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April 1, 2013

High court upholds CMP appeal in $6M injury case

A Penobscot boatyard could be asked to reimburse Central Maine Power Co. $6 million following a court decision on damages in the 2002 electrocution of a boatyard employee.

The Bangor Daily News reported the justices of Maine Supreme Judicial Court unanimously vacated a ruling of a lower court that required Devereux Marine to contribute to damages paid out by CMP, but not to fully reimburse the power utility.

The case concerns Bryan Smith, who was electrocuted while lowering the mast of a ship that hit a power line. Smith received $4.89 million in damages and lost earnings in a Superior Court case decided in 2008. When that payment was made by CMP in 2010, the total with interest came to over $6 million.

The high court's opinion, written by Chief Justice Leigh I. Saufley, upheld CMP's appeal of a ruling by the Business and Consumer Court that said Devereux Marine could partially compensate CMP for damages. Saufley's opinion states that Devereux Marine could, rather, be required to fully compensate CMP based on the high court's reading of the state's Overhead High-voltage Line Safety Act, pending further hearings.

If further court proceedings find that the boatyard caused, permitted or allowed work in violation of that act, the court ruled that the boatyard would be required to fully indemnify CMP for the damages paid to its employee. A decision made in 2010 found CMP negligent because the electrical line involved in the case was 15 feet lower than state law allows.

Another state law requires that a business notify power transmission providers 72 hours before beginning any work that would bring a person, tool or other material within 10 feet of the line. The court found that the boatyard did not contact CMP before work began to remove the mast, which led to the electrocution.

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