PORTLAND (AP) – In a ruling arising from a $56 million blueberry price-fixing judgment, the Supreme Judicial Court on Thursday set aside a November attachment order against an Ellsworth processor because of a technicality.

An amended attachment placed in January against Allen’s Blueberry Freezer has not been challenged by the processor and remains in force.

The court concluded that a document that growers filed with various registries of deeds and the secretary of state to reflect the judgment in their favor was not signed by a judge and thus failed to meet the requirement that it be an attested copy.

On the underlying issues, the justices rejected Allen’s arguments that the judgment cannot serve as the basis for an attachment because the amount was based on damages to the industry and will later be reduced.

Allen’s attorney, Robert Keach, said he was pleased at the outcome.

“We got exactly the relief we were seeking,” Keach said. “From our standpoint, I’m not too concerned why we won but only that we won.”

He said Allen planned to ask the trial court to dissolve the January attachment.

The lawyer for the growers, William Robitzek, said the ruling “really doesn’t affect us one way or another.” He said $56 million worth of attachments remain in place, “so we’re protected.”

A Superior Court jury in Rockland found that Allen’s and two other major processors of wild blueberries – Jasper Wyman & Son of Milbridge and Cherryfield Foods – conspired to fix the prices it paid to hundred of growers during the late 1990s.

The $18.6 million verdict was automatically tripled because of the antitrust issues involved.

Wyman and Cherryfield agreed last month to settle for a total of $4 million under terms of a deal negotiated with a state mediator. The supreme court ordered the Rockland court to consider the proposed settlement, effectively putting on hold an appeal of the verdict.

Allen’s refused to settle the case for $1 million, instead choosing to press ahead alone with the appeal that the three processors had filed.

AP-ES-03-04-04 1542EST