Court declares inmate vexatious litigator

The Boardman man needs a judge's permission before he can file any legal actions.
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- An appellate court has ruled that Mahoning County officials no longer must deal with the vexing problem of civil actions filed by an imprisoned Boardman man.
The 7th District Court of Appeals affirmed a previous ruling out of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court that Donald A. Harmon is a vexatious litigator. As such, Harmon, 55, cannot file any legal actions in any court without approval from a judge.
He also must get approval from a judge to continue any cases he has pending.
The ruling applies to any municipal, area or common pleas court in Ohio, and the Ohio Court of Claims.
According to court documents, a vexatious litigator is a person who "habitually, persistently, and without reasonable grounds engaged in vexatious conduct in a civil action or actions."
The appellate court's ruling was good news to Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains, who first sought the vexatious litigator label for Harmon in 1999.
"He was suing judges and me and everybody," Gains said. "We spent many, many hours responding to his frivolous claims."
Why he's in prison
Harmon is serving a prison sentence for drug and assault charges. While incarcerated, he has initiated legal action in common pleas court against several local officials, including Sheriff Randall Wellington and former Sheriff Phil Chance, who is serving a federal prison sentence for racketeering.
Under Ohio law, the prosecutor's office is the legal representative for county officials, so it falls to Gains' staff to handle the suits, which Gains said were frivolous and intended only to harass people.
In October 1999, he filed a complaint to have Harmon declared a vexatious litigator, which is allowed under the law.
Gains cited nine complaints Harmon had filed against various county officials and lawyers. He files the actions by mailing them to the clerk of courts.
Harmon's claims were without merit and could not be supported by any sort of good-faith argument, Gains said.
The matter was put on hold for a year pending the outcome of a case before the Ohio Supreme Court, where the vexatious litigator law was being challenged as unconstitutional.
The high court ultimately upheld the law, and Judge James C. Evans of common pleas court deemed Harmon a vexatious litigator in April 2001.
"My lawyers have better things to do than respond to spurious accusations from a convicted felon," Gains said.
bjackson@vindy.com