Norman Gaudette, et aux. v. Mainely Media, LLC, et al.

Bangor, Main personal injury lawyer represented Plaintiffs, who sued defendant on a defamation theory claiming that a news paper article published about Norman Gaudetter was false.



In 1990, Norman Gaudette was a detective with the Biddeford

Police Department. Allegations surfaced that Gaudette had sexually abused

several teenage boys. Along with an internal investigation by the Biddeford

Police Department, the allegations were referred to and investigated by the

Maine Attorney General's Office. In 1991, a York County grand jury, after a

presentation by the Attorney General's Office, voted not to indict Gaudette. He

continued to work for the Biddeford Police Department until he retired in

2001.





In February 2015, an individual alleging that he had been the

victim of sexual abuse committed by a different Biddeford police officer began

posting about the alleged abuse on social media. Meiklejohn and Lovell-Keely,

a reporter and an editor, respectively, for the Biddeford-Saco-OOB Courier, a

newspaper owned by Mainely Media, began reporting on the new allegations.

Their work led them to interview and publish reports regarding statements

made by several of Gaudette's alleged victims and Terry Davis, the Biddeford

police officer who originally brought the 1990 allegations against Gaudette to

the Police Department's attention.



As a result of the 2015 allegations involving Gaudette and the

other Biddeford police officer, members of the public began holding meetings

with members of state and local government to discuss the alleged abuse and

possible reforms. The Biddeford City Council considered placing the police

chief and deputy chief on administrative leave, and some government officials

began to speak publicly about the allegations and to propose legislation in

response.



One of Meiklejohn and Lovell-Kelly's articles included Davis's

account of the 1991 grand jury proceeding. Davis's statements, as

represented in the article, contain the following allegations. A fifteen-year-old

boy spoke with Davis at the Biddeford police station and alleged that Gaudette

had sexually abused him. Investigations by the Biddeford police and Maine

Attorney General's Office identified multiple other alleged victims who

claimed that Gaudette had abused them. None of the alleged victims were

called to testify before the grand jury, and during Davis's testimony before the

grand jury, an Assistant Attorney General surprised Davis by asking him

probing questions about Davis's father's suicide after Davis's father was

accused of sexually abusing a child, suggesting to the grand jury that Davis

was incapable of impartially investigating a child abuse case. Gaudette then

testified before the grand jury. The article reported that after the grand jury

voted not to indict Gaudette, the Assistant Attorney General went to the



Biddeford police station and asked Davis and another officer to meet him at a

restaurant in Biddeford, which they did. At the restaurant, the article

reported, the Assistant Attorney General "continuously apologized” and told

Davis that he "purposely threw the case under the bus” on orders from his

superiors.





The Gaudettes filed a complaint against Mainely Media, LLC,

Meiklejohn, and Lovell-Keely on June 24, 2015, alleging that they intentionally

or recklessly disregarded the truth or falsity of the accounts included in their

articles. The complaint included counts of false light portrayal, defamation,

intrusion into seclusion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent

infliction of emotional distress, and loss of consortium, and sought damages

for loss of employment, stress, depression, and punitive damages.



See: The Bangor Daily News

Defendants' verdict.