Former Butler County Commissioner Jim Eckstein

Former Butler County Commissioner Jim Eckstein is seeking a court judgment on the pleadings against the county for reimbursement of legal expenses incurred during a defamation case.

Eckstein said the county should have settled the case.

“They're gambling with taxpayers' money,” he said.

In a motion dated Friday, Eckstein's attorney, Larry Rodgers, requested Senior Judge John Reed of Mercer County to rule in favor of his client in that “no genuine issues of material fact exist.”

According to Rodgers' brief in support of the motion for judgment, Eckstein's legal fees have risen to $160,371.

Eckstein said he is entitled to reimbursement under the law, but the county claims otherwise.

Rodgers reiterated in a brief in support of his motion that there was no judicial determination of Eckstein's liability for defamation.

Two defamation lawsuits were filed against Eckstein in 2012, the first year of his single term in office.

Former county Commissioner Dale Pinkerton filed the first, and county human resources director Lori Altman and her husband, state Trooper Scott Altman, filed the other.

Eckstein was accused of starting and spreading a rumor there was a cover-up of Pinkerton being pulled over for drunken driving in return for Lori Altman receiving an extra 20 percent pay hike in 2011.

The former commissioner was also accused of contacting the state Attorney General's office seeking an investigation into Pinkerton.

Investigations conducted by the state Attorney General's office and state police found no evidence of wrongdoing by Pinkerton and Scott Altman, respectively.

Both lawsuits were tried simultaneously.

Testimony during the trial indicated other people started the rumor and contacted the Attorney General's office seeking an investigation. Eckstein did admit talking about the rumor.

“The only thing he admitted to was he discussed the alleged investigation,” Rodgers said.

A mistrial was declared in April 2016.

Initially, the jurors announced finding Eckstein not liable on various counts. However, a subsequent single public roll call vote did not have sufficient votes to reach a consensus, which would be at least 10 of 12 jurors.

Before the case could be retried in September 2016, Eckstein accepted offers to discontinue the lawsuits if he paid $3,000 to each set of plaintiffs.

Rodgers said that token amount only covered a portion of those plaintiffs' legal costs, so there were no damages paid.

“He reimbursed some of their costs,” Rodgers said.

Since Eckstein accepted offers by the plaintiffs, the resolution was technically a discontinuation, not a settlement.

After the case was discontinued, Eckstein unsuccessfully sought reimbursement again.

Rodgers deferred commenting any further on the case.

A full report will appear in the Butler Eagle.