A judge in Ohio’s Franklin County has temporarily paused the state’s funding plan designed to help construct a new stadium for the Cleveland Browns.
Cleveland.com reports Franklin County Commons Plea Judge Bill Sperlazza issued a 14-day halt to having the Browns access $600 million from the state’s unclaimed funds account for the building of a domed stadium in suburban Brook Park. The state treasurer’s office was scheduled to begin to transfer of $1.7 billion from the unclaimed funds account on New Year’s Day into a new grant program for sports and cultural facilities that was created to accommodate the Browns.
Ohio’s unclaimed funds total $4.8 billion and money that is not claimed after 10 years becomes state property.
The attorneys challenging the funding plan – former Ohio attorney general Marc Dann and former state legislator Jeff Crossman – represent a client who they said is fighting to get an old paycheck that ended up in the unclaimed funds account in 2016 but was never notified his money was there. He is currently trying to claim his money, which the attorneys said would be difficult if funds are transferred to the Browns.
In his ruling, Sperlazza stated if he hypothetically had money in the unclaimed fund that he would no longer be able to claim it “because my money’s gone into concrete or pipes or whatever it might have gone to that stadium… that is a taking from somebody down the line, ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’ so to speak.”
Sperlazza ruled, “I have read evidence and heard argument that leads me to believe there is an avenue for success on the merits” of the case, adding, “I believe the plaintiff could suffer irreparable harm if the Jan. 1 transaction is allowed to occur.”
