Stonington — The state Appellate Court has reversed an August 2018 ruling by the late Superior Court Judge Joseph Q. Koletsky and ordered a new trial on a property owner's claim that water containing oil from an underground oil tank at the United Church of Stonington's parsonage contaminated the soil and water on his property.

The 2-1 decision in favor of David Crouzet, owner of a home at 50 Trumbull Ave., is scheduled to be released officially on Tuesday. Crouzet had resided in town from 2004 to 2009 while working at Mystic Indoor Tennis. He is currently living in Mill Valley, Calif.

The church removed the 555-gallon underground tank from the parsonage at 48 Trumbull Ave. in 2006 and replaced it with an above-ground tank. Members said that as of last year, the church had spent nearly $500,000 remediating Crouzet's property and defending the legal claim that the soil and water at his property continues to be contaminated.

Following a four-day trial in New London in 2018, Koletsky ruled from the bench that Crouzet's attorneys failed to prove the church caused the pollution beneath his house. Koletsky said the defense had shown a secondary source of contamination existed.

Koletsky, who retired in 2019 and died on Aug. 8, 2020, often ruled directly from the bench after a trial, though it is more common for judges to issue a written memorandum of decision at a later date.

Crouzet appealed the decision, and a three-judge panel of the Appellate Court heard oral arguments before rendering their written opinions.

The majority opinion by Appellate Court judges William H. Bright and Douglas S. Lavine indicates they agreed with Crouzet's argument that Koletsky's finding of a secondary source of contamination in Crouzet's basement is erroneous and that Koletsky's decision is "based on speculation and is legally unsound."

In a separate, dissenting opinion, Appellate Judge Eliot D. Prescott wrote that the meaning of Koletsky's oral decision from the bench was not readily apparent, but he is not convinced Koletsky erred.

Prescott wrote there was ample evidence in the record to support a finding of secondary contamination and that he was upholding the lower court's decision because the Appellate Court is compelled to uphold a lower court's judgment unless there has been an error in the law.

According to the court documents, when Crouzet purchased the home in 2004, an inspector found "there was minor oil seepage from the oil tank in the plaintiff's basement, coming from the filter and on top of the tank, that there was a strong odor of fuel oil, and that the oil line was unprotected." Crouzet replaced the tank.

At the trial, Ross Aiello, whose great-grandfather built the home at 48 Trumbull Ave. and whose family lived there at the time he was born, testified that Harold Reynolds, who owned Crouzet's property before and after World War II, would change the oil of a 1936 Ford Sedan in the driveway by draining the used motor oil directly onto the ground.

Also, the husband of former pastor Lori Filban, who left the church last year, testified that in 2015, as he helped a tenant of Crouzet move a washing machine, he noticed a puddle of oil on the dirt floor, and a stream of oil coming from a fitting on the boiler.

Attorney Eric J. Garafano, who represents Crouzet, said by phone Monday that the home is not being rented because oil vapors in the dirt basement are very strong. Garafano said he hopes Crouzet and the church can work out an agreement short of going to trial again. He said the only way to ensure the contamination is removed would be to lift the home and move it while excavating and replacing all of the soil, which is estimated to cost between $80,000 and $100,000.

He said the church had refused Crouzet's offer to settle the case for $125,000 prior to the trial. Now, he said, that amount would not likely cover the remediation and continuing legal expenses.

"It's a terrible situation for all involved," said Garafano. "Hopefully we're able to resolve it short of trial."

He said the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection agreed that the church's oil tank had caused the contamination and there was no evidence of a secondary source of contamination.

Church trustees and their attorney, Benjamin H. Nissim, did not immediately return phone messages on Monday afternoon.

k.florin@theday.com