PORTLAND — Maine’s supreme court today unanimously upheld the ruling against a former heating oil dealer accused of failing to deliver oil on prepaid plans during the winter of 2007-2008.

Nicholas Curro and his three companies – Price-Rite Oil, Veilleux Oil & Service and Perron Oil – were to pay $394,000 in restitution to more than 300 customers in an agreement reached last year. The arrangement approved by York County Superior Court Justice G. Arthur Brennan also included a fine of $250,000, which would be reduced to $25,000 if restitution was made within five years, and a ban on Curro entering into any prepaid oil deals for the next five years.

The businesses appealed to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, arguing that the attorney general failed to provide 10-day notice before filing its complaint and that the lower court made a mistake in imposing the civil penalty when Curro didn’t intentionally violate the state’s Unfair Trade Practices law.

The justices found that the businesses failed to realize that there was an exception to the 10-day notice requirement in their case due to affidavits filled by the attorney general in support of a temporary restraining order it sought. The justices also found there was ample evidence to support the lower court’s findings that Curro acted intentionally.