6.4 Liability and Penalties

Three Tracks of Exposure

Misconduct can land a Maine notary in three different forums at once. They are independent: an acquittal in one does not bar the others.

Civil Liability and the No-Bond Reality

The single most exam-tested fact here: Maine does not require a notary surety bond. Most states require bonds of $5,000 to $25,000 that pay injured parties first; Maine has no such cushion. The consequences:

• No bond company stands between the claimant and the notary.
• The notary's personal assets (wages, bank accounts, even a home) can satisfy a judgment.
• Suits proceed directly against the notary.

Common civil theories and what a court may award:

Potential recovery: actual damages, attorney's fees and court costs, and, where conduct is malicious or reckless, punitive damages.

Criminal Liability

Notarial fraud is not just a licensing problem; it can be a crime.

Under Maine's sentencing scheme, classification ranges from a Class E crime (the least serious, up to 6 months) through felony-level Class C and above for forgery and aggravated fraud, carrying years of imprisonment and substantial fines.

Employer (Vicarious) Liability

Errors and Omissions Insurance

Because no bond exists, errors and omissions (E&O) insurance is the practical protection. It is optional in Maine but strongly recommended.

Note the difference E&O is not a bond: a bond protects the public and the notary must reimburse it; E&O protects the notary.

How the Three Tracks Interact

Because the administrative, civil, and criminal tracks are independent, a single bad notarization can generate consequences in all three at once, and the outcome in one does not control the others. A prosecutor may decline to charge forgery, yet the Secretary of State can still revoke the commission on the lower civil-style standard of section 1924, and the injured party can separately win money damages in court.

The burdens of proof differ: criminal cases require proof beyond a reasonable doubt, civil suits use a preponderance of the evidence, and administrative discipline turns on whether the conduct shows a lack of honesty, integrity, competence, or reliability. That is why a notary acquitted of a crime can still lose both the commission and a lawsuit arising from the same act.

Worked Liability Scenario

Suppose a notary accepts an expired driver's license and notarizes a forged quitclaim deed, and the true owner loses the property.

If the notary carried E&O insurance, the carrier would fund the defense and pay covered negligence damages, but E&O would not cover the criminal exposure or the administrative revocation, and it would not pay claims arising from intentional fraud.

If You Are Sued

1. Notify your E&O carrier immediately.
2. Do not admit fault or discuss the matter with the claimant.
3. Preserve all records: journal entries, ID notes, the certificate.
4. Retain an attorney.
5. Report to the Secretary of State if required.

Finally, remember that a properly kept notarial record (journal) is the notary's single best defense across all three tracks. A complete entry, recording the date, the type of act, the document, the form of identification examined, and the signer's signature, lets you reconstruct exactly what you did and shows you met your duties. In a negligence suit it can defeat a claim that you failed to verify identity; in a disciplinary matter it evidences competence and reliability; and in a criminal inquiry it can demonstrate the absence of intent.

Notaries who keep no record are forced to rely on memory months or years later, which is precisely when liability is hardest to escape.

On the Exam

• No bond required in Maine → personal assets at risk (highest-yield fact).
• Civil = negligence, breach, fraud; damages plus possible punitive.
• Criminal = forgery, false certificate; up to felony level.
• E&O insurance is optional but recommended and protects the notary, not the public.
• Employers can be liable for acts within the scope of employment.