COLUMBUS, Ohio — Two Northeast Ohio lawyers are preparing to sue state officials over lawmakers’ plan to take unclaimed funds to pay for a new Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park.
Attorneys Jeff Crossman and Marc Dann say they’re ready to challenge the proposal on constitutional grounds if a provision included in the final draft of the 2-year state budget bill becomes law. The move sets up another off-field battle over the future of the Browns, as well as the team’s plan to relocate from the Downtown lakefront to a suburban site roughly 11 miles away.
This fight centers on a Senate Republican proposal to use unclaimed funds – money the state is holding in safekeeping from old bank accounts, life insurance payouts, uncashed checks, and other sources — to provide a $600 million grant for the Browns and help pay for other sports facilities.
The Senate’s proposal, which made its way into a compromise budget bill released late Tuesday, calls for the state to take legal ownership of $1.7 billion in unclaimed funds, setting a clock on how long people have to file claims and get reunited with their missing money.
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That’s a major change for Ohio, which currently holds unclaimed funds in perpetuity. The budget proposal would give people a decade to claim their money before it becomes the state’s property. Lawmakers want to grab $1.7 billion out of Ohio’s $4.8 billion pool of unclaimed funds right away – and then continue taking money on a rolling basis, after a decade of holding it.
National experts say the state could use unclaimed funds to help pay for stadiums and other investments without actually cutting off people’s ability to file claims. But in interviews with News 5 and letters to lawmakers, they’ve warned that the change-in-ownership language in the budget risks violating both the Ohio and U.S. constitutions.
That’s what Dann and Crossman are saying, too. They’re threatening to file a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Ohioans who have unclaimed funds being held by the state. In a draft of the complaint, they write that the Senate’s proposal is tantamount to theft, as it involves taking private property without compensating the owners for a privately led real estate development.
Crossman, a former state representative, and Dann, a former Ohio attorney general, say they’re representing several plaintiffs — Northeast Ohio residents who have unclaimed funds.
“We’re not anti-stadium. We’re anti-theft,” Crossman told reporters during a morning news conference outside the Ohio Statehouse on Wednesday.
“We’re asking the legislature today to remove this language from the budget bill,” he added. “And if they don’t, and it goes into law, we will immediately file suit and seek injunctive relief. And let me be blunt. If this plan collapses in court and delays stadium funding, it’s not gonna be our fault. It’s going to be the legislature’s fault, who forced this through knowing full well that it was unconstitutional.”
He and Dann pointed to the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which states that private property can’t be taken for public use without fair compensation. The Ohio Constitution goes further, saying that government can’t take private property without paying for it first — unless there’s an emergency, like war, or an immediate need to build or repair roads.
The attorneys also assert that there’s no public benefit to building a sports stadium. The Browns have pitched the stadium project to lawmakers as the centerpiece of a major economic-development project, saying that the public will more than recoup its investment in the deal. But the state budget office and nonpartisan legislative researchers are skeptical about those claims.
During a meeting with reporters at the team’s headquarters in February, executives said the Brook Park stadium probably will be owned by a quasi-public entity called a New Community Authority. That’s the same structure Browns owner Haslam Sports Group used in Columbus for Lower.com Field, where their Columbus Crew soccer team plays.
It’s unclear how that quasi-public ownership, which will require approval by the Brook Park City Council, might impact a legal fight over public funding for the project.
“The judges will ultimately decide this,” Dann said. “And ultimately, if it goes to the Ohio Supreme Court, those judges will decide.”
He and Crossman plan to file their case in Franklin County Common Pleas Court, where they’ll ask a judge to block the state from taking ownership of the unclaimed funds through a process known as permanent escheatment.
The draft complaint names three defendants: Sheryl Maxfield, the director of the Ohio Department of Commerce, which runs the state’s unclaimed-funds program; Akil Hardy, who runs the state’s division of unclaimed funds; and State Treasurer Robert Sprague.
Republican lawmakers have told News 5 they believe they’re on firm legal ground with their proposal. So far, the Browns have declined to comment on the plan, one of three routes lawmakers explored to help pay for the new $2.4 billion stadium in Brook Park. The legislature ultimately scrapped proposals to issue bonds for the project or to pay for it through higher taxes on sports-betting companies’ profits.
Dann and Crossman acknowledged that their clients have the ability to file claims to get their state-held funds now — though the process can be lengthy and complicated. The proposed budget also includes a 10-year grace period, through Jan. 1, 2036, for people whose money gets taken to file claims. And the Senate allocated $1 million a year to increased outreach to owners.
But the lawyers said that doesn’t address their main concern: That the state is claiming money that belongs to other people.
“You can’t balance a budget on broken promises,” Crossman said. “And you can’t build a stadium on stolen property. And if the legislature won’t defend Ohioans’ rights, we will.”
Lawmakers are expected to vote on the final budget bill today. Then the massive spending bill will go to Gov. Mike DeWine for his signature and any vetoes.
