Tim’s practice is focused in the area of corporate and commercial matters as well as real estate law, land use law and bankruptcy. He represents individual and business clients in complex commercial litigation, including contract matters, shareholder disputes and financial, real estate, and construction related cases. Tim frequently represents owners, contractors, and subcontractors in construction related disputes and has successfully litigated complex commercial construction cases throughout New England in both state and federal courts as well as before the American Arbitration Association.
Tim also counsels both for profit and not for profit clients with regard to corporate structuring, lending transactions, mergers, acquisitions, and other business transactional matters. He has represented both lenders and borrowers in large commercial loan transactions including real estate and asset based loans, and represents business clients, including banks and other secured lenders, in insolvency and bankruptcy related matters, and workout transactions.
Tim has extensive experience in the representation of national credit companies in both the extension and recovery of floor plan loans with a special focus in the areas of automobile and marine floor plan accounts.
Tim Norton joined Kelly, Remmel & Zimmerman in 1988 and has been a shareholder in the firm since 1994. Tim graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1985 with high distinction and graduated from the University of Maine School of Law in 1988 cum laude. While at the University of Maine School of Law, Tim was a member and editor of the Maine Law Review.
Distinctions and Recognitions
Tim holds the highest rating of “AV® Preeminent™” from the highly recognized Martindale-Hubble lawyer rating firm. Tim is also listed in Best Lawyers in America®, was recognized as one of the top lawyers in Maine in the publication Super Lawyers and has been named a Fellow of the Maine Bar Foundation. Tim is a member of the American, Maine State and Cumberland Bar Associations, the Maine Trial Lawyers Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute, and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in Maine as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. In 2005-2006, Tim was President of the University of Maine School of Law Alumni Association. Tim is married, has three children and is active throughout the community and in numerous children’s sporting and recreational programs.
Representative Cases and Publications
Xpress Natural Gas v. Lincoln Paper and Tissue, LLC
$2,013,507.07 award obtained after arbitration trial in complex commodity take-or-pay contract dispute
Cianchette v. Cianchette
$5,900,000 jury verdict obtained after three week jury trial. Judgment upheld on appeal by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court in Cianchette v. Cianchette, 2019 ME 87
Xpress Natural Gas v. Cate Street Capital, Inc. et al,
$2,762,390.61 judgment obtained after arbitration trial in complex commercial contract dispute
E.S. Boulos Co. v. Kajima Construction Services, Inc.
$1,918,986 Award obtained in arbitration trial before the American Arbitration Association
ALC Development Corp. v. Town of Scarborough
Successfully applied Maine growth management and comprehensive planning statutes to overturn impact of referendum and achieve approval of Great American Neighborhood development
Chrysler Credit Corp. v. Bert’s L/A Auto Sales, Inc.
Maine Supreme Court decision in favor of client in complex lender liability case
Authored: Joy v. Eastern Maine Medical Center Extension of a Physicians
Duty to Third Parties, 40 Maine Law Review 207, 1988
