ROCKLAND, Maine — A lawsuit has been reinstated against the former operator of the region’s only homeless shelter by a woman who claims that he offered her housing in exchange for sex.
Justice Daniel Billings denied Tuesday a motion to dismiss a lawsuit refiled by the woman against Gordon Mank Jr. The initial lawsuit had been dismissed by Billings on Nov. 4 because Mank had not been formally served papers to notify him of the lawsuit in timely fashion.
The woman’s attorney Sarah Churchill refiled the lawsuit and submitted an affidavit from a process server, however, that said the papers had been given to Mank’s father who agreed to accept the service on his son’s behalf. Churchill also argued that since Mank Jr. filed a response and a counter suit, it shows he knew about the lawsuit.
His attorney Steven Peterson said Thursday that he had disputed that serving Mank’s father the lawsuit notice was legally adequate.
Mank has denied the woman’s allegations. Peterson has said that his client acknowledged he had sex with the woman but that it was consensual and had no connection with her receiving housing or related services.
Mank has filed a counter lawsuit accusing the woman of defamation of character, malicious prosecution, and intentional infliction of emotional damages. The suit states the woman made her allegations in an effort to profit financially.
The woman has denied those allegations.
The Bangor Daily News is not naming the woman involved in the case because she may be the victim of sexual misconduct.
The woman claimed in her lawsuit that she and her four children were homeless in October 2010 when she contacted Hospitality House in hopes of getting temporary housing. She said Mank, who ran the shelter at the time, told her the Hospitality House was full but that he could make room for her.
They arranged to meet in Warren to fill out paperwork, according to her lawsuit, at which time she says a sexual encounter occurred. This was the first in a series of encounters in which Mank would contact her, bring her gifts and promise to help her with different housing and assistance programs in exchange for having sex with him, her suit stated.
Finally, her suit said she agreed to meet with him for an encounter in December 2010 at a motel in Belfast. She said she asked him about program paperwork he promised to bring to her, according to her lawsuit, and when he said he did not have the documents, she began crying and screaming and demanded he leave, which he did.
The woman said she has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder because of his actions and is receiving psychological treatment.
The homeless shelter operated by Mank closed in November 2012 and reopened a little more than a year later under new management. The Hospitality House now is operated by the Knox County Homeless Coalition with new board members, according to Stephanie Primm, the shelter’s executive director.