Jim Eckstein

Former Butler County Commissioner Jim Eckstein is suing the county to recoup $144,788 in legal costs he incurred in a defamation case.

The civil complaint filed Wednesday in county court names the county and the three current commissioners Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel as defendants.

Osche, board chairman, said she was disappointed the lawsuit was filed.

Eckstein, who served from 2012 through 2015, said the county is obligated to reimburse his legal costs because he was acting in his role as a commissioner.

He was sued by former county Commissioner Dale Pinkerton and two other plaintiffs — county human resources director Lori Altman and her husband, state Trooper Scott Altman, for defamation and being placed in a false light.

Eckstein was accused of spreading a rumor that Pinkerton gave Lori Altman an extra 20 percent pay hike in 2011 in exchange for getting out of a drunken driving stop.

The state attorney general's office an state police found no evidence of wrongdoing in separate investigations.

Eckstein said he never claimed anyone was guilty of corruption.

After four years of legal wrangling, the case went to trial in April of this year. After two weeks, a mistrial was declared on the final day.

The plaintiffs filed for a new trial, which was scheduled for September.

Before jury selection began, Eckstein accepted offers by the plaintiffs to discontinue their lawsuits. He paid each set of plaintiffs $3,000.

According to Eckstein's complaint, the county rejected his request for indemnification.

County solicitor Mike English declined to answer questions about the lawsuit.