PORTLAND, Maine — The former University of Southern Maine hockey coach has alleged in a lawsuit that he was forced to take early retirement in December 2014 with the promise that he would receive retirement benefits and a tuition waiver for his son.
Jeffrey Beaney of Scarborough claimed that he agreed to leave his position after anonymous allegations of sexual harassment by him and coaching staff, later proven to be false, were made. Beaney, who worked at USM for nearly 30 years, said that officials reneged on promises about retirement pay and the tuition waiver.
Edward MacColl, the Portland attorney representing Beaney, in the complaint called USM’s actions “so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized society.”
Beaney is seeking unspecified damages.
He sued USM, its then-president David Flanagan, the University of Maine System and Chancellor James Page last month in Cumberland County Superior Court. Last week, attorneys for the defendants moved the lawsuit to federal court in Portland.
In its answer to the complaint, university and system officials denied that Beaney was forced to retire. Patricia Peard, the attorney representing university and system officials, did admit in their answer that “the internal investigation conducted by the university found that there was no basis to believe that Mr. Beaney engaged in the anonymous alleged conduct.”
Attorneys for USM, Flanagan, the system and Page have asked that the lawsuit be dismissed.
Beaney is now coaching the hockey team at Deering High School in Portland, according to media reports.