Butler County, Hamilton, St. Clair Twp.
Likely the most expensive legal battle was an intergovernmental argument between Hamilton and St. Clair Twp. that cost $4.5 million. The township was estimating the city owed about $10 million — compensation for money lost due to flawed annexations over 12 years — they settled for $4 million to be paid over 10 years. Hamilton paid attorneys $534,787 to defend the case, and insurance didn’t cover anything.
Among the most notable is the eight-year legal battle between Butler County Common Pleas Court Judge Greg Stephens and his former magistrate Kimberly Edelstein. The case cost $1.65 million for the jury award, interest and attorneys fees.
Edelstein sued Stephens in federal court because she claimed he fired her for being Jewish. A jury awarded her $1.1 million in February 2023 — $835,000 in back pay, $250,000 in compensatory damages and $35,000 for punitive damages. The total amount was reduced to just more than $1 million when the federal judge ruled punitive damages weren’t warranted and cut the back-pay by $20,444.
After the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the verdict in October, it appeared the case was finally over, but according to court documents, Edelstein’s ex-husband has filed to intervene in the case because he was allegedly given half the back-pay award in the divorce decree so the case is ongoing.
Stephens asked U.S. District Court Judge Michael R. Barrett to let him out of the case — since he says the ongoing dispute doesn’t involve him — before any more daily interest accrues on the verdict award. Barrett agreed, writing the “matter is closed” on Nov. 25, after determining Edelstein was owed $1.2 million, including interest. Court documents indicate the calculation and approval of court costs is still outstanding.
County Administrator Judi Boyko said the county’s deductible is $100,000 and their insurance company paid $350,000 toward the jury award, therefore county taxpayers have paid roughly $968,980 and the County Risk Sharing Authority picked up $686,553. Boyko said the amount CORSA covers for settlements varies based on the type of claim.
The county’s contract with CORSA is for $933,083 this year to cover liability claims like this. There is a $100,000 per case deductible.
County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser — who was a defendant in the lawsuit until Barrett dismissed him a couple years ago — told the Journal-News he personally does not believe Stephens acted inappropriately, but public officials must always be careful.
“Government needs to be mindful that these types of results, with gigantic awards are always possible,” he said. “And even if they are perceived to be unjust, they do happen and we have to be cautious when it comes to our considerations in defending these cases or settling these cases.”
Fairfield, Middletown, West Chester Twp.
The county and Fairfield recently settled another judicial lawsuit that cost them $1.47 million combined, for the settlement and legal costs. It was a federal class action lawsuit filed six years ago alleging retired Fairfield Municipal Court Judge Joyce Campbell and Sheriff Richard Jones trampled the constitutional rights of 500 plaintiffs — who were arrested between Feb. 1, 2017 and Feb. 28, 2019 — by not conducting hearings within 48 hours of a warrantless arrest.
The settlement amount was $1.2 million and the city and judge’s portion was $777,500 while the county’s share was $437,500, which was covered by CORSA. Fairfield’s legal fees were $98,916 and the city had a $10,000 deductible. The county’s legal tab was $160,739 including the $100,000 deductible.
Middletown recently resolved a five-year tussle with Start Skydiving over a new hangar and other issues at Hook Field. The city paid the company $795,000 and incurred approximately $126,000 in legal fees.
West Chester Twp. could top everyone on the legal fee front, in an ongoing federal discrimination case that has cost $493,927 to-date and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. The taxpayer-paid portion is $257,474 and insurance has covered $236,453.
The suit was filed by two former police captains against now retired police chief Joel Herzog, the trustees and others in June 2021, claiming he engaged in a pattern of sexual and racial discrimination against department staff and retaliated against them when they complained about it. Discovery in the case is due next May.
West Chester also paid $115,892 in legal fees when the trustees sued their firefighters’ union over the issue of “traveling lieutenants.” The program saved the township around $250,000 in overtime. The two sides settled the matter with the help of a federal mediator by establishing a new comp time policy and by beefing up the fire department to full-time.
Since the township did the suing insurance didn’t cover the litigation costs.
Speeding in New Miami
The village of New Miami also spent big money defending itself against about 33,000 speeders who challenged the lucrative speed camera program, which was ultimately deemed constitutional. The speeders wanted $3.4 million but the village prevailed. That case finally ended after eight years in April 2022 and cost the village $487,943 in legal fees.
