Judgment against oil dealer upheld
Maine's highest court has affirmed a 2010 judgment against southern Maine oil dealer Nicholas Curro, who allegedly bilked more than 300 customers.
Last year, the York County Superior Court ordered Curro, owner of three Biddeford-area oil companies -- Price-Rite Oil, Veilleux Oil & Service and Perron Oil -- to pay nearly $400,000 in restitution to 313 customers for failing to honor prepaid oil contracts. The judgment also ordered Curro to pay a civil penalty of $250,000 for violating the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. Curro appealed the ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, arguing the state's attorney general failed to provide 10-day notice before filing the complaint against him, and that he should not be fined because he did not intentionally violate the trade practices act, according to court documents. The state attorney general's office sued Curro in January 2008.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court, however, upheld the lower court's judgment, arguing the state was right to file an immediate complaint "to prevent potentially irreparable injury." The court also found evidence to show that Curro sold prepaid contracts even though he knew he was not in compliance with the trade act, and that his companies "were in financial distress and would be unable to fulfill their contractual promises."
Curro, who is also barred from selling prepaid contracts for five years, sold his companies' assets in 2009 to repay creditors. His $250,000 civil penalty will be reduced to $25,000 if the restitution is paid within five years.
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