YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has agreed to dismiss a complaint the city filed in 2024 against businessman Dominic Marchionda, two of his companies and former Finance Director David Bozanich.
Visiting Judge W. Wyatt McKay dismissed the case without prejudice, meaning the city can refile its complaint, which it intends to do, according to documents previously submitted to the court.
Earlier this month, the city filed a motion to dismiss on account of “service deficiencies” cited under Ohio law. The city also requested that all other actions related to the case be dismissed, including a Hartford Insurance Co. claim for $100,000 against Bozanich and a counterclaim against the city that Marchionda filed in January 2025 seeking $1 million in damages.
“After review of the motion and without opposition, the court grants the motion and the entire case is dismissed without prejudice,” McKay ruled.
McKay, a retired Trumbull County Common Pleas judge, is presiding over the case and has set a trial date of Nov. 9 to hear arguments. In a rare occurrence, all Mahoning County Common Pleas judges recused themselves from the case.
In February, attorneys representing Marchionda, Erie Terminal Place LLC, U.S. Campus Suites LLC and Bozanich filed motions before the court to have the complaint dismissed on the grounds the city failed to serve the defendants in a timely manner.
The city’s lawsuit stemmed from a 2018 public corruption case that ended in plea agreements more than five years ago. The city seeks recovery of $834,000 from the defendants.
The city specifically sought recovery of $614,608, plus costs and interest beginning Sept. 23, 2021, from Marchionda, U.S. Campus Suites and Bozanich related to the Flats at Wick project, citing a public interest report issued by Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber that details findings for recovery, according to court papers.
The city also sought another $220,000, plus costs and interest, from Erie Terminal Place and Marchionda, citing the state auditor’s finding for recovery. The amount reflects a supplemental grant awarded to the project from the city’s water and wastewater funds that was unlawfully paid, the lawsuit alleged.
In 2009, Marchionda and his company – U.S. Campus Suites – were in the process of building the Flats at Wick, a housing complex on the corner of Madison Avenue and Elm Street for students attending Youngstown State University. The city supported the project through a $1.2 million water and wastewater grant.
Marchionda received the grant and used that money to purchase a fire station at the corner from the city for $1 million, and the money was deposited in the city’s general fund upon receipt. Marchionda kept the additional $200,000 for the project.
According to the city’s lawsuit, the use of the wastewater grant to purchase the fire station was a “calculated scheme, facilitated by U.S. Campus Suites and orchestrated by Dominic Marchionda and David Bozanich, to illegally transfer money from the city’s water fund and wastewater fund to the city’s general fund” in violation of state law.
City Council nevertheless approved enabling legislation that allowed the Board of Control to move forward with the transactions.
Bozanich and Marchionda have called the lawsuit “frivolous” and without merit.
In August 2020, Bozanich – who served as city finance director from 1993 to 2017 – pleaded guilty to one count each of records tampering and bribery, both felonies, and two misdemeanor charges of unlawful compensation of a public official. Bozanich served nearly one year in prison.
That same day, Marchionda pleaded guilty to four counts of tampering with records, all felonies, for creating false invoices to secure city grant money he said would be used for the Erie Terminal redevelopment project. Instead, the funds were used to pay invoices for the Flats at Wick development. He received five years’ probation.