WARREN — A lawsuit initially filed five years ago by Kenneth Kubala accusing Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith of creating a “sexually hostile work environment” has been settled shortly before it was to go to trial.

David Engler, Kubala’s attorney, said the two sides went to mediation where the matter was resolved.

Engler declined Friday to disclose how much Kubala is getting in the settlement, saying he first wanted to receive the check.

“We’re pleased that it’s been resolved,” Engler said. “It was a great amount of litigation that went on for years.”

Jeffrey Stankunas, attorney for Smith and Trumbull County — a co-defendant dismissed in this case — couldn’t be reached Friday to comment.

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 sometime 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.

The lawsuit was settled in mediation last week, Engler said. The trial was scheduled to begin Aug. 1 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

CASE HISTORY

Kubala of Howland initially filed the lawsuit June 2018 in the common pleas court against the county and Smith in his “individual and official capacities.”

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. They contended Kubala could not demonstrate the alleged conduct was based on sex, was severe or pervasive and that Smith and the county were immune.

Visiting Judge Gary L. 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. “It is difficult to imagine how the conduct alleged by the plaintiff could further or promote any interest of the engineer or of Trumbull County. The conduct alleged by the plaintiff was not negligent or accidental. There is ample evidence upon which a jury could conclude that the conduct was malicious or in bad faith.”

Yost added that “Smith seemed to be fixated on the sexual orientation of” Kubala.

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 in his individual capacity and sent the case back to the trial judge.

dskolnick@vindy.com