NEW GLOUCESTER: The Maine Municipal Association’s Risk Management Services division will pay for New Gloucester Selectman Steve Libby’s defense in a civil suit recently filed by resident Frank Staton.

Staton, the New Gloucester man who was placed under a restraining order after being accused of threatening town officials, has sued Libby for slander, libel, defamation and malice. The civil suit focuses upon Libby’s statements at a May 19 Board of Selectmen meeting and to a Lewiston newspaper that Staton had criminally threatened the lives of town officials. It demands damages and restitution for Libby’s comments.

According to spokesman Eric Conrad, the association’s risk division provides property and casualty insurance to the town of New Gloucester.

“We provide their liability insurance,” Conrad said. “When you get sued, if you lose, you would pay out money. Since we are the insurance provider, it is common that we provide the legal defense.”

Although the suit is directed against Libby, not the town of New Gloucester itself, Conrad said that the risk division is likely covering Libby’s legal expenses because of his role in the town government and the nature of the civil suit.

“That’s probably not common, but he is an important elected official in the town of New Gloucester,” Conrad said. “Since he’s being sued in his official capacity as a municipal official, it’s the same thing.”

In a May 22 written statement regarding Staton’s “threatening harassment of municipal officials,” Town Manager Paul First requested a protection order from the court.

On June 30, Portland District Court prohibited Staton, 41, from “harassing, threatening, assaulting, molesting, attacking or otherwise abusing” 46 individuals associated with the New Gloucester municipal government.

On July 11, Staton’s attorney, David J. Van Dyke filed a complaint at Portland Superior Court against Libby.