WARREN — Kenneth Kubala, who accused Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith of creating a “sexually hostile work environment,” received a $150,000 settlement from the county’s insurance company.

The settlement agreement was made with the County Risk Sharing Authority over the objections of Smith.

The agreement reads: “Smith specifically denies any liability and / or wrongdoing on his part or the part of the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office, but instead that the claims of the undersigned are being settled by CORSA, without the direction or approval of Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith, in order to avoid the further time and expense of litigation.”

The case was first filed in June 2018.

If the case went to trial, Smith would have been personally responsible for any damages as Gary L. Yost, a visiting judge in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, had granted summary judgment in September 2022 to the county and Smith in his official capacity, but denied it in Smith’s individual capacity.

“His actions were outside the scope of his employment,” David Engler, Kubala’s attorney, said about Smith. “The county paid for his sexual bullying. The bottom line is you don’t sexually bully your employees. The county insurance company let him off the hook.”

Engler said: “We’re very happy with the resolution.”

SMITH’S LAWYER

Attorney Jeff Goodman, speaking on behalf of Smith and the county engineer’s office, said: “Had it gone to trial, Randy would have emerged victorious. He wanted it to go to trial. Engler and Kubala had opportunities in the right place at the right time with the insurance company because the settlement documents explicitly said the settlement was made without Randy’s consent.”

Goodman said because of the “three-ring circus” in the county commissioners’ office and the numerous lawsuits filed there, CORSA “is extremely reluctant for anything to go to trial. They’re throwing good money after bad.”

Goodman described the commissioners’ office as a “disaster. They’ve got claims all over the place. They have their own parking spaces at the federal court. CORSA is scared to death of any claims in Trumbull County.”

The commissioners recently reached a $225,000 settlement with office employee Dawn Guarino Gedeon, who filed a federal lawsuit in 2022 claiming Commissioner Niki Frenchko expressed “anti-Italian prejudice and bigotry” toward her and others.

Goodman said Smith “doesn’t have an issue with Ken Kubala’s sexual orientation. It’s a money grab by Kubala.”

But Engler said while Smith “will say it wasn’t an admission of guilt, it sure sounds like it to me.”

Jeffrey A. Stankunas, who defended the county and Smith in the Kubala lawsuit, pointed to the settlement agreement that CORSA resolved without Smith’s approval and “without admission of liability or wrongdoing by any party, and that the settlement payment is made pursuant to this release solely for the purpose of compromising any and all claims without the cost and burden of litigation.”

Kubala is getting the $150,000 for “his claim for emotional distress for nonphysical injuries or sickness,” according to the settlement agreement.

A Monday notice of dismissal of the case by Yost states each side is responsible for its own legal costs.

FIVE YEARS

The resolution comes more than five years after Kubala of Howland first filed his lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on June 2018 against Smith and the county.

The trial was scheduled to begin Aug. 1 in front of Yost.

Kubala, who worked as safety manager in the engineer’s office from Oct. 11, 2011, to May 11, 2018, wrote in a May 7, 2018, resignation letter that he was leaving “due to an unhealthy work environment, for my health and well-being.”

In the lawsuit, Kubala contended starting some time in 2015 until his last day on the job, Smith sexually harassed him in a variety of ways.

Smith’s conduct “toward Kubala was severe and pervasive and permeated Kubala’s workplace with sexually based innuendo, intimidation, insult and ridicule,” according to the lawsuit.

It was moved to federal court because it raised issues such as freedom of speech and freedom of association.

George J. Limbert, then a federal court magistrate, ruled in December 2019 in favor of Smith and the county and dismissed the case. Kubala appealed to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court affirmed summary judgment in January 2021 for Smith and the county, but determined that the sexual harassment claim shared “no common nucleus of fact” with the 1st Amendment claim and ordered the case be dismissed over a lack of jurisdiction.

That led Kubala to refile the lawsuit in common pleas court in June 2021.

Smith and the county said common pleas court didn’t have jurisdiction over the case and sought summary judgment asserting they were entitled to immunity from liability under state law.

Yost in September 2022 granted summary judgment to the county and Smith in his official capacity and denied it in his individual capacity.

“In his individual capacity, an elected official, such as the defendant, Randy Smith, can forfeit this statutory immunity if his conduct falls outside the scope of employment or is willful, malicious or in bad faith,” Yost wrote.

He added: “There is ample evidence upon which a jury could conclude that the conduct was malicious or in bad faith.”

Smith appealed the decision a couple of weeks later to the 11th District Court of Appeals. The appeals court in March affirmed Yost’s denial to grant immunity to Smith in his individual capacity and sent the case back to the trial judge.