A superior court judge has issued a summary judgment in favor of the City of Eastport in a lawsuit brought by the boatbuilding company Millennium Marine USA and its owner, Cory Guimond. Guimond had filed the suit in 2016 against the city concerning the leasing of the city-owned Guilford mill building.
     On April 12 Judge Michael Duddy of the Cumberland County Business and Consumer Court granted a judgment dismissing all four of the claims against the city, its former city manager, Elaine Abbott, and the five city councillors. According to the complaint, Millennium was seeking $226,662 in damages and also claims to have suffered losses of $430,000 because of defaults by the city and county, including business interruption and lost sales caused by delays in repairs following a fire at the building. The judge ruled that the city defendants were all entitled to immunity under the Maine Tort Claims Act, which grants governmental entities and their employees immunity from suit for tort claims, which are civil allegations of wrongdoing.
     Guimond says the decision will be appealed. "We will go as far as we can with it," he says. "What was done was not right." Guimond adds that Millennium Marine's boatbuilding business in Escuminac, New Brunswick, "is booming." He says he is now hiring more employees from the Philippines that will bring his workforce to 50. "That all could have been in Eastport," he says. Of what occurred to end his business in the city, which had started operations in 2014, he says, "It's corruption of small-town politics at its worst."
     Amy Olfene, an attorney for Drummond Woodsum of Portland, which represented the city, says the judge decided, based on the Maine Tort Claims Act and the undisputed facts in the case, that there was no reason to proceed with a trial.
     The City of Eastport still has a counterclaim against Millennium Marine USA and Guimond for breach of contract on leases Millennium Marine had on two units in the Guilford mill, as well as unpaid personal property taxes. According to city attorney Dennis Mahar, the city's counterclaims against Millennium Marine are for $43,200 in unpaid rent, $36,000 in damage to the property and potential cleanup costs and $3,969 in unpaid personal property taxes. The city council, though, has not yet decided whether to pursue the counterclaims.
     The case previously involved the County of Washington and County Manager Betsy Fitzgerald, but they were later dropped from the suit. According to Chris Gardner, chair of the Washington County commissioners, an agreement had been reached on how much money Millennium owed the county. Guimond was to have paid the amount by late last year but has not done so, according to Fitzgerald. Gardner says the county may have to file a suit against Millennium to collect the amount.

City’s perspective
     Olfene, the city's attorney in the case, notes that the "misrepresentations" Guimond alleged were made by City Manager Abbott to the public and press were not false statements. She states, "During his deposition testimony, Mr. Guimond admitted that information Ms. Abbott shared with the press (in response to FOIA requests) regarding Millennium Marine's arrearages (unpaid rent) were technically accurate, but he felt she misrepresented the relationship between the city and Mr. Guimond by not sharing his 'side of the story.' This is not a claim for 'misrepresentation' as that term is understood under the law, and we do not believe Ms. Abbott was in a position -- let alone had an obligation -- to provide the media with Mr. Guimond's perspective, which often changed and was not always clear."
     Concerning Guimond's complaint that the city failed to repair the mill fast enough for him to resume use of the building following a fire there in July 2014, Olfene relates, "We learned during discovery that much of the delay was Mr. Guimond's failure to follow direction and remove his property from the space so the cleaners and renovators could address the damage caused by the fire Millennium Marine itself caused."
     The attorney for the city states, "The city's relationship with Mr. Guimond/Millennium Marine was a challenging one. The city council and Ms. Abbott worked very hard to assist Mr. Guimond with his U.S. venture. The city truly wanted Millennium Marine to succeed and to provide quality, local jobs and industry to help support their small community. For example, to support Mr. Guimond and his business, the city provided Millennium Marine USA more than a year of free rent at the Guilford mill; Ms. Abbott wrote two Workforce Development grants for Millennium Marine to help with training new employees; renegotiated leases and reduced rental rates to help Millennium Marine when it was in arrears; and tried to meet many demands."
     She adds, "Mr. Guimond was apparently dissatisfied with what the city offered, despite the great lengths taken to support his business over the course of their nearly six‑year relationship. The city strongly believes it went above‑and‑beyond to help Mr. Guimond and Millennium Marine thrive in Eastport and is disappointed their relationship ended in a lawsuit."

History of dispute
     The dispute between the city and Millennium over rent payments to the city and money owed to Millennium had boiled over in the spring of 2016, when the city told the boatbuilding firm to leave the mill building by July 19. At the time Guimond vowed to continue working in a section of the building.
     In April 2016 the city sent Guimond a notice to quit the premises within 90 days for failure to pay the March and April rent amount of $17,000, with May and June's rent of another $17,000 also not having been paid. According to city officials contacted at the time, Millennium had previously owed back rent to the city. Guimond reported at the time that he intended to continue to operate in the smaller Olson space, while he had vacated the larger section. He maintained that the company was owed "a considerable amount," over $600,000, and that he intended to take legal action against the city.
     While Millennium proceeded with its lawsuit, the boatbuilding company and the city reached an agreement on a short‑term rental of the Olson space in the mill building, until the end of June 2017. Millennium agreed to then cease operations and leave the building.