Maine Federal Accountability Cases.
Active and Historical Litigation Involving Federal Officials
- ACTIVE APPEALFirst Circuit
Reardon v. Lizotte, et al.
Darcie N. McElwee and Andrew K. Lizotte
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Appeal: No. 26-1525
- Underlying case: D. Me. No. 1:25-cv-00191-NT
Reardon sued former U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew K. Lizotte over the government's opposition to moving his criminal trial from Bangor to Portland. The District Court dismissed the action on prosecutorial-immunity grounds, and the appeal is listed as active in the First Circuit.
Last verified: not yet. Check the linked court record for the current status before relying on it.
- DISMISSED / APPEALED
Reardon v. Bangor Publishing Company, Inc., et al.
Mitchell Oswald, Bangor Daily News and the Home Search
U.S. District Court for the District of Maine
- District case: No. 1:25-cv-00244-NT
- First Circuit appeal: No. 25-1793
Reardon alleges that an August 10, 2023 Bangor Daily News article misstated the chronology of an earlier communication and was relied on for an armed search of his residence. The original complaint was dismissed at preliminary review and appealed.
Last verified: not yet. Check the linked court record for the current status before relying on it.
- ACTIVE CASE
Reardon, et al. v. Oswald, et al.
Mitchell Oswald: the search, property and passport
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Docket: Civil Action No. 1:25-cv-04435-AHA
Nathan, Heather and Arthur Reardon allege constitutional violations in the August 10, 2023 search and in the government's later handling of their property, including the alleged loss of Nathan Reardon's passport. The case is listed as active.
No public court record link has been added yet.
Last verified: not yet. Check the linked court record for the current status before relying on it.
- HISTORICALAppeal concluded
Arthur Reardon v. Mitchell Oswald
Related historical Oswald litigation
U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
- Appeal: No. 25-1660
A separate First Circuit appeal about Arthur Reardon's property and the federal search. It was dismissed on October 27, 2025, and the mandate issued on November 18, 2025.
Last verified: not yet. Check the linked court record for the current status before relying on it.
How to read the labels
- Allegation
- A claim made by a party, not yet established by adjudication.
- Procedural ruling
- A decision based on procedure, immunity, jurisdiction, timeliness, pleading, or a similar threshold ground.
- Court finding
- A factual or legal determination actually made by the court.
- Party argument
- A position a party argues to a court, such as in an appeal brief.
- Docket record
- A fact shown on the court's public docket, such as a filing, deadline or status.
Why these cases matter
The existence of a lawsuit does not establish misconduct.
At the same time, dismissal based upon immunity, pleading rules, jurisdiction, procedural default, or the availability of a particular constitutional damages remedy is not necessarily the same thing as a trial court hearing evidence and finding that the underlying factual allegations are false.
For that reason, this site publishes both sides of the procedural record: what was alleged, what the government argued, what the court actually decided, and what issues, if any, remain on appeal.
Readers should be able to examine the underlying complaints, court orders, appellate briefs, and docket records and reach their own conclusions from the record.
The editorial rules behind this section are on the editorial standards page.