Manager’s defamation trial ends with settlement

BANGOR – A defamation trial played out over the last three days at U.S. District Court in Bangor was settled Wednesday about the same time the jury came in with a verdict.

The settlement took precedence and the verdict was not read in a case that pitted Ronald Smith of East Machias, a salmon hatchery manager, against his former employer, Heritage Salmon Inc., and an upper-level manager. Smith claimed that business and operations manager Bill Robertson had ruined his reputation by spreading false information about his supposed lack of competence managing the Gardner Lake hatchery in the East Machias area. He claimed emotional and psychological damages as a result of the alleged defamation. Heritage Salmon Inc. and Robertson denied the allegations.

Settlement terms were not disclosed. Attorneys for both sides declined to comment on who made the offer or which side benefited most.

The jury of six women and one man had completed 12 hours of deliberations on the civil lawsuit over two days. They had returned to the courtroom with a folded paper containing a verdict, but the panel was informed by U.S. District Judge George Z. Singal that a settlement had been reached about three minutes earlier.

Sighs could be heard from some jurors. Singal thanked the panel for their hard work and said they had served in the “highest tradition” of juries in this country’s legal system.

The jury appeared to struggle with various issues, and frequent notes seeking clarification and other requests were sent to the judge. They requested and got a court reporter to read back testimony dealing with the chain-of-command procedure for reporting salmon numbers at Heritage Salmon Inc.

Shortly before noon Wednesday, the jury returned to the courtroom and said they couldn’t reach a unanimous decision. The judge urged them to continue.

A key issue in the trial was Richardson’s claim that Smith under-reported the number of “smolt,” or nearly mature salmon, that would be ready for marketing following a freeze-up at the Gardner Lake hatchery in 1999. About 170,000 fish were killed. Robertson bought 200,000 more smolts at a cost of nearly $500,000 to make up for what he thought would be a deficit of salmon.

The alleged misreporting of salmon numbers resulted in a “costly mistake” that put the company at risk and was key in his decision to fire Smith, Robertson testified. Another problem mentioned was Smith’s alleged signing of a time card with inflated hours for his wife, a former technician at the hatchery.

But Smith’s attorney, Sandra Collier of Ellsworth, said her client was being blamed for a mistake made by Robertson. The operations director had discussed his lack of confidence in Smith with the human resources manager and Smith’s supervisor, among others, and defamed him, Collier claimed.

Smith had worked at the hatchery for 12 years, eight of them as manager, and could not find a job in his chosen profession after the termination. From earning $35,000 a year, Smith, his wife and two children now subsist on the small income he makes as a self-employed mechanic, according to court testimony.