Judge dismisses second lawsuit brought by dog owner Hagelin

BANGOR – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed last year by a Dover-Foxcroft man against state and county officials over the quarantine more than two years ago of dogs that later were seized.

U.S. District Judge John Woodcock on Monday dismissed the lawsuit that Mark Hagelin, 45, filed last year against the state of Maine, Maine animal welfare program director Norma Worley and state humane agent Thomas Eddy.

Hagelin, who remains under house arrest pending his trial on state charges of cruelty to animals, acted as his own attorney when he filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Woodcock dismissed the lawsuit because Hagelin failed to respond to requests for information from the court.

Last year, Woodcock dismissed for similar reasons a separate federal lawsuit that Hagelin had filed over the seizure of the 92 spaniel-type dogs from the kennel he and his family operated at their home.

That lawsuit was filed against Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy and local law enforcement officials in addition to Worley and Eddy.

A date for Hagelin’s trial in Piscataquis County Superior Court has not been set.