Typically, when a governmental body is sued, its insurance — minus the deductible — covers the legal bills and usually some of any settlements. But the village had to foot the bill because its law governing the cameras was initially found to be unconstitutional.
Gmoser said generally speaking “you cannot insure your way into coverage by doing something that is illegal and passing a law to permit it.”
Former auditor’s case
Generally, governments do not have to provide legal representation when employees are charged criminally, even if the act is alleged to have occurred in the course of business. Former Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds faced both criminal charges and a $1.35 million civil lawsuit accusing him of bribery and using his office for personal gain. The county did not have to pay for the criminal defense — he was ultimately exonerated — but his civil defense totaled $187,318. The plaintiff Gerald Parks ultimately dismissed the case after four years.
After the Ohio Supreme Court cleared Reynolds on appeal in the criminal case — convicted felons can’t hold public office — last year he tried unsuccessfully to unseat current Auditor Nancy Nix and regain his office. Gmoser’s office handled that case so no legal fees were incurred.
Parks also sued Liberty Twp. Trustee Tom Farrell but he was freed from the case after a year. The township had to pay $67,906 defending him, the township’s insurance company picked up $36,349.
Outstanding lawsuits
The county also has a couple of outstanding lawsuits still generating legal fees. So far, $325,596 in legal bills have mounted in the wrongful death suit filed by Victoria Matthews, the mother of Cody Bohanan, who alleged jail personnel were culpable in the death of her son. The lawsuit says he “exhibited serious, obvious, and dangerous signs of detoxification, yet received no intervention to keep him safe and alive.”
The magistrate in the case is recommending most of the defendants — 10 corrections officers and five medical staff — be dismissed. However she said a reasonable jury could find the medical director and two paramedics “exhibited deliberate indifference to Bohanan’s serious medical needs” and the sheriff and county “ultimately was responsible for the unconstitutional customs, policies and procedures that caused Bohanan’s death.”
The county objected to the report, writing Bohanan’s death “was not caused by any action or inaction on behalf of jail staff, but rather his withdrawal was exacerbated by a pre-existing condition he failed to communicate. If he had communicated this information to defendants or that his symptoms were worsening in such a significant way, there were policies in place that defendants were aware of and willing to implement.”
Barrett is also presiding over this case, and he has yet to rule on the recommendation.
There is also a pending federal lawsuit filed in 2020 by two refugees, Bayong Brown Bayong and Admed Adem, who claim they were repeatedly beaten and threatened during their ICE detainment in the Butler County jail.
The lawsuit alleges Bayong lost a tooth during an altercation with corrections officers. Court documents show Bayong “admitted, during his sworn deposition testimony, that he did not lose a tooth at the jail” and his wife and dentist’s depositions prove a “gap always existed.”
There hasn’t been any movement in the case since September 2024, but legal fees tally $115,161 to-date.
The Butler County Area Court judges were also hit with a lawsuit by former employee Angela Gabbard and settled with her for $100,000 in July. She claimed the defendants acted with “malice and a conscious disregard for Plaintiff’s federally protected rights” and she suffered economic and emotional distress, pain and suffering after she was fired while on maternity leave.
The settlement stipulated her attorney Brian Butler got $50,000, she received a check for $32,000 in “non-wage damages” and $18,000 for lost wages. She did not get her job back. This case cost $14,820 in legal fees, and CORSA paid entire litigation bill.
Payouts without filings
Some lawsuits don’t even have to be filed for plaintiffs to get cash. The commissioners recently paid their former clerk Flo Butler $57,607 after she filed a discrimination and retaliation claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Butler didn’t file any lawsuits against the county in federal or state courts and there was no file listed in the State Personnel Board of Review. The EEOC complaint is not a public record so it is unclear what type of discrimination Butler felt she suffered.
“Under federal law, both charges filed with, and charge inquires made to, the EEOC are confidential,” an EEOC spokesperson said. “The EEOC can neither confirm nor deny the existence of any charge.”
ICE lawsuits
Jail-related lawsuits are quite common, but the number in Butler County has risen sharply — about a dozen people have filed habeas corpus petitions — since March when Jones reupped his contract with U.S. Department of Customs and Immigration Enforcement to house detainees.
These plaintiffs do not seek money, instead they want their freedom.
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