CMP denied new trial in injury case

PORTLAND — The state supreme court Friday denied Central Maine Power Co.’s petition for a new trial after a jury awarded $97,000 to a couple injured in an accident involving a utility vehicle in Randolph.

The state’s largest utility appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court after a lower court rejected its request for a new trial.

CMP, which called no witnesses at the original trial, sought a new trial on grounds that lawyers for the couple improperly referred to the company’s wealth and power in closing arguments.

The court agreed that the comments were improper but ruled unanimously that the error was not serious enough to allow a new trial.

The lawsuit was filed by Michael and Deborah Gilmore after their car was struck from behind in 1992 by a van driven by a CMP worker on Route 9 in Randolph.