TRENTON – A resolution has been reached in the legal dispute between a local Christian school and its former benefactor.

But the bad feelings left over from the controversy still linger.

Michael Cox, chairman of Life Christian Academy’s board of directors, indicated in a statement released Sunday that the school and John Linnehan Jr. agreed out of court late last month to financial terms for the settlement. Cox did not disclose what the settlement figure was, but indicated it covered the sale of some of the school’s assets, all of the school’s legal costs, storage and office rental expenses.

As part of the settlement, LCA voluntarily gave up the remainder of its lease, which expired on Oct. 11.

“LCA felt this to be the most prudent and effective way to bring an end to a very unpleasant and traumatic situation,” Cox indicated in the statement. “It will take considerable time for the students and families of LCA to recover from this experience.”

Linnehan, whom the school accused of illegally trying to evict it from its Route 3 location, declined when contacted by e-mail to comment on the settlement. He said the governing board of Acadia Christian School, which he recently founded and which now occupies LCA’s former building, decided to adopt a no-comment policy.

But Linnehan did write in the e-mail on Tuesday, “We are all very excited! Our desire and primary focus is to maintain a positive perspective of the miraculous things God has done, is doing and will continue to do at ACS.”

Acadia Christian School has 78 pupils and 29 faculty members, Linnehan indicated.

LCA officials said in their release that they have decided not to offer classes this year, but hope to resume operations in the near future. For each of the past two years, LCA had about 110 students in kindergarten through high school.

“We are now in the process of reviewing options,” Cox wrote. “That LCA will continue is a given.”

In August, LCA filed a lawsuit against Linnehan, claiming he had breached his fiduciary obligations to LCA, where he had served as chairman of the board of directors. Also named as defendants in the lawsuit were Family Bible Church of Ellsworth, which owned the building, former LCA board member Jason Joyce of Swans Island and Acadia Christian School.

Linnehan, whose family owns Linnehan’s Credit Now used car dealerships in Auburn, Bangor, Brewer and Ellsworth, had a complicated relationship with LCA, according to the court complaint. Besides serving on the school’s board of directors, he also managed the Route 3 property for Family Bible Church, where he has served on the board of deacons. The complaint indicated that Linnehan negotiated the five-year lease agreement between LCA and the church, which had been given the building by Linnehan after he bought it in 1999.

While serving on the LCA board, according to the court document, Linnehan and Joyce went around the board in an attempt to get feedback from parents and teachers about which board members should not return to LCA. It accused Linnehan and Joyce of disclosing confidential information about LCA board meetings to third parties and of trying to organize Acadia Christian School while still serving on the LCA board.

Linnehan and Joyce were dismissed from the board in June after their alleged activities came to light.

In early August, Linnehan allegedly had LCA’s door padlocked shut and hired security guards to bar LCA officials from gaining access to the building they were leasing. Soon thereafter, LCA officials contacted the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department to lodge a trespassing complaint against Acadia Christian representatives.

On Aug. 15, LCA filed its lawsuit against Linnehan and the others in Ellsworth District Court.

Richard Rockwell, pastor of Family Bible Church, said Wednesday that he and others at the church did not know about the dispute brewing at LCA until police were contacted with the trespassing complaint. The only reason the church was named in the lawsuit, he said, was because it technically owned the building. He said that since the settlement, the church has handed over ownership of the school building back to Linnehan.

“It was a very difficult time,” he said, referring to when church membership learned about the dispute. “We’re glad to have a settlement and to continue building our church and good relations in the community.”

Rockwell declined to talk about specific allegations, individuals involved in the controversy, or changes at Family Bible Church that occurred as a result.

There have been some changes at the church, if its Web site is any indication. Since early August, photographs of Linnehan, his son Chadd and Linnehan’s wife Heather have been removed from the Web site’s “staff” page. On the Web page, Chadd Linnehan had been listed as a deacon and Heather Linnehan as head of the church’s children ministry.

Linnehan indicated in his e-mail that he remains a member of Family Bible Church but, though asked, did not indicate whether he still serves there as a deacon. He also declined to comment on the dispute that preceded his termination from the LCA board.

But Judith Ghander, LCA’s director of education, placed blame for the whole furor directly on Linnehan. In LCA’s prepared statement, she wrote that the results of Linnehan’s “devious and strong-arm tactics” continue to affect former LCA students and families.

“Anyone who says that this has not been traumatic or they have not been affected by this is lying, in denial, or totally insensitive to what has occurred,” she wrote. “[Linnehan’s] actions did not prove that might makes right, only that might makes a mess!”