division has a wide variety of responsibilities, which can be roughly divided into three parts:

  1. General Civil Litigation: This group is responsible when the State or its officials are sued for monetary damages under State and Federal law, and when they are sued in civil rights actions including employment related claims. This group is also generally responsible when a suit is filed challenging the constitutionality of a Maine statute or is particularly complex, and it often works with attorneys in other divisions. This group also deals with quirky matters, such as boundary disputes with other states and attempting to recover an original copy of the Declaration of Independence. It oversees civil appeals, sometimes assists with criminal appeals, and serves as a resource for litigation-related issues within the Office. This group, in addition, has expertise in issues regarding Maine's recognized Indian Tribes.
  2. Tax Unit: Generally, the tax unit handles all civil litigation and appeals involving Maine Revenue Services, including bankruptcy and collection work, and provides advice to the agency. The group brings in more revenues than it costs the agency to fund them.
  3. General Government: This group provides legal advice and representation in administrative and judicial proceedings for the Department of Education, the Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, the Bureau of Corporations, election matters within the Department of the Secretary of State, the Department of Labor, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Administrative and Financial Services. This group is actively engaged in matters relating to child labor laws, bankruptcy, unemployment compensation, payment of wages, state and school construction contracts, state leases, the Maine Clean Election Act, election recounts, teacher certification, special education and collections.

Thomas Knowlton, Division Chief

Tom Knowlton received his B.A. degree in Mathematics, cum laude, in 1981 from Williams College and his law degree, magna cum laude, in 1989 from Boston College Law School. Before attending law school, Tom taught Math and Latin at the Roxbury Latin School in Boston, Massachusetts. After law school, Tom clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and then worked at the Boston law firm of Hill & Barlow.

Tom has worked in the Attorney General's Office since 1994. In January 2021, Attorney General Aaron Frey promoted Tom to Deputy Attorney General and Chief of the Litigation Division. Tom has argued more than 30 cases in the Maine Law Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, including:

  • State Tax Assessor v. Kraft Foods Group, Inc., 2020 ME 81, 235 A.3d 837 (Court upheld 2 assessments of Maine corporate income tax totaling nearly $3 million)
  • State v. Biddeford Internet Corp., 2017 ME 204, 171 A.3d 603 (Court affirmed a judgment in the States favor in excess of $400,000 in unpaid broadband sustainability fees)
  • F. Lee Bailey v. Board of Bar Examiners, 2014 ME 58, 90 A.3d 1137 (Court upheld the decision of the Board of Bar Examiners that F. Lee Bailey lacked the requisite good character and fitness to be admitted to the Maine bar)
  • National Organization for Marriage v. McKee, 649 F.3d 34 (1st Cir. 2011) (Court rejected First Amendment and other constitutional challenges to registration and reporting requirements for political action committees)
  • Gannett Co. v. State Tax Assessor, 2008 ME 171, 959 A.2d 741 (Court upheld the State Tax Assessors denial of the taxpayers request for a $700,000 Maine corporate income tax refund)