The city attorney for Bucyrus wants to set a legal precedent mandating taxpayers hire a lawyer to represent them in some lawsuits against the government.
“We would avoid stupidity like this,” Bucyrus Law Director Brandon Gobrecht told the Telegraph-Forum. “You can quote me on that.”
The attorney made the comment Aug. 4 after a visiting judge denied a request by Greg White, a taxpayer, which would have prevented the city from buying a new garbage truck.
Retired Judge Dale A. Crawford, who is hearing the case by assignment from the Ohio Supreme Court, rejected White’s attempt for a temporary restraining order on the matter, but noted in his Aug. 3 judgment entry that “the court hereby sets Aug. 31 at 10:30 a.m., a date for a consolidated hearing for temporary and permanent injunction.”
The city’s law director said he plans to file a motion to dismiss the entire lawsuit before then.
“I want an appealable order on a motion to dismiss in the third district that says that taxpayer suits are a derivative claim and you have to have an attorney for it,” Gobrecht said.
Judge supports Bucyrus City Council
The facts of the lawsuit are that Bucyrus City Council held readings of a resolution for “the purchase of trash sanitation equipment” on three dates: May 19, June 2 and June 16.
During all three readings, council members voted down attempts to pass the legislation as an emergency, which would have immediately enacted the resolution. Council instead passed it on a non-emergency basis June 16, which meant the matter would become effective 30 days later on July 16.
That’s when White filed his taxpayer lawsuit to prevent the garbage truck purchase. White, the plaintiff, alleged that city council used improper procedures for the resolution.
“Plaintiff asserts that the emergency provision of the resolution is an integral part of the essence of the resolution (purchase of sanitation equipment) and cannot be separated,” Crawford noted. “Plaintiff also asserts that it was improper for city council to vote on the resolution as a non-emergency when it contains emergency passage language.”
In his decision to deny White’s temporary restraining order, the judge referenced case law supporting the processes used by Bucyrus City Council.
“Emergency clauses are severable from the body of the legislation,” Crawford noted. “They don’t change the substance of the legislation, only when the legislation takes effect.”
To change that conclusion during the Aug. 31 hearing, White will need to provide supporting case law and argue the legal issues behind his lawsuit.
‘Weaponization of the legal system’
The Bucyrus law director hopes the matter provides new case law that would keep taxpayers from filing such lawsuits without legal counsel.
“An attorney understands these nuanced issues,” Gobrecht said. “They understand the elements that you have to plead. They understand how to plead it correctly.”
Attorneys also can help taxpayers determine whether they have a case before the lawsuit is filed.
“Attorneys are not allowed to bring frivolous lawsuits,” Gobrecht said. “You can get in a lot of trouble for that as an attorney, so it would keep a lot of this malarkey out of the court system.
“If an attorney would have brought this case, they probably would have been disciplined.”
The law director said the legal issues are separate from whether the city should buy new garbage equipment in the first place. On that issue, he said, he agrees with the plaintiff.
“Neither one of us thinks that the trash trucks are a good idea for Bucyrus,” Gobrecht said. “But the difference is I understand that I don’t get a say. He doesn’t get a say. He has a city government who gets to make those decisions.”
The law director said residents should not be allowed to use improper channels to impede lawful business by political opponents.
“I believe that it is important for taxpayer suits to have attorneys involved to avoid weaponization of the legal system by people who have a vendetta against the community that they live in,” Gobrecht said.
Contact Zach Tuggle at 419-564-3508. Follow him on X at @zachtuggle.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: City lawyer fears ‘weaponization of legal system’ in trash truck case
Reporting by Zach Tuggle, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum / Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zach Tuggle, Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum | USA TODAY Network
