4/10/23 Update: Jerome O'Neal has dismissed the lawsuits. You can read more about it here.
LIMA, OH (WLIO) - A local businessman is suing a local organization he founded and once served on its board of directors. Jeff Fitzgerald has the details.
The Walter C. Potts Entrepreneur Center board of directors sent a letter to Jerome O'Neal on March 20th demanding he 'cease and desist' any attempts to gain funding, including grants, for any business dealings without explicit approval from the center's full board. The letter, signed by Board President Jill Ackerman goes on to say, failure to comply to these demands, the board would have no choice but to pursue legal action. The letter states the center's board unanimously approved sending the letter.
Eleven days after the letter was sent, O'Neal's legal counsel filed a lawsuit against the center, the chamber foundation, and Ackerman as the center's board president. The lawsuit says the allegations in the letter are a lie and the false and threatening letter forced O'Neal to take this action. It also says the letter is defamatory and portrays O'Neal in a false light.
The suit says the center and the chamber foundation have received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from O'Neal's Community Enrichment Dinner held each year in the fall. O'Neal is asking the court to impose a trust on any money from that dinner to keep the defendants from using it up or wasting those assets.
O'Neal is also asking for accounting of and access to all the books and records and meeting minutes from the center and the chamber foundation. O'Neal's lawsuit says he has suffered monetary damage, injury to his reputation throughout the community in which he lives and works, and emotional distress. He is asking for compensatory damages in excess of $25,000, punitive damages and attorney fees.
The case was assigned to Allen County Common Pleas Court Judge Terri Kohlrieser, but she has recused herself. The case could eventually be put before a visiting judge. Being a holiday, efforts to reach legal counsel for both sides were unsuccessful.
