YOUNGSTOWN — The Chandra Law firm has announced that it resolved one federal and one state lawsuit it filed against Mahoning County Commissioners Carol Rimedio Righetti and Anthony Traficanti and former county commissioner David Ditzler on behalf of Rudzik Excavating of Struthers.

The firm and former Mahoning County Assistant Prosecutor Marty Desmond filed the suits in a dispute over two 2024 construction projects and project labor agreements.

In a news release, Chandra Law states that Rudzik Excavating received a $150,000 settlement in exchange for dropping the two lawsuits. The litigation also named “Mahoning County” as a defendant.

The release states that the settlement “represents total vindication for (Rudzik Excavating), its owners, and employees — who should have never endured what happened here. One would hope that under new leadership, the county and its officials will not engage in First Amendment retaliation again.”

When Traficanti was asked about a settlement, he said he was not certain that a settlement had occurred and could not offer any comment until he knew for sure.

Chandra and Desmond filed a notice of dismissal Wednesday with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony D’Apolito, stating that the lawsuit in common pleas court had been “resolved” to the satisfaction of Rudzik Excavating and asked D’Apolito to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning the case cannot be refiled.

Rimedio-Righetti said information might be provided at today’s county commissioners meeting, “but we never received any documentation from anybody on that. I will not comment until I get some final documentation.”

Ditzler said the matter was “transferred to the current board of commissioners with my departure last year. I have not been consulted for input.” Ditzler was defeated in the Nov. 5 election by Geno DiFabio, who now holds the office.

DiFabio, who was not named in the lawsuits, said he is “getting the facts on the settlement. And going forward, I will do everything in my power and my position to assure that the residents won’t be subjected to these findings.” He said he is unhappy that “we are continually being put in this position.”

The Vindicator emailed attorneys Daniel Downey and Matthew Young, who represented the commissioners in both suits, asking for comment, but they did not respond.

The suit filed in common pleas court in January focused on Rudzik Excavating’s demand that the county return the bid bonds for the two projects Rudzik purchased.

Bid bonds “guarantee ‘compensation to the bond owner if the bidder fails to begin a project,'” according to the Investopedia website. “The function of the bid bond is to provide a guarantee to the project owner that the bidder will complete the work if selected,” the site states.

The suit asked D’Apoilto to declare that the county did not follow the law when it “seized” Rudzik’s bid bonds. The Investopedia website states that project owners “typically require between 5% and 10%” of the project price as a “penalty sum.” Rudzik filed the federal lawsuit Oct. 28.

The federal suit alleged that the county and county commissioners were liable civilly for “criminal acts including intimidation, tampering with records, tampering with evidence, mail fraud, attempted theft, falsification, interference with civil and statutory rights and dereliction of duties” in relation to the two contracts and bid bonds.

Rudzik alleged that the county refused to award the company either contract because Rudzik, a nonunion company, voiced its disagreement with PLAs being required on the projects.

The lawsuit defined a PLA as “collective bargaining agreements between building trade unions and contractors” that “govern terms and conditions of employment for all workers — union and nonunion — on a construction project.”

In early January, attorneys for the county and the commissioners denied various allegations in the federal lawsuit. One was that the commissioners “enacted the original PLA to garner the political support of the unions for the upcoming, hotly contested 2024 elections.”

In an interview with The Vindicator after the commissioners rejected Rudzik’s bids in 2024, Rudzik’s president, Jeff Rudzik, said the company objected to having to sign a PLA because it would require his company to use union workers on the project.

He said the commissioners argue that using a PLA benefits a project by reducing change orders, improving manpower and safety. “But when you ask them how any of that is improved by the PLA, they can’t answer that.”

The Chandra news release contains a link to a Feb. 6 letter to Western Surety Co. of Chicago from Mahoning County Prosecutor Lynn Maro indicating that the letter is a “permanent withdrawal of any and all claims against Rudzik Excavating’s bid bonds for Project 513 (Lake Milton Waterline Replacement Project) and Project 531 (Phase I Burgess Run Interceptor Sanitary Sewer Replacement).”

It states that the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office issued a demand letter Aug. 9, 2024, “making claims against the above referenced bid bonds” in the amount of $11,767 and $57,196.

When Maro was contacted Wednesday, she confirmed that her office did send the notice withdrawing the claim on the bid bonds but said, “Anything else with regard to the settlement of the state and federal lawsuits should be directed to the attorneys that handled those matters.”

The Chandra news release stated that Desmond “is a former Chandra Law client who was a retaliation victim after he reported unconstitutional misconduct occurring in former-Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains’ office. Desmond obtained a $550,000 settlement.”

In April 2022, an attorney who worked for the county on the litigation involving Desmond and Gains confirmed that the county’s insurance carrier was going to pay two thirds of a $550,000 settlement to Desmond to resolve years-long litigation. The county paid the other third.

The litigation was over allegations that Desmond was terminated in 2017 from his position as assistant county prosecutor as retaliation for Desmond reporting what Desmond considered illegal conduct by another assistant prosecutor. Another Gains attorney continued to deny that allegation at the time of the $550,000 payout in April of 2022.

Chandra Law and Desmond also “teamed up in the case of Morrison v. Mahoning County et al, which alleged civil rights violations, civil liability for criminal acts, defamation and other state-law claims against several Mahoning County officials, including the commissioners, county administrator and prosecuting attorney,” the Chandra press release states.

It called the federal Rudzik lawsuit a “First Amendment-retaliation lawsuit,” and stated that the two Rudzik lawsuits “stemmed from allegations that the county commissioners retaliated against the company for publicly criticizing the county’s approach to projects.”

James Tressa, senior project manager for Rudzik Excavating, spoke out at several county commissioners meetings in 2024 regarding the two projects and PLAs, prompting responses from the county commissioners.