Harry Williamson dismisses Lorain County lawsuit

Former Lorain County 911 director Harry Williamson has dismissed his year-old lawsuit against numerous current and former county Lorain County officials. Attorney Brian Bardwell filed a notice of "voluntary dismissal without prejudice" in Lorain County Common Pleas Court on Friday, according to court records and a copy of the notice obtained by The Chronicle-Telegram. The lawsuit was assigned to visiting Judge Thomas Pokorny, a retired Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, to avoid conflicts of interest between the defendants, plaintiffs and Lorain County judges. A message seeking comment was left for Bardwell on Saturday. Dismissal "without prejudice" means Williamson has the right to refile the lawsuit in the future. Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure give Bardwell and Williamson a year to do so. In the 24-page lawsuit filed in January 2022, Williamson alleged he was wrongfully fired from his $77,000-a-year county job, retaliated against, intimidated, his civil rights violated and that county officials lied, tampered with or destroyed public records and evidence. The defendants were the county, county commissioners David Moore and Matt Lundy, former county administrators Tom Williams and Jim Cordes, attorney Amanda Martinsek and her law firm, Ulmer & Berne, which had represented the county in legal matters. The lawsuit demanded monetary damages for pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, attorney fees and interest. Williamson further alleged that he had uncovered improprieties in county finances and that he was fired after he investigated further. Also in the lawsuit, Williamson admitted an ongoing extramarital affair with Commissioner Michelle Hung, a Republican elected in November 2020. Reaction Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, legal counsel for the Board of Commissioners, said it was best not to comment on the dismissal because Williamson still has a year to refile the lawsuit. Moore said Saturday that a quote of his from more than a year ago still stands: "This suit would be a hilarious joke if it weren't such a waste of taxpayer resources and money," Moore told the Chronicle in January 2022. "This is Hung's way of getting her adulterous lover some sugar from the county." "It was a frivolous lawsuit. A huge abuse of process," Moore said Saturday. "This is just step one with them dropping it. There's a lot more to come." He also praised the county's outside law firm, Stefanik Iosue & Associates of Cleveland, saying they "did an excellent job" defending the county from Williamson's lawsuit. Williams said Saturday he couldn't comment on the dismissal of Williamson's suit in Lorain County because he sued Williamson, Hung and Bardwell in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in November, alleging extortion and blackmail and seeking more than $25,000 in damages. Lundy declined to comment on the dismissal. Background Hung and Williamson first were introduced in September 2020 and began their affair that same month while still married to other people, according to Williamson's lawsuit and a deposition Hung gave in a different lawsuit. Williamson also was the elected president of the Lorain County AFL-CIO and its 7,000 union members at the time, and part of his job was to oversee the union's political endorsements — including Lorain County labor's endorsement of Hung over her opponent, incumbent Democratic commissioner Lori Kokoski, in the 2020 general election. In January 2021, Hung and Moore voted to hire Williamson to head the county's 911 system — apparently based on more than his 40 years experience working for CenturyLink and his three years of experience working on the county's 911 system. Lundy voted against hiring Williamson. Hung cast her vote without notifying her fellow commissioners Moore, a Republican, and Lundy, a Democrat, of the ongoing affair. They didn't find out about it until Hung admitted it in July 2022. Lundy and Moore voted to fire Williamson on Aug. 3, 2021. Hung abstained from the vote, claiming she didn't want to have her hands in a "bloodbath." That was a reference, she said, to the numerous firings done in January 2021 when she and Moore took office. Hung also refused to comment when asked if she abstained from the vote to fire Williamson because the two were having an extramarital affair. Williamson also claimed that Hung told then-county human resources director Jen Sinatra and Martinsek about the affair. Sinatra denied any wrongdoing. Martinsek hasn't commented on the lawsuit. Williamson and his wife later divorced, and Hung has since filed for divorce from her husband. Williams has claimed Bardwell tried to intimidate him and other defendants in Williamson's lawsuit into settling the case. According to Williams' Cuyahoga County lawsuit, Bardwell's "relentless efforts demanding a quick 'blackmail' settlement of over $1 million have been unceasing." Bardwell previously told the Chronicle that Williams was suing him "for being a lawyer" and that "is not something you can sue someone for." Judge Janet Burnside previously ruled that Bardwell is ethically disqualified from representing Williamson in the Cuyahoga County lawsuit because Bardwell is also a defendant in it. Williams was fired by Hung and Lundy in August 2021. Moore voted "hell no," in an unsuccessful attempt to keep his former campaign manager and a former one-term Republican county commissioner whom Lundy defeated in the 2014 election. Denied his severance package, Williams sued Lorain County in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The county settled in May for $450,000 after spending $150,000 in attorney fees to fight Williams' lawsuit. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.