More motions filed in lawsuit

Defendants in case brought by Trumbull commissioner seek summary judgment

WARREN -- Attorneys for current and former Trumbull County commissioners and sheriff's office employees being sued by Commissioner Niki Frenchko are asking a judge to skip the trial and rule in their favor.

The defendants asked U.S. District Court Judge J. Philip Calabrese to grant summary judgment, which is a ruling based on evidence without going to trial.

The defendants' motion came days after Frenchko's attorneys, Matt Miller-Novak of Cincinnati and David Betras of Canfield, filed their own motion on five of 14 counts listed in the lawsuit.

Frenchko filed suit April 17 against Sheriff Paul Monroe, Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa, former Commissioner Frank Fuda and Sheriff's Sgts. Robert Ross and Harold Wix in connection to her July 7, 2022, arrest alleging she disrupted a public meeting.

The fourth-degree misdemeanor charge, filed after Frenchko was accused of repeatedly interrupting the commissioners meeting, later was dismissed.

In her lawsuit, Frenchko's attorneys state the defendants violated her 1st Amendment right to free speech as well as retaliation (two separate counts), her 14th Amendment right to due process, her 4th Amendment rights for unlawful arrest and unlawful seizure, and destruction of public records.

"This is a case about a government which abused its police powers to retaliate against an elected official for making critical statements about the sheriff and his political allies," the Frenchko filing reads. "Plaintiff Niki Frenchko was arrested during her own meeting for responding to defendant Sheriff Paul Monroe's chastising letter that accused her of dishonesty and demanded a public apology."

In Frenchko's earlier filing, she described the arrest as a "setup."

In their request for a summary judgment, the defendants claim there was no conspiracy to have her arrested and they are entitled to qualified immunity. They also note she does not have a claim for the destruction of public record or destruction of evidence.

In the joint request for a summary judgment, the defendants also noted Frenchko cannot prove her claim of assault, battery and property-related claims arising from a March 9, 2023, meeting, at which her cellphone was knocked from a table.

During the April 2022 meeting, deputies Ross and Wix asked Frenchko to stand up from her seat so she could be escorted from the commissioners meeting room, shortly after Cantalamessa noted she was being disruptive and Fuda repeatedly asked her to move on from complaints she had been arguing. Those complaints focused on sheriff's office medical operations and Trumbull County Job and Family Services.

The defendants' motion notes that neither Cantalamessa nor Fuda asked to have Frenchko removed from the meeting, and neither Wix nor Ross touched Frenchko while they were in the commissioners hearing room.

In the hallway outside of the meeting room, the deputies handcuffed Frenchko, placing her arms to her side, before taking her to jail. The deputies used two sets of handcuffs, so Frenchko's arms were to her side, not uncomfortably behind her back, according to court documents.

She was released the same day.

Monroe states that during the March 2023 incident regarding Frenchko's cellphone, the phone had been sitting on a stand on a table in his personal space and he attempted to move the stand, according to the court documents.

"In moving the stand, the phone fell onto the table," the filing noted.

The filing also stated Monroe did not touch Frenchko when the phone stand was moved, nor did he take possession of the phone.

In the analysis of the elements of the lawsuits, defense attorney Daniel T. Downey argues Cantalamessa and Fuda have qualified immunity that gives them "breathing room" to make reasonable, but mistaken judgments, and police officers may not be held liable for damages unless the officers were plainly incompetent or knowingly violated clearly established law.

The motion states there is no evidence that Cantalamessa, Fuda or Monroe ordered Frenchko's arrest during the July 2022 meeting. In addition, the request stated the two deputies did not have any knowledge of Frenchko's previous complaints against the sheriff, but acted only due to her disrupting the meeting.

The motion also noted no evidence of a conspiracy has been presented to the court.

In a plaintiff's motion pending in the case, Frenchko's attorneys also are asking the judge to sanction the defendants on claims they "unlawfully purged every single text message from their cellphones to destroy evidence of their conspiracy and intent to retaliate against Commissioner Frenchko's viewpoints."

On Thursday, Miller-Novak said, "Looking at the arguments they are making, it's evident to me that Sheriff Monroe didn't just delete history, he's trying to rewrite the history that he deleted."