Although David Lidstone did not show up for his day in court, a judge ordered that the hermit better known as River Dave must pay $500 for every day he remains on the Canterbury woodlot where he has made his home.
Judge Andrew Schulman of Merrimack Superior Court cited Lidstone’s failure to appear in court Thursday, calling it “deliberate,” in his ruling that held Lidstone in civil contempt for repeatedly violating orders to stay off the land. Schulman also ruled that Lidstone must pay attorney’s fees to Vermont landowner Leonard Giles for the most recent motion filed in the case.
Lidstone had failed to appear in district court for a misdemeanor criminal trespassing charge on March 7. He was later arraigned after being arrested.
Schulman said that Lidstone will begin owing daily payments to Giles if he remains on the property after April 11.
“I think that’s a fair disposition and certainly not a windfall,” Schulman said. “He has the keys, and he can leave anytime he wants.”
Giles attorney Lisa Snow Wade said that Giles has spent more than $30,000 on this case. “Incarceration has not necessarily done any good to prevent Mr. Lidstone from staying on the property, but perhaps a per diem penalty for staying on the property might get his attention,” she said in court.
Lidstone, 82, has lived in a cabin on the banks of the Merrimack River that he built himself for more than two decades, alongside a large vegetable and fruit garden, a greenhouse and a woodshed.
In 2017, a judge ordered Lidstone off the land after Giles sued him. Lidstone was arrested in July 2021 when he returned, and while he was in jail in August, his cabin burned down in a fire. The Canterbury fire chief has said the fire, which occurred on the same day that Giles’ son began dismantling the cabin, was accidental. The greenhouse and a woodshed remained, with Lidstone’s belongings inside.
After receiving an outpouring of support and donations, including a $180,000 donation from Palantir founder Alex Karp, Lidstone said he would hire a surveyor to examine his claim to the land.
Instead, he returned to the land in December. A motion filed by Giles’ attorney in December begins with a photo of a woodshed, partially covered in tarps. “This picture taken on December 11, 2021 at the Giles property in Canterbury is worth a thousand words: Mr. Lidstone is back living on the Giles’ property,” the motion said.
Lidstone was arrested by Canterbury Police on Dec. 14 for criminal trespass. After refusing bail, he stayed overnight in jail and was then released.
Thursday’s hearing was not the first time Lidstone failed to appear in court or has been hard to locate. The plot of land in question is a mile and a half from the nearest road, and most easily accessible from the river.
A previous hearing in the civil case set for January was rescheduled after a process server injured his leg after slipping and falling down an embankment while attempting to serve Lidstone, according to a motion filed by the plaintiff.
The Canterbury Police and Merrimack County Sheriff’s Office had also failed to serve Lidstone, the motion said. An affidavit Wade submitted to the court includes a photo of Lidstone, holding the notice of the hearing, when he was ultimately served on March 7.
“I have a great deal of sympathy for Mr. Lidstone, but it is what it is,” Schulman said at the end of Thursday’s hearing.
“The person who should have the sympathy here is Mr. Giles. He’s an 86-year-old veteran who’s been put through this. This has not been easy for him emotionally or financially,” Snow Wade said.
She argued that Lidstone has garnered sympathy in the media as an elderly veteran while her client has spent his retirement years trying to protect his land.
“The nice thing about sympathy is there’s enough to go around,” Schulman said. “I agree with everything you said. I just think Mr. Lidstone’s an 80-something year old man…and I don’t know, hopefully he gets the message.”