YOUNGSTOWN — A woman who contends Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone fired her after she reported to the human resources department that he called her a racial slur, is suing him for racial discrimination, retaliation and having a hostile work environment.
Thais Scott of Girard, a former clerk of courts’ administrator who is black, filed the lawsuit in common pleas court. Represented by attorney Corey J. Grimm, Scott is seeking back pay, lost future wages, restoration of lost benefits, emotional distress damages and damages to her professional reputation.
The lawsuit also seeks “compensatory damages for emotional distress, humiliation and mental anguish.”
Meanwhile, a judge dismissed a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against Ciccone by Jennifer Ciccone, his former chief deputy and chief of staff, who he fired Oct. 17 after a falling out. The lawsuit contended Ciccone owed her $4,250.
The dismissal by visiting Judge Terry Ivanchak in Mahoning County Area Court in Austintown came after both Ciccones, who are not related and are attorneys, failed to appear twice for court hearings, according to the ruling.
Ivanchak also wrote he “personally attempted to contact (Jennifer Ciccone) at least 25 times to no avail, and Michael Ciccone “filed no responsive pleadings” in the case — ignoring the lawsuit.
Michael Ciccone didn’t respond Wednesday to requests by The Vindicator to comment on the two cases.
Scott’s lawsuit sues Ciccone as an individual and in his capacity as clerk of courts as well as the clerk of courts department.
Grimm wrote in the lawsuit that three days after Ciccone fired Jennifer Ciccone, the latter sent an email to Scott, which stated, in part, “Please be careful, I believe you are next and if you need anything, someone to talk to, (someone) to testify (or someone) to sign an affidavit, you let me know.”
The email contained an attachment of a text message exchange in which Michael Ciccone wrote to Jennifer Ciccone: “I think George would have been a better (N-word though it was spelled out), but I (expletive) up and trusted Thais. And (she’s) next to go,” according to the lawsuit.
The same text message exchange has Michael Ciccone referring to another black employee with “a racial slur and states that this employee had been fired,” according to the lawsuit.
On Oct. 21, the day after Scott received the email, she filed a complaint with the county’s human resources department about the racial slur, Ciccone’s statement about her being the “next to go,” and a claim of a hostile work environment in the clerk’s office, according to the lawsuit.
Grimm wrote in the lawsuit: “No investigation, corrective action or meaningful response resulted from plaintiff’s human resource complaint.”
Ciccone fired Scott on Dec. 4, less than a year after she started working for him, without providing a reason or explanation for her termination, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit contends the firing was “racially motivated and without just cause and was made in bad faith.”
Scott filed a charge over her firing with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission on Jan. 12 with the commission issuing a notice of right to sue on July 2, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit includes seven counts: three for racial discrimination in violation of state law, the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution; two counts of retaliation in violation of state law and the Civil Rights Act; and one count of having a hostile work environment in violation of state law.
The case was assigned to Judge Anthony D’Apolito though he is likely to recuse himself. In the Jennifer Ciccone lawsuit against the clerk of courts, all four county court judges recused themselves because of a “conflict of interest.”
Ivanchak, a retired Warren Municipal Court judge, was assigned to that civil case, which he dismissed Tuesday.
Jennifer Ciccone filed the lawsuit seeking $4,250 she contended Michael Ciccone owed her on Oct. 24, seven days after being fired when the two former close friends had a falling out.
Michael Ciccone never responded to the lawsuit with Jennifer Ciccone seeking summary judgment in a March 26 filing because he “has failed to respond and has presented no evidence to create a dispute of material fact.”
She filed a civil complaint contending breach of contract because she let Ciccone borrow money — $2,750 in December 2023 that he hasn’t paid back and $3,500 in September 2024 that he made payments of $2,000 on, but still owes her $1,500. She sued for $4,250 plus interest.
Jennifer Ciccone wrote in the complaint that Michael Ciccone needed the $3,500 to “avoid being found culpable in the grievance proceedings” involving a former client who accused him of “gross neglect and misconduct.”
But Ivanchak wrote that Jennifer Ciccone didn’t communicate with him despite numerous efforts on his behalf. He wrote he had to dismiss the case because neither side responded to him.
CICCONE ISSUES
On Oct. 17, hours after she was fired, Jennifer Ciccone posted several incriminating and embarrassing text messages from and photos of her former boss and once close friend on Facebook. That included the use of a racial epithet a number of times and slurs about elected officials. She later removed nearly all of them, but screenshots are on other Facebook pages.
The chairmen of the Mahoning County Republican and Democratic parties have called for Michael Ciccone, a Republican, to resign.
Ciccone wrote in an Oct. 19 statement that he wouldn’t resign. He hasn’t made any other public comments since then.
The two political parties announced Dec. 19 they would seek to remove Ciccone through legal action that started in January. There has been little movement on that effort.
The parties need at least 13,029 valid signatures from county residents on petitions to force a court hearing on Ciccone’s removal.
The political parties accuse Ciccone of repeatedly abusing the authority of his office, using “discriminatory and degrading language,” and failing to “perform core statutory duties and [that he] administered the clerk’s office in a manner that undermined fiscal integrity, employee safety and public confidence in the judicial system.”
The complaint lists counts of malfeasance, misfeasance, nonfeasance, neglect of duty and negligence in office. It accuses Ciccone of mismanaging the title office, overhiring and overpaying personnel, engaging in favoritism, improperly waiving filing fees, failing to properly supervise employees and “failing to perform essential statutory duties.”
Also, the Ohio Clerk of Courts Association censured Ciccone in November, and then removed him from all committees and asked him to resign from the organization a month later. Ciccone has refused to resign.
In an unprecedented move, the Mahoning County commissioners suspended Ciccone’s access privileges in December to the courthouse entrances, except the main one, for what they said were violations of security rules and protocols. His office is on the second floor of the building.
Ciccone, who owed $5,896.50 in delinquent taxes on four properties as recently as February, had made most of those payments though the county auditor’s website lists $1,385.53 delinquent as of Wednesday for his house at 18 S. Edgehill Ave. in Austintown, which is co-owned with Patrick W. Ciccone.
