BOSTON – The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments Monday in the sentence appeal of the former owner of a Calais ambulance service.

Dana McGovern’s attorney Leonard Sharon of Lewiston is expected to argue that U.S. District Court Judge George Singal erred in sentencing McGovern to 49 months in federal prison. McGovern, 38, pleaded guilty in January 2002 to 40 counts of fraud, money laundering and other charges stemming from his billing practices at McGovern’s Ambulance Service.

Sharon said last week that Singal should not have considered his client’s plea of guilty to obstructing a civil audit when he applied sentencing guidelines. The judge should not have added steps to McGovern’s base sentence level because he did not obstruct a criminal investigation, according to the attorney.

“If we win and he is given a lesser sentence,” said Sharon, “it probably would amount to under a year. But nine months is still nine months. Whatever the First Circuit decides, it can’t hurt him. They can’t give him any more time.”

McGovern reported to federal prison in late August to begin serving his sentence. He was ordered to pay a total of $729,875 in restitution – $386,765 to the federally funded Medicare program and $343,110 to Medicaid, a state insurance program that is partially funded by federal dollars.

The sentence of just over four years was about midrange, according to federal sentencing guidelines calling for a prison sentence of 46 months to 57 months. Singal said at McGovern’s sentence that he took into account the statements made on McGovern’s behalf.

However, the judge said he also considered the effect McGovern’s actions had on the nation, on the state’s already cash-strapped health care systems and on the morale of the people of Washington County.

The appeals court is scheduled Friday to hear the case of a Hampden couple who sued their moving company two years ago. 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. The Rankins moved from California to Maine in July 2000.

The Rankins’ attorneys, A.J. Grief and Julie Farr both of Bangor, are asking the court to overturn Kravchuk’s dismissal of certain claims such as breach of contract. Farr said last week that Kravchuk erred in dismissing the Rankins’ breach of contract claim.

Essentially, the judge’s rulings denied the couple a jury trial where the lawyers could have argued for monetary damages in addition to the cost of lost or stolen items, said Farr.

“It’s a jury issue,” said Grief last week, “and the question is whether payments made piecemeal over two years by Allstate were made in a timely fashion as the law requires. If they weren’t, the Rankins are entitled to 18 percent interest plus attorney’s fees.”