About Donald Fontaine

Donald F. Fontaine is experienced in many aspects of litigation and trial practice. He was admitted to the Maine Bar in 1967 and to the Bar of the United States District Court for the District of Maine in 1967 also. He was admitted to the First Circuit Court Of Appeals in 1969. He graduated from Georgetown University with a degree of Doctor of Jurisprudence in 1967 and Boston College (Cum Laude) in 1962. He grew up in Portland, Maine and graduated from Cheverus High School.

Mr. Fontaine was the Executive Director of Pine Tree Legal Assistance from 1969 until 1973. In his early career he was active in Civil Rights in North Carolina, Louisiana, and Mississippi, having worked with several nationally known Civil Rights Attorneys such as William Kuntsler, and Morton Stavis. In 1986 he was an adjunct professor of Law at the University of Maine Law School in Social Welfare Law. He served as counsel to a coalition of community groups concerned with raising Klu Klux Klan activity in Maine. He drafted the Maine Civil Rights Act of 1989 and lobbied it through to become 5 M.R.S.A. §4681. It outlaws private violence or threats of violence against civil rights.

Since 1975 Don  has specialized in labor and employment law. He has represented hundreds of clients in cases involving Workers’ Compensation, employment discrimination, unemployment compensation, wage and hour violations, constitutional law, strike injunctions, unfair labor practices.

He was the 1990 recipient of the Maine Martin Luther King award for community service. He became a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum in 1991, the membership of which is limited to trial lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill, experience, and excellence in advocacy by achieving a trial verdict award or settlement in the amount of $1,000,000.00.

He regularly appears before the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, the United States District Court for the District of Maine, Maine Superior Court, the Maine Labor Relations Board, the Hearing Office of the Maine State Retirement System, the Office of Hearings and Appeals of the Social Security Administration.

Publications Include: THE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW OF REMEDIES IN WELFARE LITIGATION (University of Maine Law Review); HOW MUCH LEGAL SERVICES DO THE POOR OF MAINE NEED (Maine Bar Bulletin); and numerous publications in the field of wage and hour law listed below in his résumé.

MAINE SUPREME JUDICIAL COURT CASES.

• Thompson v. Shaws Supermarkets, Inc., 847 A.2d 406;
• In Re Wage Payment Litigation. V. Wal-Mart Stores, 2000 ME 162
• Bagley v. Raymond School Department, 728 A.2d 127
• Alden v. State, 1998 ME 200;
• Guaranty Fund Management Services v. Workers’ Compensation Board, 678 A.2d 578;
• Chase v. City of Portland, 658 A.2d 630;
• Lynch v. Lewiston School Committee, 639 A.2d 630;
• Tompkins v. Wade & Searway Construction Corp., 612 A.2d 874;
• Rickett v. William Underwood Co., 581 A.2d 420;
• McBrearity v. Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission, 529 A.2d 326;
• Bouford v. Bath Iron Works, 514 A.2d 470;
• McInnis v. Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission, 513 A.2d 857;
• Elliott v. Maine Unemployment Insurance Commission, 486 A.2d 106;
• Anderson v. Cape Elizabeth School Board,472 A.2d 419;
• Brooking v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 449 A.2d 1116;
• Smith v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 440 A.2d 1037;
• Monmouth School Committee v. Huston, 437 A.2d 621;
• Superintending School Committee v. Bangor Education Association, 433 A.2d 383;
• Trott v. Cianbro Corporation, 431 A.2d 70;
• Coates v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 428 A.2d 423;
• Tobin v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 420 A.2d 222;
• Gorrie v. Elliott Jordan & Sons, 408 A.2d 1008;
• Proctor v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 406 A.2d 905;
• Caribou Board Of Education v. Caribou Teachers Association, 404 A.2d 212;
• Caribou Board Of Education v. Caribou Teachers Association, 402 A.2d 1287;
• Caribou Board Of Education v. Caribou Teachers Association, 402 A.2d 1279;
• Nelson v. East Millinocket, 402 A.2d 466;
• Board Of Directors of Maine School Administrative District v. Teachers Association of Maine School Administrative District, 395 A.2d 461;
• Board Of Directors of Maine School Administrative District v. Teachers Association of Maine School Administrative District, 392 A.2d 1097;
• Paige v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 391 A.2d 321;
• Millinocket School Committee v. Millinocket Teachers Association, 390 A.2d 1106;
• Winship v. Brewer School Committee, 390 A.2d 1089;
• Murray v. Waterville Board Of Education, 390 A.2d 516;
• McLaughlin v. Machias School Committee, 385 A.2d 53;
• Carter v. Maine Employment Security Commission, 356 A.2d 731;
• White v. Edgar, 320 A.2d 668.

