TRUMBULL COURT Suit claims attorney owes taxes

The state is asking for more than $5,000 in back contributions, penalties and interest.
By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
NILES -- An attorney who is also the city's law director is now the defendant in a civil suit filed by the state attorney general.
J. Terrence Dull is named in a complaint filed by Warren attorney Lawrence S. Turner for unpaid unemployment taxes between 1993 and 1996. Turner is serving as special counsel for Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro on this and similar matters in Trumbull County.
According to the suit, Dull reportedly failed to pay at least a portion of unemployment taxes for employees of his private practice to Ohio Jobs and Family Services, formerly known as the Bureau of Employment Services.
The unpaid contributions, surcharges, interest and penalties now totals $5,611.94, which the state is requesting be reimbursed to clear up the matter.
Turner said the issue is essentially a matter of bookkeeping.
"There is no question of any wrongdoing," stressed Turner. "This is a civil action, not a criminal complaint."
Turner said Dull does have the option of disputing the claim.
Dull was not available to comment Friday.
"When Jim Petro took office, he decided to make an effort to collect some of these delinquent accounts," Turner said, adding some had been on the books for years.
"It's simply an effort to clean up the records and get back some of this money that would otherwise be lost to the state," he continued.
The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday afternoon in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, has been assigned to Judge John M. Stuard. No hearing date has been set.
slshaulis@vindy.com