Suit alleges improprieties in property appraisal

By John W. Goodwin Jr.

The suit names the sheriff and six others.

YOUNGSTOWN — A local attorney feels something is amiss with Mahoning County Sheriff Randall Wellington and those appointed to appraise county property, and he is taking the matter to court.

Atty. Brian P. Kish filed a civil lawsuit in common pleas court on behalf of Dolores Wilkinson against Wellington and county appraisers Daniel Battisti, Gail Battisti, Geraldine Damico and Richard Jeren, alleging improprieties in the appraisal practices for property in the county.

The suit also names the county recorder’s office, but Kish said he is not alleging any wrongdoing on the part of that office. He wants compliance only from the recorder’s office.

The suit, filed under a civil version of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, alleges the named parties participated in telecommunications fraud, tampering with evidence, theft by deception and money-laundering prohibitions.

Kish said for the purposes of foreclosure and sheriff’s sale, every appraisal in the county is to be done by three independent appraisers. After each appraiser has appraised the property, an average of the three assessments is calculated and sent to all parties involved.

Kish said he collected a list of sheriff’s return of appraisals on file since 2006 and randomly checked the documents. He said in every case he checked, all three appraisers listed on the document came up with the same value for each piece of property being appraised.

Kish said he began looking into the matter when his client, Wilkinson, had her home appraised in 2006 then again in 2008, once the recession had taken effect, and the same value was assessed to the property each time — plus all three appraisers came up with the exact same values in both years.

“Was she lucky enough to be in foreclosure, but unlucky enough to have the only piece of property in the country to not decline in value?” he said. “I find it amazing that these three people are all coming up with the same values.”

Kish said he believes the appraisers are not independently checking the properties being appraised but are instead sending only one person to do an appraisal while the other two simply agree with the assessment and collect the appraisal fees.

Kish said Wellington is party to the suit because he is responsible for placing the appraisers under oath and seeing to it that they do their jobs appropriately.

He also said the qualifications for an appraiser stipulate only that the appraiser live in the county, yet there are only six people on the list to do appraisals. He suggested the people on the list are hand-picked by Wellington for various reasons.

Wellington, as of Friday afternoon, said he had not seen the lawsuit but disagrees with the allegations. He said the prosecutor will be handling all inquiries.

“All appraisals are done by proper procedure; that’s all I can say at this point. All other questions will have to go to the prosecutor,” the sheriff said.

Daniel Battisti said he has not seen the suit and does not want to make any comments until he has had time to review the allegations. He said a response likely will be forthcoming sometime next week after he has had time to review the suit.

jgoodwin@vindy.com