FEDERAL COURT CASES:

• Roman v. Maietta Construction, 147 F.3d 71;
• Parker v. Wakelin, 123 F.3d 1;
• Russell v. Allied Textile Cos., 281 B.R. 409;
• Murphy v. Lovely’s Trucking, 2002 U.S. Dist. LEXIS;
• Gerard v. Northern Transportation, LLC, 146 F. Supp. 2d 63;
• Bergeron v. Henderson, 52 F. Supp. 2d 149;
• Bergeron v. Henderson, 47 F. Supp. 2d 61;
• Bergeron v. Henderson, 185 F.R.D.;
• Parker v. Wakelin, 937 F. Supp. 46;
• Parker v. Wakelin, 887 F. Supp. 14;
• Parker v. Wakelin, 882 F. Supp. 1315;
• McDermott v. Lehman, 594 F. Supp. 1315;
• Perkins v. Board Of Directors Of School Administrative District, 528 F. Supp. 1313;
• Ragan v. Portland School Committee, 1979 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10630;
• Brunswick School Board v. Califano, 449 F. Supp. 866;
• Westberry v. Fisher, 297 F. Supp. 1109;

Personal Resume 1991 - 2006:

DONALD F. FONTAINE
Law Offices of Donald F. Fontaine
P.O. Box 7590
97 India Street
Portland, ME 04112
(207) 879-1300

EDUCATION:

Cheverus High School (Portland, Maine);
Boston College (A.B. English Cum Laude Degree 1962);
London School of Economics (1960-61);
University of California (Special Area Studies in West African History and Culture, Berkeley, 1962);
Georgetown University Law Center (J.D. Degree, 1967).

BACKGROUND:

2003 – 2006
Solo practice, Fontaine Law Office, specializing in Labor Law, including wage and hour litigation involving the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Maine Overtime Law, wage issues, overtime pay, minimum wages, discrimination, unfair employers, exempt employees, Unemployment Compensation, retirement issues, Maine State Retirement System, and many other issues involving employment law.

1991 – 2003
Fontaine & Beal, Founding member.
Mid-size law firm specializing in labor law. Individual and class action litigation concerning wages, overtime pay, minimum wages, Fair Labor Standards Act, commissions, exempt employees, Unemployment Compensation, illegal discharges, discrimination, unfair employers, end equal pay. Represented several Unions including Maine Education Association, United Paperworkers International Union, Maine Woodsman’s Association, Maine State Employees Association (S.E.I.U.).

CONFERNECE & PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS:

Fair Labor Standards Act applied to school employees, Maine Education Association summer leadership conference, 2000.

Wage & Hour Law Fair Labor Standards, Private Sector AFL-CIO State Federated Council Conference, May 2000. Discussion of joint employment, independent contractors, on-call employees, commission employees, and other technical requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

White Collar Exemptions, Presentation to the Higher Education Conference of Maine Education Association, October 21, 2000. Detailed discussion of the salary requirement of the Fair Labor Standards Act and its application to technical workers, executives, and administrators.

Wage & Hour Law What Is New And What Is Not, Maine State Bar Association Conference, October 7, 2005. Discussion of various exemptions, including computer processional, administrators, executives, “white collar” workers.

Fair Labor Standards Act In The Higher Education Setting, combined American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association Higher Education Summit, Orlando, Florida, March 2006 (discussion of exemptions for academic administrators, professional employees and those on a salary).

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS:

Maine Trial Lawyers Association;
Maine Bar Association;
Million dollar Advocates Forum;
Diplomat, Court Practice Institute;
American Bar Association
University of Maine Law School, Adjunct Professor of Law (1987)