NORTHVILLE — Village officials did not have grounds to eject Mayfield farmers Douglas and Barbara Kampfer from the farmers market in October, state Supreme Court Judge Richard T. Aulisi ruled after a one-day trial.

Aulisi found Thursday that the action of village officials to have the operators of the Kute & Kuddly Country Farms escorted from the Northville market venue Oct. 5 was arbitrary and capricious.

Kampfer’s attorney, Michael W. Smrtic, said it was clear from testimony that the Kampfers did not violate any of the market rules when they billed the owners of the Timeless Tavern $25 for disposal of cardboard boxes.

Douglas Kampfer said in his affidavit that as he was picking up cardboard boxes that had fallen from the bed of a pickup truck leaving the tavern parking lot on Sept. 14, tavern co-owner Lisa Wood ordered him to take the refuse with him. On Sept. 17, Kampfer said he sent the tavern owners a letter with a bill for $25 for disposal of the boxes.

While participating in the Oct. 5 market, Kampfer said he was approached by Village Clerk Wendy Reu and a police officer and escorted from the site.

Smrtic said Reu asked the Kampfers if they wrote the letter and when they acknowledged it, she said: “You have to leave.”

Aulisi did not award Kampfer any compensation on his claim that he lost $500 to $1,500 for each day he was barred from the Northville market.

The village’s attorney, Jay Wood, declined comment. Mayor James Groff could not be reached for comment.

In her affidavit, Reu said the Kampfers were actually asked to leave based on reports they did not grow all the produce they were selling. She said there were reports the Kampfers’ produce was purchased at supermarkets and the labels removed.

Smrtic said the village did not prove that allegation and said the issue was irrelevant to what happened on Oct. 5.

Lisa Wood said in her affidavit that she observed Kampfer disposing of boxes in the tavern waste receptacle and told him it “was not a public dumping facility and that he was to kindly pick up his garbage and take it with him.”

Reu said in the court papers that the Kampfers were confrontational and improperly “made use of refuse facilities of certain merchants.” She said the decision to terminate the Kampfers’ market rights was based on “clear and published standards.”

The court ruling does not automatically reinstate the Kampfers in the village farmers market. Smrtic said farmers have to reapply each year.