The story, at least as Daigan Small’s lawyers told it in a federal lawsuit, was a curious case of corrupt small-town politics.

It began when Small, then 23, asked a worker at a demolition site in Bingham if he could buy a former restaurant’s sign for $5. The worker gave him the sign for free.

Apparently angered by the transaction, the town’s first selectman tried to run Small’s vehicle off the road, the lawsuit alleges. The selectman then drafted a new contract with the demolition company, specifying all materials being disposed of belonged to the town. 

Next, he called the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, and a deputy summonsed Small for misdemeanor-level theft, a charge that prosecutors ultimately dismissed.

Whether all the allegations are true remains uncertain. But U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen made clear in a ruling last week that Small’s legal claims did not pass the test, dismissing the complaint against the sole remaining defendant, Somerset County Sheriff’s Deputy Ashley Smith.

Torresen’s dismissal, signed Oct. 10, came five months after she dismissed claims against the town of Bingham and its former first selectman, Steven Steward. The dismissals together effectively close the case; no defendants remain.

“Somerset County and Deputy Smith are grateful for the court’s recognition that the claims against them were without any legal merit,” one of Smith’s attorneys, Peter Marchesi of the Waterville law firm Wheeler & Arey, wrote in an email.

“It is uncommon for cases to be dismissed at this early juncture, and the dismissal makes clear that there was no set of facts that the Plaintiff could have proven that would entitle him to judgment.”

Attorneys for the town and Steward, from the Portland firm Drummond Woodsum, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

As for Small, his attorney, Stephen C. Smith, wrote in an email: “We are deeply disappointed that officials will not be held to account for what seems to us like an egregious and petty abuse of power.”

Small, also represented by Walter H. Foster IV and Benjamin Hartwell of Steve Smith Trial Lawyers in Augusta, filed his complaint in U.S. District Court in September 2024. At the time, the Augusta law firm issued a statement to the media to announce the filing.

According to the complaint, the controversy began June 19, 2023, when Small stopped at the demolition site of the former “Moose Alley” building while driving on Main Street, also known as U.S. Route 201. The complaint erroneously called the road Route 1. 

Steward, the selectman, confirmed last year that the property referenced in the lawsuit was a former commercial establishment, most recently known as Antlers Inn.

The town had previously foreclosed on the property, he said. In 2005, it was the site of  fatal bar fight.

Daigan’s complaint goes on to say that after the worker on site gave him the “Restaurant & Lounge” sign — listed as worth less than $25 — he drove away. Steward then attempted to force his vehicle off the road in “an extremely unsafe and aggressive manner.”

“Unable to force Plaintiff off the roadway despite multiple violent attempts to strike him with his vehicle, Mr. Steward commenced a conspiracy to ensure that the Plaintiff was punished in the manner he felt appropriate,” the complaint continues.

Steward then created a new contract with the demolition company, Pine Tree Waste Services, owned by Casella, with a provision that the town would retain all materials from the demolition project, according to the complaint. The original contract, from several months prior, did not have that stipulation.

The new contract was apparently signed and dated June 19, 2023, but was not emailed to a Pine Tree Waste representative until the next day, the complaint alleged.

After receiving reports that Small had stolen the sign and fled the scene, including from another town official, Peter Abraham, Deputy Smith spoke with Small, and issued him a summons for one Class E count of theft by unauthorized taking and seized the sign, the complaint states. Small’s lawyers argued Smith had plenty of evidence that Small did not commit a crime, including both versions of the demolition contract and video of the construction worker’s interaction with him. 

Somerset County prosecutors eventually dismissed the case, the complaint says. District Attorney Maeghan Maloney confirmed last year that her office dismissed the theft charge after initially filing a criminal complaint.

In his lawsuit, Small was seeking a jury trial and for the court to award him compensatory, general and punitive damages, along with other relief.

Small’s lawyers wrote in the complaint that it was aimed at holding the town, Steward and Smith accountable for their “unreasonable, unlawful and malicious violations” of his rights. Among those was an alleged violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people against unreasonable searches and seizures.

Torresen, the judge, took issue with the Fourth Amendment claim, in part because Smith did not arrest Small; she served him a summons.

She also found no issue with Smith’s seizure of the sign, writing a reasonable officer could have concluded there was probable cause to believe the sign was evidence of a crime, based on information from a local government official about its ownership. 

“I emphasize that there is no allegation that the Defendant knew Steward had added the contractual provision about the town’s ownership of demolition materials only after the Plaintiff had taken the sign,” the judge wrote.

Smith also had qualified immunity in this case, Torresen wrote.