Judge awards $33,000 in attorney fees and more to plaintiff in J.D. Tomlinson public records lawsuit

A judge has awarded an Avon Lake man $30,000 in attorney fees plus another $3,167 to cover expenses and damages in his 2024 public records lawsuit against the county over documents related to a $100,000 settlement with former county employee Jennifer Battistelli. Visiting Judge Thomas Teodosio awarded James Barilla and his attorney Jonathan Rosenbaum the fees, expenses and damages in connection with Barilla's lawsuit against Lorain County and former county Prosecutor J.D. Tomlinson. State law gave Teodosio, a former Summit County Common Pleas and 9th District Court of Appeals judge who presided over the case, the responsibility for determining if Barilla and Rosenbaum were entitled to fees and other monetary awards. Barilla paid Rosenbaum $350 an hour for work on the case, and he testified in court he thought that was a reasonable fee. The men spent $2,167.13 on obtaining public records, and Teodosio ordered the county to pay them back. Rosenbaum "expended an extensive amount of time and labor on this matter," Teodosio ruled, finding that an hourly fee of $250 per hour for 120 hours of work "is consistent with fees charged for similar legal services by counsel in Lorain County." Barilla and Rosenbaum also asked for $2,000 in damages for the county and Tomlinson's failure to provide public records. Teodosio cut that award in half based on testimony and exhibits. The county asked Teodosio not to award fees or damages. It was "not possible" for the judge to determine how much time Rosenbaum actually spent trying to compel the county to produce public records, attorney Amily Imbrogno wrote. Commissioner David Moore on Friday said the judge's award was "about $32,000 more than it was worth." "It was the final fees I believe for them to remove J.D. from office. And they got paid for it," he said, calling the lawsuit "lawfare." Lawsuits like it are "why our insurance rates keep climbing," Moore said. Commissioner Jeff Riddell said while the former prosecutor was responsible for not following public records law, it's the county general fund that will take the $33,000-plus hit. "Unfortunately the general fund will have to write a check. It's (the prosecutor's office's) error, but the general fund will have to pick up the tab," he said. "There's not much we can do about it." Rosenbaum said Ohio law guarantees the public has a right to know what government officials are doing. To that end, the state put laws in place to promptly provide public records and encouraged citizens to use that right by allowing them to seek reimbursement for attorney fees incurred when records aren't provided, he said. "When J.D. Tomlinson and James Burge tried to conceal the real reason for the $100,000 hush money payment to Tomlinson's paramour, James Barilla courageously sued to expose this misconduct,'' Rosenbaum wrote in a statement. "Tomlinson falsely denied the existence of these public records and the county commissioners failed to live up to their duty to respond to the public records request made to them.'' Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo had no comment on the decision. Tomlinson declined comment. Barilla, who also is an attorney, sued Tomlinson and the county to get records related to a $100,000 settlement Tomlinson paid to Battistelli, his former director of public relations/community outreach coordinator and girlfriend, in 2023. The settlement was approved by county commissioners. The two had known each other for years — Battistelli volunteered on Tomlinson's election campaigns and he defended her on a misdemeanor criminal charge in court while he was a private defense attorney — but Tomlinson said they only started dating after he took office in 2021. Battistelli resigned in late 2023, alleging she was discriminated against and harassed while working in Tomlinson's office. She and her attorney wrote up but never filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, about the matter. Tomlinson and the county paid Battistelli and her attorney $100,000 to settle her employment claim. Barilla's lawsuit argued that was done in secret and asked Teodosio to order Battistelli to pay the money back. Tomlinson refused to give the EEOC complaint to Barilla until Teodosio ordered him to in June 2024. He didn't deny it existed, but his attorneys argued unsuccessfully that it was embarassing and irrelevant. Tomlinson and his chief of staff, James Burge, were charged with felonies in Elyria Municipal Court in 2024 for allegedly trying to get Battistelli to withdraw her allegations against Tomlinson. Battistelli, who by then had moved to Arizona, failed to appear in court to testify and the charges were dismissed in November 2024. She has since moved back to Ohio. Lorain County Sheriff Jack Hall and special prosecutor James VanEerten are investigating whether Tomlinson broke the law in the Battistelli affair. Tomlinson and Burge have denied any wrongdoing. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.