Supreme court agrees doctor owes money

PRESQUE ISLE — The state’s highest court has agreed with a lower court’s decision that Dr. James Benjamin Jr., a former local internist, owes $23,000 to another area doctor.

The decision by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court said Benjamin and his mother, Rebekah Benjamin, did not provide a transcript of the trial held last May. Therefore the court could not review the issue raised by the Benjamins.

Dr. Farid Bina, a Presque Isle urologist, sued the Benjamins, claiming they owed him $27,000. While Bina said the money was loaned because the Benjamins were having financial problems, the Benjamins said the money was for a joint office venture in Caribou.

In its ruling, the lower court said $4,000 of the original $27,000 sought by Bina was not applicable.

To the extent the high court was able to consider the issues raised by the Benjamins, the court found that “they are without merit.”

When a civil case is appealed to the supreme court, the party appealing must provide a transcript of the trial. Cost of that transcript is the responsiblity of the appealing party.

James Benjamin Jr. had a stormy tenure at The Aroostook Medical Center in Presque Isle during the early to mid-1990s. After losing his privileges for allegedly abandoning three hospitalized patients in late 1993, he sued the hospital in state and federal court. The state case was dismissed, while the federal suit is on appeal.

A decision is pending in Aroostook County Superior Court on whether Benjamin is owed damages by his former landlord after a frozen pipe burst and flooded his office in early 1993.

Efforts to contact the Benjamins on Wednesday were unsuccessful.