MAHONING COUNTY Insurance to pay fees from suit

Last bill for jail monitoring was $114,000, records show.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County's insurance, minus a $25,000 deductible, will pay attorney fees in a class-action jail inmates lawsuit, but who will pay the cost of monitoring the facility for years to come is unclear, the county prosecutor says.
The Mahoning County jail was last under a federal consent decree until November 2001. The overcrowded and understaffed jail is once again in the hands of a federal judge who will appoint a special master to recommend how to bring the facility in line with inmates' constitutional rights.
Akron lawyers Robert Armbruster and Thomas Kelley, who sued the county in 1993 and monitored the jail as part of the consent decree, were paid by the county, Prosecutor Paul J. Gains said Monday. He couldn't recall the cost.
In 2001, Armbruster and Kelley were paid $114,798 for monitoring, according to Mahoning County auditor's records.
Armbruster and Kelley sued again on inmates' behalf in November 2003 and won at trial in December 2004.
CoRSA, County Risk Sharing Authority, the county's insurance, will pay their fees and expenses, as well as those of Columbus attorneys who defended the county, Gains said. He estimated the cost for all the attorneys at more than $200,000.
Monitoring fees
Gains said he believes the county, not the insurance company, will once again be liable for monitoring fees.
"It's unclear at this point [who pays], and I will inform commissioners," Gains said. "The bottom line is we have to run a constitutionally sound jail or we pay."
The prosecutor said he's also not sure whether CoRSA will pay the cost of the special master. He intends to check with the insurance company.
On March 10, U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. ordered Mahoning County to pay Armbruster and Kelley's fees and expenses, the cost of the trial transcript and the special master's fees.
A list of candidates for special master were to be submitted Monday to Judge Dowd in Akron federal court but, in a joint motion, both sides asked that they be given until Thursday to submit their lists.