CUMBERLAND FORESIDE – Following a favorable court ruling last week, a local entrepreneur is one step closer to launching an online clearinghouse of county deed records.
John Simpson of Cumberland has been in court for the last year and a half, battling six counties – Cumberland, Knox, Penobscot, Aroostook, York and Androscoggin – for electronic copies of property deeds and other documents.
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Simpson hasn’t yet received the records, but in February a Cumberland County judge ruled in his favor, ordering the counties to provide the documents at a reasonable fee.
And last Tuesday, the counties’ request for a stay pending appeal was denied.
Simpson needs the records, millions of pages of scanned documents, including copies of mortgages, property liens and land plans, to launch a comprehensive online database where users can view digital images of deeds, and print them for a fee.
He already operates a database of Hancock County deeds called www.registryofdeeds.com, but is looking to expand.
Deeds prove property ownership and are often referenced by parties in real estate transactions.
The counties already provide most of the documents online, where they can be viewed for free. But they charge between $1 and $3 per page to print the documents, and offer monthly subscriptions.
Cumberland County, for instance, charges $2 per page, or $1.50 per page for subscribers who pay $50 per month.
Simpson said his website will be less expensive and more convenient than the existing systems.
“We will put it all on one website, and you can select the counties you are interested in,” he said.
Simpson hasn’t disclosed how much he will charge to print documents, but noted that the price to print on his Hancock County site is 25 cents a page.
He said prices for the additional six counties may be a bit higher, but they will be less than the counties charge.
If he gets all the data, Simpson said his company could earn up to $1 million per year.
But he said start-up costs could be significant.
He has immediate plans to hire two staffers, and may eventually expand to half-a-dozen employees.
Simpson and his company, MacImage of Maine LLC, took the counties to court in October 2010. He had sent a public records request to the counties, but said they either didn’t respond or charged what Simpson considered exorbitant fees.
Sigmund Schutz, a Preti Flaherty attorney who represents Simpson, said the counties, collectively, wanted close to $1 million for the records, much more than the cost of transferring them to Simpson.
Bill Collins, Penobscot county administrator, thinks the services the counties were asked to provide justified the costs.
“All counties spend great deals of money to produce these records at taxpayers’ expense, and we are being asked to produce the records in bulk for less than what it costs,” Collins said.
Edward Gould, a Gross, Minsky & Mogul attorney who represents Penobscot County, said Simpson’s request created major logistical challenges for his client.
“The county isn’t set up to do that, from a hardware, software and personnel standpoint,” he said.
Gould added that the case wasn’t about access to information, it was about an individual forcing government to make expensive operational changes.
“It’s not an access question. This case is really about the means and costs of access and whether a public records request can force an entity to (make) changes,” he said. “This is not a case where a registry is hiding (documents) in the back room.”
In February, a judge ruled that the actions violated Maine’s Freedom of Access Act and ordered the counties to provide the records at a reasonable fee, which may allow Simpson to buy some of the records for just a few thousand dollars.
On April 12, the judge denied the counties’ request for a stay.
They may still appeal to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
Simpson, who spent close to $150,000 of his own money on court and lawyer’s fees, said the ruling was “exactly what we were hoping for.”
And he doubts the supreme court will overrule the lower court.
“The counties will have to comply with the judge’s order and give us the documents. In two months we can have our website up and going,” he said.
Simpson said he is eager to improve his relationship with the counties.
“I really want to sit down and talk to the county commissions, end the acrimony and find a positive, win-win solution,” he said.
Jonathan Hemmerdinger can be reached at 791-6316 or: jhemmerdinger@mainetoday.com
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