ELLSWORTH – An arsonist who pleaded no contest to burning down a house he owned is not barred by law from seeking money from an insurance company that has refused to pay him for the loss of the house, his attorney argued Wednesday in court.

Merle Crossman, 48, of Winterport, did not admit guilt when he pleaded no contest last year to setting the Dec. 17, 1999, fire that destroyed a house he owned on Castine Road in Orland, his attorney, Laurie Miller of Bangor, told Hancock County Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead.

Because he was convicted by a no contest plea – rather than by a guilty plea or a jury verdict – Crossman is not prohibited by Maine law from suing Middlesex Mutual Insurance Co. of Brunswick for denying his claim on the damaged house, Miller said.

“It’s been suggested here that the [the insurance company] wants to change the law,” Miller said. “[No contest pleas] cannot be used in civil litigation.”

Shaun Lister, a Bangor attorney representing the insurance company, compared Crossman’s legal action to a rapist who sues his victim for assault. He said the case has received media attention because it is unusual.

“It seems to be one of those cases that is shocking the public conscience, as it should,” Lister told Mead.

Crossman’s conviction for burning down the house is what should matter, not that by pleading no contest he avoided any admission of guilt, Lister said.

“Criminals don’t typically commit crimes and then sue their victims,” he said. “Middlesex should not be made to suffer a second time by going through a civil trial brought by Mr. Crossman.”

Mead said he would take the arguments under advisement and render a decision at a later date.

Lister said after the proceeding that he expects Mead to make a decision within a week.

Crossman, 48, of Winterport, had recently bought the home for $25,000 when he stuffed several National Geographic magazines between exposed studs in a basement stairwell and placed a lit butane torch atop a fan on the basement stairs, pointing at the magazines, according to Superior Court documents. Crossman then left the house, locking the doors behind him.

The fire was spotted and reported later that night by two passers-by.

Last spring at Crossman’s trial, Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich said Crossman stood to be paid $75,000 in insurance claims from the loss of the house, which since has been demolished.

The insurance company denied Crossman’s claim before he was indicted for arson.

Crossman’s trial last May ended in a hung jury. He pleaded no contest a day before jury selection in his retrial was about to begin.

Crossman is at Maine State Prison in Warren serving 18 months of an overall six-year sentence for the arson conviction.