FARMINGTON — A German couple has appealed a $6.9 million court award against them for compensatory and punitive damages based on accusations of defrauding a former wealthy Phillips doctor and her estate of millions of dollars.

John and Gudrun Stifel of Germany appealed the Franklin County Superior Court decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. The Stifels attorney, John Whitman, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Justice Michaela Murphy ordered the Stifels in September to pay damages on the 2007 lawsuit filed by Dr. Margarete “Gretl” Hoch’s representatives, Richard and Lorraine Chandler of Strong.

Hoch, 84, died June 24, 2008, in Germany. She moved back to her native land in late 2004 after practicing medicine in Franklin County for more than 40 years.

The Chandlers, Hoch’s friends and attorneys of record, filed a lawsuit on her behalf in October 2007 against the Stifels of Meinhard, Germany, owners and operators of Naturhotel hessische Schweiz, a spa in Germany, where Hoch spent her last years. The Stifels claimed through their attorney and court documents that Hoch issued them power of attorney in 2007 and named them as beneficiaries of her will.

Justice Murphy upheld the Chandlers as attorneys of record in 2008.

The 2007 suit cited, among other claims, fraud, undue influence/constructive trust and civil conspiracy. The action was brought after the Chandlers paid an unexpected visit to Hoch at the spa after the Stifels prevented contact between them.

Court documents state the Chandlers found Hoch, who was diagnosed in 2005 with progressive Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, in poor health and in dire need of medical care and living in filthy conditions. John Stifel also tried to buy out the Chandlers’ power of attorney authority for $130,000 or more if they were willing, court records state.

Murphy wrote in her September decision that the “The record is clear . . . that the defendants engaged in a malicious course of conduct. The court finds that they indeed cloistered Dr. Hoch at the Naturhotel when she was in an extremely fragile and vulnerable state of her life and prevented her from having contact with her closest friends and family. The facts show that they bullied, manipulated and intimidated her in order to gain control of her money and generated false and fraudulent documents to achieve their ends,” Murphy wrote.

The Chandlers stand to gain no benefits from Hoch’s estate. Named in the will as beneficiaries are Shriners Hospitals for Children, SOS Children’s Villages USA and Franklin County Animal Shelter in Farmington.

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