2 deputies who were reinstated sue department

The pair say their civil rights were violated and they were defamed.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Two Mahoning County deputy sheriffs who were fired and then hired back under court orders are taking the county to court again.
Jeff Chance of Canfield and Dennis Bruner of Boardman filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, Youngstown, against the sheriff's department, Sheriff Randall Wellington and Maj. Michael Budd.
Each is asking for at least $75,000 in compensatory damages and unspecified punitive damages. The lawsuit says that Chance and Bruner were defamed and their civil rights were violated by Wellington and Budd.
Wellington declined to comment because he had not seen the suit.
What happened: Chance is the brother of former Sheriff Phil Chance, who is serving a federal prison sentence for racketeering. Jeff Chance was fired by Wellington in October 1999 after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of falsification.
He appealed the termination and, in May 2000, an arbiter changed the punishment to a 30-day suspension. He was hired back earlier this year at his former rank of corporal and was demoted to deputy in July 2001.
Bruner's 1999 firing was based on a domestic violence verdict against him. As part of a civil protection order, Judge Beth A. Smith of domestic relations court took away the deputy's gun for five years, until August 2004. That's what prompted Wellington to fire him.
The 7th District Court of Appeals reversed the verdict in September 2000, after which Bruner sought and got reinstatement. He was rehired exactly a year after he was fired.
bjackson@vindy.com