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Engineer suit settled for $175K
By ED RUNYAN
WARREN
A decision by Trumbull County Engineer David DeChristofaro to lay off the daughter-in-law of the previous county engineer when DeChristofaro took office Jan. 5, 2009, has produced a settlement costing the county’s insurance company $175,000.
Lawsuits filed by two other employees let go the same day are pending in federal court.
Atty. Charles Richards of Howland, who represents DeChristofaro in the three suits, confirmed that DeChristofaro approved the settlement with Amanda Latell of Girard on May 31, 2010. He said it’s likely that most of the settlement was paid by CORSA, the County Risk Sharing Authority, the county’s insurance pool.
The settlement approved by U.S. District Court Judge Patricia A. Gaughan in Youngstown required Amanda Latell to keep the terms of the settlement confidential, though the agreement is a public document and was obtained by The Vindicator.
When asked to comment on the settlement, David Rouan, DeChristofaro’s director of administration and governmental affairs, said all questions for him and DeChristofaro should be directed to Richards.
The suit — known as a retaliation lawsuit — claimed Latell’s First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment rights to freedom of speech and freedom of association were violated by DeChristofaro when DeChristofaro terminated Amanda Latell’s employment.
Amanda Latell’s suit said the reason Amanda Latell was let go was because of her support for former Chief Deputy Engineer Randy Smith in the primary election in the spring of 2008. Amanda Latell worked under Smith at the engineer’s office.
Smith ran unsuccessfully against DeChristofaro for the Democratic Party’s nomination to the county engineer’s job.
Latell is married to a son of John Latell, the former county engineer, who also supported Smith. Amanda Latell worked as a secretary at the engineer’s office from July 6, 2005, until Jan. 5, 2009.
Among the items provided during the discovery process for a lawsuit by another of the three people terminated Jan. 5, 2009, Nicole Klingeman, was a letter David DeChristofaro wrote to Rouan on Nov. 28, 2008, that summarized a Nov. 26, 2008, meeting at DeChristofaro’s house.
The memo outlined the discussion DeChristofaro had with several supporters regarding the steps that would be taken his first day in office “for removing Nicole [Klingeman], Amanda [Latell] and Matt [Dohy].”
Dohy, who also was let go Jan. 5, 2009, is a son-in-law of John Latell’s.
At the time that DeChristofaro laid off Klingeman, Amanda Latell and Matt Dohy, his office issued a press release that said the three had been let go because the office was “overstaffed with clerical workers and office staff.”
The Vindicator questioned John Latell about the hiring of his daughter-in-law and son-in-law in 2005. John Latell said he didn’t see anything wrong with hiring these relatives since he knew them to be qualified to do the jobs.
David Freel, Ohio Ethics Commission executive director, said public officials are not allowed to hire a member of their family, but it would be up to a prosecutor to decide whether “family member” includes a daughter-in-law or son-in-law.
Richards said he knows that DeChristofaro did not seek a legal opinion from Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins or from Richards before terminating the employment of Amanda Latell, Dohy and Klingeman.
Richards said he didn’t want to comment on whether DeChristofaro received bad legal advice from another attorney before terminating Amanda Latell, Dohy and Klingeman.