A few weeks ago, the Press Herald published the obituary of David N. Fisher Jr. of Cape Elizabeth. Mr. Fisher was for many years a member of a distinguished local law firm in Portland. In the 1980s, this firm represented the Maine National Bank, a leading member of Portland’s financial community before it was absorbed by a regional and ultimately a national institution. Not mentioned in his obituary was a time when Mr. Fisher performed a courageous legal act that has had far-reaching consequences for our community.
In the fall of 1980, Casco Bay Lines, the privately owned enterprise that provided ferry service to Portland’s island communities, declared bankruptcy. Threatened with the loss of their lifeline to the mainland, the residents of the islands made an audacious bid to form a public transit district to take over the CBL assets and continue the vital public service. In the spring of 1981, the Maine Legislature granted a legal charter to the Casco Bay Island Transit District. At that point, the district existed on paper but was without funds or assets of any kind. Needless to say this effort was met with fierce opposition, even ridicule, on the part of CBL’s prior owner and several competing private entities vying for control of the line.
Key to the public transit district’s potential bid to take over the CBL service was proof of financial capacity to come up with a little more than $500,000 to purchase the CBL’s three passenger boats and one car ferry. Much to the surprise of its many skeptics, the district’s initial board of directors was able to obtain a commitment from a Boston bond underwriter for long term tax-free bond financing to cover its capital needs. However, in order to bid in the bankruptcy to purchase the boats, the district needed 100% bridge financing from a bank. Maine National Bank stepped up and agreed to provide this financing, provided that its counsel, David N. Fisher, would give his legal opinion that the loan would be a legal obligation of the district and that it would have a first lien on the vessels as security for repayment.
A novel transaction like this would have been too dicey for many a lawyer. On all sides competitors and others were asserting that the district was legally unsound, that the islanders could not run a ferry enterprise, and that if the district tried to operate, it would surely fail. It would have been easy to advise the bank that this whole proposition was too shaky to support a loan of the size requested.
However, Mr. Fisher took the islanders seriously. He and his associate, Jack Emory, studied the proposed credit carefully. They thought long and hard. They worked with counsel for the district to craft loan documents that would protect the bank if the new enterprise did go belly up. Ultimately, and likely with a good deal of soul-searching, David Fisher drafted and signed the letter of opinion that enabled the bank to loan half a million dollars to the fledgling Casco Bay Island Transit District. After a long legal battle, the transit district became the winning bidder in the Casco Bay Lines reorganization.
The rest, of course, is history. For more than 40 years, the people of the Casco Bay Islands have amply proved that they can operate a ferry company and provide ever better transportation between mainland Portland and its island communities to more and more people, both residents and tourists. We all owe a debt of gratitude to David Fisher, without whose key act of legal courage all this may never have come to pass.
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