AUBURN — A recent judge’s ruling has set the stage for a civil trial to determine whether Androscoggin County must pay heath care benefits to the surviving spouses of county workers.

The trial is scheduled to be held in Oxford County Superior Court; the judge ordered a change of venue after the county requested the case be moved out of Androscoggin County.

More than a dozen former county employees, their spouses and active county workers brought the lawsuit.

Androscoggin County commissioners argued last summer that the case be dismissed, but Androscoggin County Superior Court Justice Joyce Wheeler recently ordered that that part of the civil suit go forward, including one count of breach of contract, which plaintiffs say lies at the heart of the case.

Wheeler dismissed a portion of the complaint that appealed the action of the commissioners, who notified former county workers a year ago it planned to stop paying the benefits. That appeal was filed in a subsequent lawsuit in mid-January, then joined with the first complaint.

County commissioners met with their lawyer last week and decided to take the case to trial, Commission Chairman Randy Greenwood said Monday. They also asked the Androscoggin County Budget Committee to more than double their proposed 2011 legal fees budget of $45,000 based on the intention to go to trial.

Scott Quigley, an attorney representing the plaintiffs, on Monday applauded the judges decision to allow the case to proceed.

“Obviously, we’re pleased with it,” he said. He said he’s already filed a motion asking the judge to take a second look at her decision on the plaintiffs’ appeal of the commissioners’ actions to deny the benefits.

Quigley said the choice of Oxford County was “appropriate.” Cases appear to move through that court system faster than in Androscoggin County, likely due to a smaller caseload, he said.

The case presents some challenges to plaintiffs because the health care benefit for surviving spouses of county workers apparently wasn’t offered in writing.

But, Quigley said, “we’re confident in that we have some really esteemed members of the community, former members of the (County) Commission whose recollection is just crystal clear that this benefit existed, that it was promised to them and that they should get it. So, certainly if a jury hears that, we’re confident we’ll get a positive reaction.”

Plaintiffs wrote in their initial complaint that the benefit influenced their negotiations over wages and other benefits. They said they agreed to lower pay raises and, in some cases, no pay raises in order to get the posthumous health care benefit for spouses.