Ex-Wife’s Deposition to Focus on Celebrezze, Dottore Relationship

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A deposition in a lawsuit against Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze could intensify the spotlight on the judge and her relationship with her longtime friend and court-appointed receiver, Mark Dottore.

Lisa Moran, Dottore’s former wife, was deposed Dec. 18 by Subodh Chandra, who represents Georgeanna Semary, Celebrezze’s former judicial assistant. New filings in the case show Moran planned to discuss the relationship between Celebrezze and her former husband and how she read text messages that Celebrezze sent Dottore about making love in 2008.

Moran signed an affidavit detailing that she read messages from Celebrezze on her husband’s phone and also witnessed calls from Celebrezze to Dottore. Moran also supplied notes that she took in 2008 after reading the messages.

“I wanted to document these events to remind myself of the hurt and anger Mark Dottore and Celebrezze caused me and to create a record in case something happened to me,” Moran wrote in the affidavit.

Celebrezze, who serves as the court’s administrative judge through December, has previously denied an intimate relationship with Dottore, telling The Marshall Project - Cleveland that she and Dottore are merely close, lifelong friends.

Celebrezze and Dottore have both filed motions seeking to have part of the case file blocked from the public’s view. On Dec. 14, Common Pleas Judge Andrew Santoli recused himself from overseeing the lawsuit. The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court will appoint a visiting judge to the case, records show. (Update: Wood County Judge Reeve W. Kelsey was appointed.)

Semary’s lawsuit filed in September contends she was transferred out of the judge’s office in April and forced to take a $20,000 pay cut after she allowed The Marshall Project - Cleveland to review public court records involving Dottore.

In August, the Ohio Supreme Court removed Celebrezze from overseeing a divorce case, finding the judge bypassed court policy when she assigned the lucrative case to her own docket. Dottore’s office has subsequently billed over $500,000 for legal and other work.

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