ROCKLAND — The state won a default judgment Tuesday against the defunct Castle Builders construction company and principals Malcolm and Elizabeth Stewart after the couple hung up on a Zoom call on what was to be the first day of their civil trial.
Fifteen victims of the Stewarts appeared in the Knox County court on Aug. 23 for the start of the civil trial brought by the Maine Attorney General’s Office. The AG’s Office had alleged the Stewarts violated the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Law.
The civil lawsuit was filed in December 2019. It originally alleged that the defendants defrauded more than 100 homeowners throughout the state of more than $1 million for repair work that was either not done or done poorly.
The Stewarts, who had lived in the town of Washington, operated Castle Builders for nearly three years before abruptly closing it and their Agway store in September 2019. The couple moved to South Carolina to live with relatives.
Malcolm Stewart was also indicted in March 2021 on two criminal counts of theft by deception. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. The criminal offenses allegedly occurred between April 2018 and September 2019 in Knox, Waldo, Hancock, Kennebec, Lincoln and Somerset counties.
The Stewarts left the Zoom call Tuesday and the state’s attorneys immediately sought a default judgment, which Justice Bruce Mallonee approved.
Formal paperwork will be filed with the court to finalize the judgment, which will order the couple to pay $744,253 in restitution. The amounts sought per victim vary, with the highest amount being $50,000 for a single victim.
“I believe that Malcolm and Elizabeth Stewart’s strategy since they suddenly closed down Castle Builders three years ago was to wait out the claimants through delaying tactics hoping that they would give up and abandon their claims against Castle Builders, making the case against them go away,” said Rodney Lynch of Rockland, one of the victims in the Castle Builders case. “However, once they saw the courtroom full of people who had been aggrieved and scammed by them, and who were determined to see justice carried out, they could see that continuing with the civil trial was fruitless and decided to fold, thereby allowing the Attorney General’s Office to win a default judgment against them.”
No additional civil penalties are being sought because of the time it would take and the likelihood that none of the money would be recovered.
In August 2021, an attachment of $359,350 was placed on the Stewart’s property at 16 Prescott Road in Washington. The town had the 15 acres and buildings valued at $285,171.
The AG’s Office was represented by Assistant Attorneys General Brendan O’Neil and Michael Devine.
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