“Obviously, I’m pleased that Judge Marbley granted this motion in its entirety,” McConville said. “This is a case that I handled in-house rather than having it assigned to outside counsel by our insurance pool.
“This wasn’t a particularly complicated case, but by handling it in this manner we probably saved the city a couple of thousand dollars in outside counsel fees,” he continued. “And by getting this case dismissed at this stage it saves the city the time and expense of the discovery process, including depositions.”
The case was filed in September 2013 by Matthew Saum, who alleged that he was subjected to false imprisonment and infliction of emotional distress as the result of his arrest and incarceration on a cancelled warrant from the Mount Vernon Municipal Court. According to police and jail records, Saum was in custody for approximately 4 ½ hours. The complaint sought compensatory and punitive damages as well as an award of attorney fees.
McConville filed a Motion to Dismiss, arguing that the Clerk of Court was immune from suit under the doctrine of quasi-judicial liability and that the City of Mount Vernon could not be held liable for the acts of the court because it is not a subdivision of the city.
Marbley agreed, stating in his opinion that while there was an error in not removing the warrant from the system, court clerks are immune from suits resulting from acts and errors that result from judicial acts and that the issuance or cancellation of a warrant is a judicial act.
Marbley also stated that, based on circuit court precedent, an Ohio municipality cannot be held responsible for acts of municipal court employees “because municipal courts are part of the state court system and are not subject to the supervision of municipal governments.” He went further to quote precedent that “it cannot seriously be argued that an Ohio municipal court is indistinguishable from the municipal corporation in which it sits.”
McConville noted that under the federal civil rights laws, a plaintiff who recovers only $1 in nominal damages will still have his attorney’s fees paid as a result.
“The further these cases drag on, the larger the exposure is to the city,” he said. “I’m glad we nipped this in the bud.”
