BY BETTY ADAMS

Staff Writer

Publishing a notice about a lawsuit in the Lincoln County News met the letter of the law, but violated the due process rights of a former Colby College student who now lives in Massachusetts, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled on Tuesday.

It means that the case in which a former Colby student won $100,000 in damages from a former classmate will start over again in Lincoln County.

The appeals court said a newspaper-published notice of William Gaeth's lawsuit in the Lincoln County News was not fair notice to the defendant, Daniel B. Deacon, most recently of Medford, Mass.

In a unanimous decision published Tuesday on the court's Web site, Associate Justice William Clifford wrote that the practice of putting lawsuit notification in a newspaper began "when newspapers were the only means of print mass communication, and when newspapers were more widely and intensely read than is now the case ... Because service by publication has become less likely to achieve actual notice of a lawsuit, it is also less likely to meet the requirements of due process."

The court said notice by publication in a newspaper should be done only when all other notification attempts fail.

Gaeth lives in Lincoln County. His nose allegedly was injured by Deacon on Oct. 6, 2002, in Waterville, when both were students at Colby, prompting a lawsuit to be filed against Deacon in June 2004 in Lincoln County Superior Court.

Deacon, who lives in Massachusetts, did not respond to the notice of the lawsuit, so Gaeth was granted judgment by default and awarded $75,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages.

When Deacon learned of the judgment, he appealed, saying the venue was wrong -- the alleged incident occurred in Kennebec County -- and the notice to him of the lawsuit was faulty.

His attorney, Russell Pierce, presented oral arguments in the appeal on behalf of Gaeth.

"The circumstances of this case are unique in that both parties had a connection to Colby, but service was ordered in a weekly newspaper in a county to which only Gaeth had a connection, and Deacon was last known to be a resident in a different state," Clifford wrote in a unanimous decision by the seven-judge panel.

"We are forced to conclude that service by publication was not reasonably calculated to notify the defendant of the action and, although technically compliant with the rules, did not meet the requirements of due process."

The case was returned to Lincoln County Superior Court, which the supreme judicial court decided was a proper venue.

"The parties will discuss the matter and negotiate and hopefully we can reach a resolution," he said. "Mr. Gaeth has a right to present any and all damages again."

Keith Varner, the attorney representing Gaeth, said, "We are disappointed with law court's decision."

He said he spoke to Gaeth on Tuesday after receiving the decision.

"We tried for many months to serve Deacon," he said. "The case will now go back through the trial process in Lincoln County where we expect to get full compensation for our client," Varner said.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com