On November 20, Superior Court Justice S. Kirk Studstrup denied the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District's appeal of the August court decision in the Fred Lewis lawsuit brought against the school district and its administrators, Boothbay Region High School principal Jack Tourtillotte and former superintendent Mark Keegan. The crux of Lewis's lawsuit was that he was wrongly accused of having a sexual relationship with a student and that actions by school administrators forced his premature resignation. Lewis, a former BRHS industrial arts teacher, claimed that the defendants defamed him, intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon him, wrongfully interfered with his teaching contract, denied him due process, and placed him in a false light. The jury in the case awarded Lewis damages of $345,000.

In his November 20 decision, Justice Studstrup denied Keegan and Tourtillotte's appeal that they should have been granted discretionary immunity, as was co-defendant former Boothbay Harbor Police Chief Steve Clark. Studstrup writes, "the jury made a specific finding of fact that Tourtillotte and Keegan (and the school district) acted with `wanton or oppressive conduct, or committed acts motivated by ill will, or bad faith or improper motives.' This finding puts in serious doubt the issue of whether the actions of these defendants exceeded their discretion and erases any statutory immunity because of bad faith."

In the appeal, both the CSD and administrators sought a retrial based on the court's reinstruction of the jury regarding appropriate punitive damages. In his November 20 appeal decision, Studstrup determined that the court's actions, while not perfect, were not prejudicial and denied the motion for retrial.

The school district also asked in its appeal that its damage assessment of $245,000 be reduced to $10,000. Attorneys for the district argued that since it can only be liable through the acts of its employees, it can not be liable for damages in excess of the sum of their (the employees) awarded damages. Studstrup denied this appeal and found "There is some logical attraction to this argument, but no cited support in the law. With no legal support, the court will not overturn the jury's finding … there is no basis for the reduction."

Studstrup also granted Lewis's October 3 request for court costs in the amount $3,892.01 plus $59,954 in pre-judgement interest and post-judgement interest of $103.88 per day. Previous assessments of $5,000 in damages and $45,000 in punitive damages against both Keegan and Tourtillotte and $245,000 in damages to the CSD remain in effect.

Melissa Hewey, attorney for the school district, said that the appeal decision was not a surprise. Hewey said that she did not expect the school district to prevail with the Superior Court, which rendered the original decision, but did expect a different outcome in the appeal that will soon be filed with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. Hewey said that she believed that there was a "variety of errors of law" in the Superior Court's decision.

Daniel Lilley, attorney for Fred Lewis, said that he did not believe that the school district's appeal had any merit.

In the meantime, post-judgment interest will continue to accrue.