Wescott v. Stanfill

── Wescott v. Stanfill ── Case No.: 25-1324 Court: Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Date: April 02, 2026 Category: General United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 25-1324 E. DAVID WESCOTT, an individual residing in Dedham, County of Hancock, State of Maine; RUSSELL JOHNSON BEAUPAIN, a Maine Limited Liability Company, Plaintiffs, Appellants, v. HON. VALERIE STANFILL, in their official capacity as Chief Justice, Maine Supreme Judicial Court; AMY QUINLAN, ESQ., in their official capacity as State Court Administrator for the State of Maine, Judicial Branch; MAINE JUSTICE FOUNDATION, Defendants, Appellees, MAINE BOARD OF OVERSEERS OF THE BAR, Defendant. APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MAINE [Hon. Lance E. Walker, U.S. District Judge] Before Barron, Chief Judge, Howard and Rikelman, Circuit Judges. Kyle Singhal, with whom Stephen C. Smith, Hopwood & Singhal PLLC, and Steve Smith Trial Lawyers were on brief, for appellants. Jason Anton, Assistant Attorney General, with whom Aaron M. Frey, Attorney General, Thomas A. Knowlton, Deputy Attorney General, and Heather A. Francis, Assistant Attorney General, were on brief, for appellees Valerie Stanfill and Amy Quinlan.  Julia B. MacDonald, with whom Gavin G. McCarthy and Pierce Atwood LLP were on brief, for appellee Maine Justice Foundation. McDermott Will & Schulte, Ethan H. Townsend, Wilber H. Boies, Gabrielle L. Siroonian, and Maura R. Cremin on brief for National Association of IOLTA Programs, Massachusetts IOLTA Committee, Rhode Island Bar Foundation, and Fundación Fondo de Acceso a la Justicia, as amici curiae supporting appellees. April 2, 2026  BARRON, Chief Judge. In this appeal, we confront an as-applied challenge to Maine's Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts ("IOLTA") program. The plaintiffs -- a law firm and one of its clients -- contend that the program unconstitutionally compels their speech by requiring the firm to place the client's funds in a special pooled account, see Me. Bar R. 6(a), (c)(1), and then directing a nonprofit organization to distribute the resulting interest to other organizations to "maintain and enhance . . . access to justice in Maine," id. 6(e)(3). The defendants are the Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the State Court Administrator for Maine's Judicial Branch, and Maine Justice Foundation, the nonprofit corporation charged under the program with disbursing the interest.1 The United States District Court for the District of Maine dismissed the claims against the Chief Justice and State Court Administrator on the merits and dismissed the claim against Maine Justice Foundation for lack of jurisdiction. The plaintiffs challenge those rulings on appeal. We affirm. 1 The operative complaint also named the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar (the "Board") as a defendant, but the plaintiffs later agreed that the Board was shielded from suit by sovereign immunity. The portion of the District Court's order dismissing the claim against the Board on sovereign immunity grounds is not at issue in this appeal. - 3 -  I. A. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court created Maine's IOLTA program in the mid-1980s. IOLTA: Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts, State of Me. Bd. of Overseers of the Bar (Mar. 26, 2026), https://www.mebaroverseers.org/attorney_services/registration/io lta.html [https://perma.cc/SX3N-FZ6A]. In Maine, as elsewhere, "attorneys are frequently required to hold clients' funds for various l