A judge has dismissed all claims against an Epsom police officer accused of instigating retaliation by town officials against a firefighter who had reported him for alleged sexual harassment.

The 2015 lawsuit filed by volunteer firefighter and emergency management director Richard Bilodeau against the town of Epsom is still scheduled for jury selection this summer. But in an April 26 order, Merrimack County superior court Judge Diane Nicolosi ruled that there wasn’t sufficient evidence to link the alleged retaliation to police Lt. Brian Michael, who was named as a separate plaintiff in the case, and that the alleged retaliation attributed to Michael didn’t actually meet the legal definition of retaliation.

In his suit, Bilodeau accused both Michael and town officials of retaliating against him after he complained that Michael had spoken to and touched him inappropriately on multiple occasions. The harassment complaints were investigated by the sheriff’s department – which recommended the case be forwarded to the state attorney general’s office for a potential criminal indictment, according to the suit – but Bilodeau backed off.

Police Chief Wayne Preve later held a meeting between Bilodeau and Michael, where Michael apologized. Bilodeau said that that’s when the retaliation started.

He said he was ostracized by the police department, that officers stopped helping during emergency calls, and that in 2013 Preve contracted with an outside company instead of Bilodeau to install electrical equipment on a police cruiser, though Bilodeau had done the work for years.

Bilodeau also claimed the fire chief, R. Stewart Yeaton, sometimes demeaned him in front of his colleagues, denied him training opportunities, and on one occasion slapped him.

“There is no evidence that Michael conversed directly with Yeaton about the sexual harassment complaint. There is no evidence that Michael asked him or anyone else to treat Bilodeau poorly. Some of the town’s conduct occurred six years after the complaint,” Nicolosi wrote in her 14-page order, continuing later: “There must be more than that to hold a person responsible for another’s actions and choices.”

Brian Cullen, Michael’s attorney, said the judge made the right call.

“Lt. Michael has always denied that his actions regarding Mr. Bilodeau were anything more than well-intentioned horseplay, and when he learned that Mr. Bilodeau was uncomfortable with his behavior he immediately apologized to him. He has at all times since made an effort to continue work with Mr. Bilodeau in a professional manner. We are pleased that the Court agreed with our position and has now dismissed the claims made against the Lieutenant,” Cullen wrote in an email.

Cullen, who doesn’t represent the town, also said in an interview that the judge’s ruling could foreshadow how the rest of the case might go.

“I think it does give a pretty good indication that the conduct that he reports as being retaliatory aren’t things that have a significant impact on him,” he said.

Matthew Moulton of the Epsom fire department resigned from his post as fire captain last week in a public letter denouncing inaction on the part of Yeaton regarding the sexual harassment claims.

Prior to resigning, Moulton filed an affidavit in the suit supporting many of Bilodeau’s allegations. He wrote that he’d seen some of the incidents of harassment firsthand, although he couldn’t offer a date for them. He also said the police department was less likely to respond to the fire department’s calls and that Yeaton had been treating Bilodeau badly, including by slapping him in front of others at a training, since the complaints.

(Lola Duffort can be reached at 369-3321 or lduffort@cmonitor.com.)