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Judge dismisses city as co-defendant in lawsuit
The trial on suits filed by the former councilman and ex-clerk against each other is scheduled to begin Monday.
YOUNGSTOWN — A judge has dismissed the city of Youngstown as a co-defendant in a wrongful-termination lawsuit filed by an ex-city council clerk.
The dismissal by Judge Maureen Sweeney was filed Wednesday with the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court’s clerk of courts office.
But the trial on civil lawsuits filed by ex-Clerk Arlene Bahar and former Councilman Artis Gillam Sr. against each other is scheduled to begin in Judge Sweeney’s court at 9 a.m. Monday.
Gillam filed his lawsuit in March 2006, when he served as the 1st Ward councilman, against Bahar less than three weeks after council fired her as clerk. She countersued Gillam in April 2007.
Bahar’s lawsuit states she was fired in February 2006 after complaining about being sexually harassed by Gillam for more than four years.
The firing was “in retaliation for having truthfully and in good faith opposed the unlawful discriminatory practice” of being sexually harassed by Gillam, Bahar’s lawsuit contends.
Gillam filed his defamation suit against Bahar saying a letter she wrote hours before being fired by city council accusing him of sexual harassment caused him “public hatred, contempt, ridicule, shame and/or disgrace.”
Gillam, married to current 1st Ward Councilwoman Annie Gillam, has adamantly denied the claims in Bahar’s lawsuit.
A few days before countersuing Gillam, Bahar filed a lawsuit in April 2007 against Youngstown claiming city officials knew about the supposed harassment by Gillam and did nothing to stop it.
City council voted 4-3 on Feb. 15, 2006, to fire Bahar as clerk, a job she had held since October 1998. She was earning $62,886 annually in the job when fired.
Gillam has said Bahar was fired because she repeatedly failed to report to work on time even though she was warned it could lead to her termination.
In dismissing Youngstown as a defendant, Judge Sweeney wrote that if Gillam had harassed Bahar it was “isolated incidents” that were “alleged to occur over a span of over four years.”
“The court finds that these infrequent instances are not persuasive enough to establish a hostile work environment. Further there is no evidence that the alleged incidents affected the terms, conditions or privileges of Bahar’s employment as she remained an employee for over four years after the initial report,” the judge wrote.
Judge Sweeney also wrote that Bahar was likely fired because of her job performance. The judge added that Bahar told only two council members about the alleged harassment prior to 2006.
The decision to remove the city as a co-defendant will be appealed, said Gregory A. Gordillo of Cleveland, Bahar’s attorney.
“This is the decision of the trial court,” he said. “I think the decision is mistaken, but I respect the process. The next step is to appeal the decision. There’s room to disagree.”
skolnick@vindy.com