“Butler County asserts that the discovery and rulings to date in this case establish that the acts of Mr. Reynolds, the former Butler County Auditor, relevant to this litigation were outside the scope of his employment and official responsibilities such that Butler County has no duty to indemnify any judgement that might be obtained against Mr. Reynolds,” the motion reads.
“Further, Butler County maintains that Mr. Reynolds actions were manifestly outside the scope of his employment or official responsibilities, such that Butler County has no duty to defend M. Reynolds. Additionally, Butler County asserts that the actions of Mr. Reynolds were not in good faith, which relieves Butler County of any duty to defend or indemnify.”
Gerald Parks sued Reynolds in September 2021, and those allegations spawned a criminal prosecution. The claims in the civil case have evolved — and other defendants dismissed — and both sides asked visiting Judge Dennis Langer to settle the matter in their favor ahead of the Oct. 30 trial.
Reynolds has been paying his own legal bills for the criminal proceedings — the case is on appeal — but the taxpayers have picked up a large share of the tab for the civil lawsuit because he was county employee. The legal bills total $140,434 from Oct. 2021 through June 30. The county hasn’t received an accounting of the bills since then yet.
The county paid $100,000, which is the deductible, and now the insurance company is paying the rest.
The county’s insurance company the County Risk Sharing Authority has also filed a motion to participate in the case.
“CORSA should be permitted to intervene to seek a coverage determination and if necessary, to submit jury instructions and interrogatories,” the motion reads. “The existing parties would not protect CORSA’s interests in a coverage determination.”
Reynolds could not be reached for comment and his attorney said he couldn’t comment. Parks’ attorney couldn’t be reached either.
The two main charges are that Reynolds used his office and political clout to doom three development deals — worth $1.3 million-$1.35 million each — and removed agricultural tax breaks from Parks’ land. He was charged individually and in his capacity as auditor.
Both sides filed what are known as summary judgment motions, asking Langer to find in their favor on numerous issues. His decisions on those motions define if/how the trial will go. Out of five counts in the complaint, there is only one matter ripe for a jury to decide at trial, involving the doomed Clover development in Liberty Twp.
That issue involves Reynolds’ alleged influence over decisions made by the Liberty Twp. trustees, “as it relates to the Clover contract, plaintiffs presented evidence showing there is a genuine issue as to whether defendant improperly influenced members of the Liberty Twp. board of trustees.”
Trustees Tom Farrell and Steve Schramm have been subpoenaed along with the developers for the trial. Schramm testified in the criminal trial in December and told the Journal-News while he hasn’t actually received the court summons yet, his testimony won’t change.
“I think they may be in for a rude awakening because I was pretty clear on the criminal side that I said he really didn’t have any influence on me, even though I felt like he tried,” Schramm said. “I didn’t feel it was proper Roger should be weighing in so it really didn’t have any input on my decision... I never have made any decisions at the township level that were due to any undo influence by anybody else. The projects we turned down were pieces of junk and turned them down on their merits.”
The bulk of the lawsuit centers on Reynolds and his efforts to get a development called Red Oaks Commons developed on land owned by his father in West Chester Twp. and defeating a similar development by the Clover Group on Parks’ land in Liberty Twp.
A jury found Reynolds not guilty on the criminal charges related to the Parks issues in December, but guilty — he was removed from office because felons can’t hold public office — on an unrelated matter involving the Lakota Schools.
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