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YOUNGSTOWN -- An attorney for Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone denied the charges in a racial discrimination lawsuit against the officeholder contending he had "legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons" for firing a black employee.
In response to Thais Scott's July 21 lawsuit against Ciccone and the clerk of courts' office, attorney David Smith of the Cleveland law firm of Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis -- hired to represent them --wrote that the defendants "deny that plaintiff is entitled to any of the relief sought and denies liability related to this action in its entirety."
Smith wrote his clients "acted in good faith and without malice" towards Scott, there are "policies in place that properly addressed complaints related to discrimination and provided prompt appropriation actions as to all complaints received," and Scott "was not treated differently than any individual outside her alleged protected class(es)."
Scott, of Girard, a former clerk of courts' administrator who is black, filed the lawsuit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. Represented by attorney Corey J. Grimm, Scott is seeking back pay, lost future wages, restoration of lost benefits, emotional distress damages and damages to her professional reputation.
The lawsuit also seeks "compensatory damages for emotional distress, humiliation and mental anguish."
Grimm wrote in the lawsuit that three days after Ciccone, a Republican, fired Jennifer Ciccone on Oct. 17 as his chief of staff and chief deputy, the latter sent an email to Scott, which stated, in part, "Please be careful, I believe you are next and if you need anything, someone to talk to, (someone) to testify (or someone) to sign an affidavit, you let me know."
The email contained an attachment of a text message exchange in which Michael Ciccone wrote to Jennifer Ciccone: "I think George would have been a better (N-word though it was spelled out), but I (expletive) up and trusted Thais. And (she's) next to go," according to the lawsuit.
The same text message exchange has Michael Ciccone referring to another black employee with "a racial slur and stated that this employee had been fired," according to the lawsuit.
On Oct. 21, the day after Scott received the email, she filed a complaint with the county's human resources department about the racial slur, Ciccone's statement about her being the "next to go," and a claim of a hostile work environment in the clerk's office, according to the lawsuit.
Grimm wrote in the lawsuit: "No investigation, corrective action or meaningful response resulted from plaintiff's human resource complaint."
Ciccone fired Scott on Dec. 4, less than a year after she started working for him, without providing a reason or explanation for her termination, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends the firing was "racially motivated and without just cause and was made in bad faith."
Scott filed a charge over her firing with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on Jan. 12 with the commission issuing a notice of right to sue on July 2, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit includes seven counts: three for racial discrimination in violation of state law, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; two counts of retaliation in violation of state law and the Civil Rights Act; and one count of having a hostile work environment in violation of state law.
The case was assigned to Judge Anthony D'Apolito though he and all the other common pleas court judges are likely to recuse themselves. The case remains in D'Apolito's court as of Friday with a status conference hearing scheduled for Oct. 22.
CRITICISM AND CONTROVERSY
Ciccone has faced criticism and controversy for numerous incidents since the Oct. 17 firing of Jennifer Ciccone after the two former friends and political allies had a public falling out.
The evening after Jennifer Ciccone was fired, she posted several incriminating and embarrassing text messages from and photos of her former boss on Facebook. That included the use of a racial epithet a number of times and slurs about elected officials. She later removed nearly all of them, but screenshots are on other Facebook pages.
The chairmen of the Mahoning County Republican and Democratic parties have called for Michael Ciccone, a Republican, to resign.
Ciccone wrote in an Oct. 19 statement that he wouldn't resign.
The two political parties announced Dec. 19 it would seek to remove Ciccone through legal action that started in January. There has been little movement on that effort.
The political parties accuse Ciccone of repeatedly abusing the authority of his office, using "discriminatory and degrading language," and failing to "perform core statutory duties and administered the clerk's office in a manner that undermined fiscal integrity, employee safety and public confidence in the judicial system."
The county commissioners on April 18 had to spend $25,000 to hire Schroedel, Scullin & Bestic LLC, an outside accounting firm of Canfield, to do the work of the clerk of courts' office and then pay an additional $50,000 because the problems discovered were so severe, according to county Auditor Ralph Meacham, who first raised the concerns.
Meacham said the clerk of courts' office stopped filing routine financial reports after March 2025, three months into Ciccone's term.
Also, the office twice bungled its finances, resulting in bounced checks, Meacham said.
In May, Ciccone's office put $1 million into the wrong fund and it wasn't discovered until numerous checks written on that account bounced, Meacham said. In July, Ciccone's office put money into the wrong account again and checks written for appraisers to handle sheriff's sales bounced, Meacham said.
In a written statement, Ciccone said the failures predated his administration and other county departments used an accounting firm "to address similar reconciliation concerns."
Meacham disputed those statements.
The Ohio Clerk of Courts Association censured Ciccone in November, and then removed him from all committees and asked him to resign from the organization a month later. Ciccone has refused to resign.
In an unprecedented move, the Mahoning County commissioners suspended Ciccone's access privileges in December to the courthouse entrances, except the main one, for what they said were violations of security rules and protocols. His office is on the second floor of the building.
Ciccone, who owed $5,896.50 in delinquent taxes on four properties as recently as February, had made most of those payments though the county auditor's website lists $1,385.53 delinquent as of Friday for his house at 18 S. Edgehill Ave. in Austintown, which is co-owned with Patrick W. Ciccone.