BETHEL – Testimony in a lawsuit by a former Mt. Abram Ski Resort owner against Camden National Bank is expected to end early next week.

Portland lawyer Daniel G. Lilley is representing Steamship Navigation Corp. and its officers Randy and Kathleen Dunican, who are seeking between $4 million and $5 million in damages in the civil suit, which is being heard by a jury of six women and three men.

Lilley said Friday night that his last witness, Randy Dunican, will take the stand when the case resumes at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Sept. 20, in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris.

After Dunican’s session on the stand, Lilley said the bank’s lawyer, Peter J. DeTroy III of Portland, is to present his side of the case.

DeTroy is representing the bank and defendant Stephen C. Staples, vice president of commercial banking at the Camden branch.

Lilley said proceedings have gone “very well,” since the trial’s beginning last Monday.

“We’ve had good witnesses, and we’re cautiously optimistic” about the pending outcome, he said.

“The jury seems very attentive, so we’re hopeful and confident.”

Efforts to reach DeTroy for comment Friday were unsuccessful.

On Monday, Lilley accused the bank of fraud, misrepresentation and breach of contract for suddenly foreclosing in 2000 on properties and businesses owned by Steamship and the Dunicans.

DeTroy has argued that neither the bank nor Staples was guilty of any wrongdoing in the matter.

The suit claims that Steamship and the Dunicans relied in good faith on alleged statements of Staples and past dealings with the Camden bank, incurring substantial debt between March and July 2000 in preparation to upgrade their ski resort’s snow-making capacity in late summer and fall of 2000.

But on July 12, according to the suit, the bank allegedly reneged on its promise of the snow-making loan, leaving the couple in default of all their loans.

The bank then foreclosed on the ski resort on Nov. 15, 2000, auctioning it off the same day. The bank also foreclosed on other properties owned by the Dunicans and Steamship, leaving them with nothing.

Lilley said Friday that he expected DeTroy to end his case next Tuesday morning.

Closing arguments from both lawyers would follow before the matter would be turned over to jurors.

Superior Court Clerk Donna Howe said Friday that jurors could reach a verdict by late Tuesday afternoon.