A former Minot event planner will appeal a North Central District Court decision that resulted in a judge’s order last Friday that she pay more than $25,000 in fines, costs and fees for consumer fraud.

District Judge Todd Cresap determined Terpsehore “Tore” Maras-Lindeman violated the state’s registration requirement to solicit charitable contributions and engaged in deceptive acts in connection with a canceled Christmas show in 2017 in Minot and a fundraiser in 2015 for Harvey fire victims.

Maras-Lindeman will appeal to the North Dakota Supreme Court on the grounds that Cresap committed reversible errors, said her attorney, David Thompson of Grand Forks. The most significant error involved the judge’s dismissal of Maras-Lindeman’s counter claim against the Attorney General’s Office, he said. The court also had punished her for failing to produce documents requested of her by the Attorney General’s Office, which she didn’t possess but that the Attorney General already held after obtaining them from others through subpoenas, he said.

The court judgment prohibits Maras-Lindeman or her agents from soliciting charitable contributions in the future unless she requests a permanent injunction be lifted due to meeting the following conditions:

– five or more years have passed.

– full restitution has been made to consumers.

– full restitution has been made to consumers who made advance payments for services not performed or merchandise not delivered.

– all ordered payments to the Attorney General have been made. Payments include $9,000 in civil penalties and $16,618 in costs and attorney fees.

The court would hold a hearing to determine whether to lift the injunction.

Maras-Lindeman’s trade name, MLLABS-EVENTS, also is canceled.