COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - An Ohio city needs to pay up after losing a $55 million lawsuit brought by a man beaten by cops who arrested him for no reason.
The Ohio Supreme Court on July 17 granted a writ of mandamus sought by Arnold Black, who won the eight-figure judgment against the City of East Cleveland. Much of it ($30 million) was classified as punitive damages owed by two officers, but East Cleveland was jointly and severally liable for $20 million in compensatory damages and another $5 million in interest.
But the City seemingly doesn't have the money to pay. Five years after the verdict, Black asked the Supreme Court to force East Cleveland to earmark the funds he won.
A recent separate case against East Cleveland held "If the city does not have sufficient funds presently appropriated for the payment of the judgment and interest, it shall comply with the requirements of (state law) for appropriating funds to satisfy the judgment, prejudgment interest and statutory postjudgment interest."
That $8 million case involved negligence claims against the City and a former police officer. In Black's case, the stakes were even higher.
He was pulled over in April 12, though officers admitted they had "no legitimate reason for stopping and detaining Black since Black had not committed a crime."
It was apparently a fishing expedition; Det. Randy Hicks asked him about who sold drugs in the city. Black said h didn't know and was then punched in the face and head.
Hicks had Black sent to a storage room in city jail that was infested with cockroaches. There was a wooden bench, lockers and cleaning supplies in the room and no bed or toilet.
He sued in 2014 in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas and won at trial five years later. He still hasn't been paid.
The City has historically faced money troubles. The State found it to be in financial distress in 2012 after posting a deficit of $5.8 million, and this year the City started the search for a new finance director.
Its city council has accused Mayor Brandon King of misappropriating funds after nearly $700,000 appropriated for a new fire engine disappeared.
“It’s gone. We don’t know what he did with it. We don’t know what he did with it,” Council President Twon Billings told 3News’ Matt Rascon. “We can’t do anything in this city unless we know how much we got. We don’t know.”