A former worker of Ohio Democratic Congressional candidate Aftab Pureval sued him this week over a non-disclosure agreement she signed when she was fired last year.
Brittney Heitman's lawsuit alleges breach of contract and money loss.
Heitman wants a judge to toss out the contract that terminated her employment at Hamilton County Clerk of Court and required her to stay quiet.
Heitman accuses Pureval of violating an agreement he made by saying he was ridding the office of political patronage and "make work" jobs in interviews with the media.
She also claims the agreement isn’t legal or enforceable and violates her constitutional rights.
Heitman, 29, worked in the Clerk of Courts office from June 2012 until her firing on February 17, 2017. She earned about $37,000 annually and received positive performance reviews.
She also was credited with creating a new program which has helped the office with collections.
After her termination when Pureval took office, Heitman signed a non-disclosure agreement and received $4,808.26. Several other employees were fired under similar circumstances at a cost of $116,504.12 to the clerk's office.
In the agreement, there was also a non-disparagement clause where neither side could say anything negative about the other.
"He used the tax dollars to silence his critics. And then he also promised not to disparage them, but then he did. He accused them of nepotism and patronage and our particular client was neither of those," said one of Heitman's lawyers, Chris Finney.
"She was just a career employee that had worked in the clerk of courts operation and then prior to that at an auto license bureau and so he disparaged her. And so she'd like to be free from the agreement and comment honestly about her impressions of his performance while in office."
A hearing on her request scheduled for Wednesday in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court was abandoned, at least for now, after Pureval's lawyer had the case moved to federal court.
Wednesday night, Finney and Heitman's other lawyer, Brian Shrive filed legal papers to try to return the case to the county court.
First thing Thursday morning, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black recused himself. He swore Pureval in and also performed his wedding ceremony). The case went to Judge Susan Dlott. She ruled Thurday that Heitman must remain quiet, at least for now, and set a deadline next month for attorneys on both sides to submit their arguments to her for and against returning the case to county court.
The lawsuit comes as Pureval, tries to unseat Chabot in the Nov. 6 election.
The race is being watched nationally because voters in this district, spanning the West Side of Cincinnati and Hamilton County to Warren County, could decide which political party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.
Shrive and Finney are lawyers with the Finney Law Firm.
Shrive also represents Hamilton County resident Mark Miller, who recently filed an elections complaint against Pureval and others.
Miller is the treasurer of the anti-tax group Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes (COAST). Finney founded the group and is considered a fearless government watchdog. Finney currently serves as a board member and their counsel.
Shrive also has made recent headlines with an open meetings and open records lawsuit over at Cincinnati City Hall. The suit alleges a "cabal of five rogue members of the Cincinnati City Council" are illegally meeting privately behind closed doors and via secret text messages to subvert the public's right to know.
Suit: 'Cabal' of 'rogue' Cincinnati city council members held illegal, secret meetings
The Ohio Elections Commission has scheduled a preliminary review hearing on the elections complaint alleging "several and serial violations of Ohio campaign finance law by Pureval, his clerk of courts campaign committee, and its treasurer, Evan Nolan," according to a news release on the law firm's website. The Sept. 20 hearing will take place at Ohio Elections Commission headquarters in Columbus.
Pureval, a former Procter & Gamble lawyer, was the first Democrat elected to oversee Hamilton County's clerk of courts office in more than 100 years when he unseated the longtime Republican incumbent, Tracy Winkler, in Nov. 2016.
As a result, it was not surprising to see some staff changes and terminations when he took office a few months later, in Jan. 2017.
Shortly after Pureval came in, Heitman was asked to prepare training manuals for various job functions in the office, according to her lawsuit.
But, before she could complete the task, she was fired in Feb. 2017 along with 12 other longtime clerk of courts employees, county records show.
Another 12 workers resigned, starting in late 2016, and three retired, he said.
Heitman, the clerk of courts and Pureval also agreed to a non-disparagement clause in the contract that said neither could make any statements that are disparaging, derogatory or negative about one another.
“If Employer or Employee are asked by a third party about Employee’s departure, they will state only that the Employer decided to make a change in leadership,” the agreement reads.
Heitman is a still a county employee.
After losing her job at the clerk’s office, she found one that year as an accountant in the county’s facilities department.
When FOX19 first looked into the non-disclosures back in May, we received the following statement from Wagner on behalf of Pureval who, at the time, was out of town and unable to sit down for an interview, according to Wagner:
"I ran for the Clerk of Courts because it was clear to me that there was rampant nepotism and patronage at the courthouse.
"This had been going on for years and was totally unfair to the taxpayers.
"I fixed this problem by cutting waste and making personnel changes. In doing so, we entered into humane and compassionate severance agreements that included boilerplate provisions to best protect the county and employees. These agreements are in line with other county agencies.
"I am very proud that we've cleaned up the courthouse, that we've cut waste, that we've decreased the size of our office, that we modernized and professionalized our team, that we ended patronage and nepotism, and that by doing so, we saved Hamilton County taxpayers nearly $1 million."
In light of the latest developments, FOX19 asked Wagner and Pureval’s campaign manager, Sarah Topy, for an updated comment. Topy declined comment Tuesday night but then provided one Wednesday night after we checked again:
Steve Chabot and his cronies are wasting your taxpayer dollars by bringing a frivolous lawsuit that has no merit whatsoever. Aftab Pureval inherited a Clerk of Courts office that was ripe with patronage and nepotism and make-work jobs, and he cleaned it up, cut the size of government, and saved taxpayers nearly a million dollars. Mr. Chabot has been in Washington for 22 years and has utterly nothing to show for it, so he is reduced to negative campaign tactics bringing baseless lawsuits trying to smear Aftab. Voters are not going to fall for it.
Pureval as an individual is being represented in the lawsuit by a private attorney, Paul DeMarco, and as the Clerk of Courts by the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office.
The prosecutor's office is the attorney for the county and its clerk of courts.
However, when it came to helping Pureval execute the non-disclosure statements, they were not consulted or involved, said Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office.
Pureval received pro bono legal services by attorneys with the private law firm, Freking Myers & Reul, FOX19 NOW has confirmed.
Topy "also volunteered her time on the transition team, as did Randy Freking and Brian Gillan," Wagner wrote in an email to FOX19 NOW in May. "They all served in a volunteer capacity, which is why there are no bills or invoices to the county."
Pureval's full transition team was 12 to 14 volunteers, he wrote.
"Volunteering legal services and other services is permissible under the Revised Code," Wagner wrote.
"There were a variety of people who volunteered their time to help Aftab transition to the Clerk's office. But they had no decision-making authority. Aftab Pureval made all hiring and firing decision himself."
The Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office has not responded to questions about the legality of the non-disclosures.
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