Attorneys file suit challenging Ohio’s Cleveland Browns stadium funding plan

By Nick Evans
Ohio Capital Journal

A legal team led by former Democratic state Rep. Jeff Crossman has filed a class action lawsuit challenging Ohio’s plan to pay for a new Cleveland Browns stadium. The state budget finds the money by taking ownership of unclaimed funds left in the state’s care for more than 10 years.

The lawsuit contends that’s an “unconstitutional and unlawful misappropriation of private property.”

Ohio unclaimed funds account, made up of forgotten deposits, uncashed checks and abandoned bank accounts, is worth nearly $5 billion.

To this point, the state has held those funds in perpetuity until their rightful owner comes forward to claim them. That approach is the broadly agreed-upon best practice around the country.

The handful of states that eventually do take ownership of abandoned funds wait far longer than Ohio proposes or limit the transfer to small dollar amounts.

Ohio’s new budget, however, rolls $1 billion in unclaimed funds to a new account supporting Sports and Cultural Facilities.

The majority is already spoken for — the Cleveland Browns are set to receive $600 million of that total to help fund their proposed Brook Park stadium.

Ohioans whose unclaimed funds get swept into the new facilities fund have a ten-year grace period in which the state will still honor claims. But to Crossman, that doesn’t legitimize the state’s plan.

“The State of Ohio intends to steal over a billion dollars in private property from its citizens and pour it into the pockets of Jimmy Haslam, one of America’s richest men,” Crossman insisted in a press release.

“Everyday Ohioans are rightfully outraged by this blatant abuse of power,” he added. “The government can’t just take someone’s property and give it to someone else. This type of outrageous behavior ignited the American revolution 250 years ago.”

Crossman warned the governor and state lawmakers are forgetting what the British learned at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British won that battle, admittedly at great cost.

Crossman and former Attorney General Marc Dann showed up at the Ohio Statehouse the day lawmakers voted on the budget, to warn the lawsuit was coming if lawmakers didn’t change course. Dann explained that several Ohioans and constitutional scholars have contacted their firm since the budget passed.

“Their message has been loud and clear,” Dann said. “What the state is doing isn’t just wrong — it violates the very reason we have constitutions and laws.”

Dann argued that constitutional protections aren’t a suggestion, and the state budget is attempting to sidestep longstanding rights to property and due process.

“The legislature and governor,” he argued, “have no authority to convert Ohioan’s private property into a slush fund that can be used to subsidize a billionaire campaign contributor’s private football stadium.”

The lawsuit alleges Ohio’s plan infringes on U.S. and state constitutional protections. The complaint cites the Fifth Amendment’s command that private property can’t “be taken for public use, without just compensation” as well as due process guarantees in the Fifth and 14th Amendments.

The complaint notes the Ohio Constitution holds private property “inviolate.” Absent a public emergency, the government must provide compensation prior to taking private property with oversight from a jury.

The procedure contemplated by the state budget doesn’t even provide notice to people losing property, Crossman and Dann complain.

“The right to pre-payment of just compensation, as established by a jury, and the right to notice and hearing prior to taking of private property are fundamental constitutional rights afforded to all, and the government may not abrogate those rights in the name of expediency or convenience,” the complaint states.

Gov. Mike DeWine could have vetoed the funding mechanism when the budget landed on his desk. Instead, he allowed it to stay in, arguing the approach met his expectations by not relying on general fund revenue, and establishing a funding stream to benefit facilities beyond one NFL team.

Still, DeWine attempted to distance himself from the idea.

“Look, it wasn’t my choice of where to take the money,” DeWine said at a press conference about the budget. “But I achieved the two objectives that I thought were the most important.”

Crossman and Dann’s lawsuit has been filed in Franklin County Court of Common Pleas.

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