A Hampden couple’s lawsuit against Allstate Insurance Co. stemming from their move to Maine three years ago is headed back to U.S. District Court in Bangor.

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled Monday that the issue of whether Allstate failed to make payments in a timely fashion and is therefore liable for prejudgment interest and attorneys’ fees should be presented to a jury.

U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Margaret Kravchuk granted a default judgment motion in favor of Ronald and Liz Rankin last November. SI Trucking of Florida and Allstate Insurance Co. were ordered to pay the couple $150,000 for items that were not delivered by the moving company.

At that time, the judge granted Allstate’s motion that whether the Rankins were entitled to attorney fees and interest due to delays in settling their claim was not to be decided by a jury.

The case was appealed last year and a three-judge panel made up of Chief Judge Michael Boudin of Boston and Circuit Judges Juan Torruella and Kermit Lipez of Portland heard oral arguments in April.

“It’s a complete win,” said the Rankins’ attorney, A.J. Greif of Bangor. “We won on every issue we raised on appeal.”

Grief said the new decision could cost the insurance company as much as $500,000 in a case that would have cost it one-fifth that much had the firm settled the claim in a timely fashion. The attorney said that he hopes to have the case back before a jury by September.

“We think Allstate should have paid all of the claim no later than March 2001, but at that point they’d paid only $6,000,” he said. “Instead of giving the Rankins their good hands they gave them the back of their hands.”

The insurance company’s attorney, Martica Douglas of Portland, disagreed Wednesday.

“We paid on the loss amount more than was reasonable for the items claimed,” she said. “The Rankins suffered a really nasty episode with this move. I feel bad for them. Anyone would. Their goods were essentially stolen, lost or damaged en route. This appeal is about attorneys’ fees. Now, the issue is almost solely about whether Allstate has to pay the Rankins’ attorney fees.”

The judges expressed no opinion on whether or not Allstate unreasonably delayed payment or misvalued the items, Douglas pointed out.