By MARK TODD - Staff Writer - mtodd@starbeacon.com
CONNEAUT — A judge has been asked to put a dollar value on Internet chatter, which a Conneaut councilman has said inflicted emotional pain on himself and his family.
A damage hearing was held in Ashtabula County Common Pleas Court earlier this week regarding a lawsuit brought by Ward 4 Councilman Tony Julio against city resident Michael Bambarger.
The hearing, held before Judge Ronald Vettel, included testimony from Julio and his wife, Wendy, said Nicholas Iarocci, Julio’s attorney. The councilman is seeking attorney fees in excess of $6,000, court costs and additional damages, Iarocci said. Christopher Newcomb of Iarocci’s office handled the presentation at the hearing.
“After hearing the evidence, (Vettel) took the matter under advisement,” Iarocci said.
At issue are comments posted on a now-defunct Star Beacon forum page nearly two years ago, which implied Julio was involved in an extramarital affair. The matter resulted in lawsuits against a handful of parties, including Bambarger, the Star Beacon and a number of “John Does.”
In January, Vettel awarded default judgment to Julio on the matter when Bambarger failed to respond to matters related to the case, including a deposition scheduled for last fall. At the time, Bambarger said he never had been served formally with papers identifying him as a party to the lawsuit. Bambarger also said he doubted he could get a fair hearing in the county and planned to appeal any damages ordered by Vettel.
In April 2008, messages appeared on forums on the Star Beacon Web site, alleging an affair between Julio and a female city employee. Julio filed a lawsuit against the newspaper and a company that operated the paper’s Web site.
In September 2009, Vettel compelled the defendants to release information that Julio and Iarocci said helped them identify some of the messages’ authors. At a press conference one month later, they announced the data linked some of the messages to Bambarger and Ward 1 Councilman Dave Campbell. Both men strenuously denied having posted the messages in question. The press conference was held a few days before the Nov. 3, 2009, general election. Campbell and Bambarger, candidates in the election, were defeated. A short time later, both men filed complaints with the Ohio Elections Commission, claiming the press conference influenced voters. Campbell’s complaint to OEC was forwarded for consideration and will be heard sometime this year in Columbus. The panel dismissed Bambarger’s complaint.
