Seven Hills Wants to Recoup the $200,000 it Spent on David Bentkowski’s Ridiculous Lawsuit

Update: 

First things first here, people. It’s been almost three full years since former Mayor and noted doofus David Bentkowski filed the suit in question. The details on the case are all below, in a depressing but funny timeline that starts with Little David being very, very angry that people criticized him on the internet. Then he sued everyone whose names he could remember. He did this right before eating some paste, we imagine.

Anyway, his lawsuit, which a judge dismissed back in December, cost the city of Seven Hills some $200,000. The city has filed a motion to get back that dough, which it had ponied up to Squire Sanders (so named at the time) to defend the case, according to Cleveland.com.

Selfishly, we hope Bentkowski never goes away. The sad fact for the city of Seven Hills is that he probably never will.

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12/10/15 Update:

Well, it only took about $200,000 of public cash for the city of Seven Hills to shake this one, but the 8th District Court of Appeals has dismissed former Councilman David Bentkowski’s lawsuit against the city, as well as against fellow defendants Matt Trafis and the “Concerned Residents of Seven Hills.”

We’ll be sure to keep you all in the loop when Bentkowski goes on his next litigation tear.

Read below for our past reporting on this inane, circuitous process.

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1/27/15 Update:

No surprise: David Bentkowski is appealing Judge Nancy Fuerst’s dismissal of his lawsuit against the city of Seven Hills.

The goofball litigation saga continues, and we now return to our midday feast of Quizno’s subs.

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1/2/15 Update:

After a year and a half, during which the city of Seven Hills doled out over $150,000 in legal bills, Judge Nancy Fuerst has dismissed loony-toon David Bentkowski’s lawsuit against the city, the gist of which you can get below. (If you’ve followed the Bentkowski saga over the years, you could probably guess with 100% accuracy the sort of nutty claims he made without even reading any further.) 

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(Original story, 3/28/2013): Everyone’s favorite local politician and celebrity seeker-outer, Seven Hills councilman David Bentkowski, is suing a bunch of people.

This is kind of what Bentkowski does — he sued Scene a couple years ago after we said that he had the political IQ of a piece of Quiznos’ lettuce. (A judge, obviously, ruled in our favor.)

This current batch of legal nonsense is directed at just about anyone who works in Seven Hills. To be specific, it includes fellow councilman Matt Trafis, the law director, a group of Seven Hills residents who put together a newsletter that was critical of Bentkowski’s reign as mayor of the small suburb, and others.

Bentkowski’s argument, if there is one, is that a “confidential” police investigation begun at his prodding into mean, mean, mean commenters on the Cleveland.com Seven Hills forum was supposed to be double-fingers-crossed super secret and should not have been made public.

That investigation file, which comprises some 600+ pages of documents, is foolish and wasteful. It found, in no uncertain terms, that Bentkowski had no claim of a crime being committed. It, in no uncertain terms, however, does portray Bentkowski as a numb-nut — it includes personal emails from Bentkowski to the police chief and law director that are nothing short of embarrassing. Rambling, disconnected, paranoid.

When that investigation was finally closed — after some two years — it became public record. But very few other than those involved knew it existed. That is until it was mentioned in a Seven Hills committee meeting by Matt Trafis. Concerned citizens — those often targeted by Bentkowski — sought it out, as did the Plain Dealer and Scene.

Two less than flattering stories appeared just before Bentkowski was fired from his full-time gig at the Ohio Lottery Commission. It seems the department didn’t want undue public attention because of a weenie who somehow has been elected time and time again by the people of Seven Hills and showed Little David the door.

And that’s where we are today: Bentkowski suing everyone involved because… um… a public record was delivered to the public. That’s some damn good lawyerin’.

This article appears in Mar 27 – Apr 2, 2013.