PARIS — A Rumford lawyer’s attempt to be reinstated as counsel for a Dixfield group embroiled in a dispute over stray cats has been rejected by a judge. Rumford attorney Seth Carey was removed at the request of his clients.

In an order signed earlier this month, Oxford County Superior Court Active-Retired Justice Robert Clifford denied Carey’s motion to reconsider his removal from the case.

The decision upheld Clifford’s May 16 order that “attorney Seth Carey is not allowed to be representing any plaintiff.”

Carey’s father, Thomas Carey, also a lawyer, has voluntarily withdrawn as co-counsel.

The move appears to open the door for the Attorney General’s Office to step in as counsel representing a group of cat caretakers suing over the alleged mismanagement of funds intended to benefit homeless cats in Dixfield.

In a sharply worded series of motions requesting reappointment, Carey condemned the court, the AG’s Office and — in at least one instance — the “dubious and misguided decisions” of his former clients, arguing that without his involvement there would be no one to represent the cats’ best interests. 

“Despite its erroneous premise, the plaintiffs believed that the AG’s involvement was the best of both worlds; it was a white knight that would come in and save the day,” Carey wrote. 

According to the lawsuit Carey filed in January on behalf of cat caretakers Brenda Jarvis, Donna Weston, Noreen Clarke, Valerie Warriner and Caroline Smith, funds from the estate of Barbara Thorpe have neither been properly invested nor has adequate money been disbursed to pay for the care of Dixfield’s abandoned cats as directed by Thorpe in her will.

Thorpe, who died in 2002, left the bulk of her $200,000 estate to provide shelter, food and health care for abandoned and unwanted cats in Dixfield. 

In the years since, however, the caretakers say they’ve been spending money out of pocket to maintain a number of buildings to care for cats while only a few thousand dollars have come from the estate. They claim the trustees have enriched themselves instead.

The five women are paying for the care of about 75 cats, including heat for two homes and travel expenses to feed and check on feral cats throughout Dixfield. 

Since Thorpe’s death, the lawsuit alleges, lawyers have collected $16,000, while $22,679 was paid to the trustees. 

The defendants, David Austin, Gertrude Crosby, Bentley Crosby and Charlotte Mesko, have denied mismanaging funds and argued that the caretakers lack grounds to sue because they are not named in Thorpe’s will.

The town of Dixfield, a former defendant, was dropped from the suit last month. 

Carey is appealing a two-year probation barring him from practicing law in the state. A stay on that probation is in place pending the outcome of an appeal.

In February, the Maine State Bar Association ordered Carey to turn over his active cases for failing to properly discharge his professional duties in an unrelated matter. 

At the time of the probation in February, the cats’ caretakers requested time to find new counsel, assuming Carey was no longer involved. Even as they searched for a new lawyer, Carey continued filing motions on their behalf. 

In March, Carey told Assistant Attorney General Christina Moylan in a letter that he still represented the caretakers because no court order had removed him from the case.

In April, the AG’s office became a plaintiff in the case and froze proceedings, requesting a final accounting of the trust assets. Since then, the AG has attempted to broker a settlement between the parties by requiring the trustees to transfer the funds to a new trust, according to court documents. 

Carey did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

ccrosby@sunjournal.com