MANSFIELD - The town's attorney filed a motion in federal court Wednesday that keeps open Mansfield's option of appealing the outcome of the lawsuit the town lost last summer.

However, in an interview, attorney Leonard Kesten emphasized that selectmen have made no final decision about whether to appeal the suit's outcome, so the single-page court filing was only a procedural matter.

Kesten said the motion had to be filed Wednesday, before 30 days had passed since the judge's Sept. 26 ruling, or else the town could have lost the option of appealing the suit to a higher court.

On Aug. 2, a federal jury awarded former electric department chief financial officer Kimberly Stoyle $800,000 in damages, plus interest and attorney's fees, after finding both the utility and Town Manager John D'Agostino liable for discriminating against and retaliating against Stoyle.

In September, Judge Douglas P. Woodlock approved the substance of the verdict. Stoyle's attorney, Lynn Leonard, and Kesten have since then filed a series of dueling motions over whether Woodlock should change the verdict in favor of the town. Now, both sides are waiting for the judge to rule on the various matters pending before him. "No final decision as to prosecute an appeal will be made until the town of Mansfield sees what the final judgment is," Kesten said Wednesday. Leonard also filed the appeal motion Wednesday.

Kesten said there is no way to know when that judgment will come. "It could be done today. It could be done in six months," he said. "It's always up to the judge."

The ongoing litigation has caused a major political brouhaha in Mansfield, with a campaign under way to oust two selectmen in a Nov. 6 recall election over their handing of the case.