Saturday, April 28, 2007
In both cases, defendants contended they had not been notified of important hearings.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A second civil case in Trumbull County, in which a county judge granted a default judgment ordering a local man to pay more than a half-million dollars, is set to be heard by a visiting judge.
Friday, Visiting Judge Thomas P. Curran of Cuyahoga County, sitting by assignment in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, set hearing dates of July 26 and 27 to decide whether Dr. Theodore Spirtos and his wife, Georgia, of Youngstown, should be relieved of having to pay more than 600,000 to Bartholomew Builders of Hubbard.
Common Pleas Judge John M. Stuard had ruled Aug. 23, 2001, that the builder was entitled to 190,989 plus interest after Dr. Spirtos and his attorney failed to contest various parts of the case against him.
Dr. Spirtos said Friday the reason he didn't attend any of the hearings or challenge the default judgment was because he was never notified of them.
The case is similar to one Judge Curran handled recently involving Sun Castle Enterprises of Howland and its owner, William Fleming. Sun Castle built the Camden Ponds development in Howland. Fleming died of a pulmonary embolism April 14 while vacationing in Florida.
Both cases were handled by Judge Stuard and were filed by Atty. Randil Rudloff of Warren. In both cases, Judge Stuard granted default judgment against a defendant who later contended he had not been notified of important hearings in his case.
Earlier ruling
Judge Curran ruled April 3 that the 565,000 judgment against Fleming should be dropped and that the case should return to the stage where it left off in January 2002, when Judge Stuard had granted default judgment.
Judge Curran said one reason for granting the "do over" in Fleming's case was because Fleming had not been properly notified of events in the case. Judge Curran said he also found other problems with the way the case was handled. Judge Stuard recused himself from the case, which is why Judge Curran is now handling it.
In court Friday, Judge Curran asked Rudloff whether both of the cases could have been handled differently if Rudloff would have simply "picked up the phone" and called Dr. Spirtos' attorney to ask him why no one had appeared for hearings.
"Are you saying I should call every time a notice is sent?" Rudloff asked. "I didn't feel I was compelled to call," he said, referring to court rules on the issue.
"Did you ever call an attorney as a courtesy?" Judge Curran asked.
"I guess from time to time," Rudloff said.
Dr. Spirtos, who is an emergency room physician, said he filed for relief from the judgment Aug. 22, 2006, after Fleming contacted him to tell him about the similarities between the Fleming and Spirtos cases.
In a legal filing from January, Dr. Spirtos said he had been interviewed by FBI agent Wallace Sines regarding his case. The filing said Dr. Spirtos filed for the relief from judgment because of the "FBI investigation involving alleged fraudulent conduct" in his case.
Sines sat in the courtroom Friday, listening to testimony. He declined to comment on the Fleming or Spirtos cases.
Judge Curran asked Spirtos and his attorney, Brad E. Hubbell of Toledo, to seek permission from U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Judge Curran to handle the common pleas court case despite Dr. Spirtos' having a pending bankruptcy case.
runyan@vindy.com