AUGUSTA – The opposing attorneys in an appeal of a federal court decision could not agree on who won in a Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruling Friday.

A year ago, a U.S. District Court jury in Portland found in favor of the estate of Murray Keatinge, the former owner of the Norumbega Inn in Camden, and awarded the estate $660,000 in a legal malpractice case that Keatinge filed before he died.

In the lawsuit, Keatinge, a resident of California, claimed it was improper for Rockland attorney Elizabeth Biddle to represent his son, Kent Keatinge, who held power of attorney for the elder Keatinge’s business affairs.

Lee Bals, a Portland attorney representing the Keatinge estate, argued that Biddle had a conflict of interest by signing legal documents for both the father and the son. The interests of father and son were different as assets were sold, he argued.

James Bowie, a Portland attorney representing the other side, argued that Murray Keatinge did not have an attorney-client relationship with Biddle.

After the jury found in favor of the Keatinge estate, Bowie appealed a part of the federal court ruling, namely, whether a lawyer could have a client-attorney relationship with both the grantor of a power of attorney and with the person receiving the power of attorney. The appeal was made to the state supreme court because Maine law dictates attorney-client matters in the state.

On Friday, the court ruled an attorney could have a relationship with both grantor and receiver of a power of attorney. But the court did not rule on the facts of the Keatinge case, or on two other questions posed to it by Bowie.

Bals hailed the ruling as a victory, because he said it eliminated the argument that it was impossible for an attorney to have a client relationship with both grantor and receiver.

Bowie said the ruling stated that a case the judge in the federal court relied on was not appropriate, which cleared the way for him to seek having the original verdict overturned, or, failing that, to seek a new trial.