YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Businessman Dominic Marchionda, two of his companies and former city Finance Director David Bozanich have asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit the city of Youngstown filed against them in 2024.
Court records show that Marchionda, Erie Terminal Place LLC and U.S. Campus Suites LLC filed a motion Feb. 2 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to dismiss the complaint on the grounds that the city failed to serve the defendants in a timely manner.
Bozanich filed a similar motion the same day on the same grounds, requesting the court dismiss all claims against him, including a related action filed by Hartford Insurance Co. Bozanich on Monday filed a notice with the court saying he had withdrawn a counterclaim that he filed earlier against Hartford.
The motions argue that the city failed to successfully serve the defendants within a one-year period after the initial lawsuit was filed Nov. 21, 2024. Therefore, the city’s case did not commence and should be dismissed.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay is presiding over the case and has set a trial date of Nov. 9, 2026, to hear arguments. In a rare occurrence, all Mahoning County Common Pleas judges recused themselves from the case. McKay, a retired Trumbull County Common Pleas judge, was then appointed to the case.
The lawsuit stems 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 seeks 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 seeks 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 the project from the city’s water and wastewater funds that was unlawfully paid, the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit has roots in a corruption case that centered on the misappropriation of water and wastewater grant money intended for several of Marchionda’s development projects, including the Flats at Wick apartment complex near Youngstown State University and redevelopment of the Erie Terminal building, downtown.
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 YSU. 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.
Nevertheless, City Council approved enabling legislation that allowed the Board of Control to move forward with the transactions.
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.