Lawsuit tossed, Halliday loses

SANDUSKY – Kirk Halliday's latest court defeat, handed down Friday, may spell the end of litigation he's pursued since he was fired from his job as director of a local mental health agency. Judge Frederick H. McDonald, assigned to the Erie County case after local judges recused themselves, threw out Halliday's defamation lawsuit against the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Erie and Ottawa Counties in a ruling issued last year. Halliday appealed, but on Friday, the Sixth District state appeals court in Toledo upheld McDonald's ruling by a 3-0 vote. Halliday's defamation lawsuit was the second lawsuit he had filed after the mental health board fired him. Halliday, 74, was executive director of the agency from 1993 to 2016, when the board suspended him. The board then fired him after a hearing in 2017, eventually hiring Brenda Cronin as the new executive director. Halliday appealed the firing, lost a local court decision, and then lost an appeal in 2018 to the Sixth District appeals court. The second appeals court ruling Friday appears to jeopardize the subsequent defamation lawsuit he filed against the board and Firelands Regional Medical Center. As a practical matter, the Friday ruling should end Halliday's litigation concerning his firing, said Patrick Kasson, a Columbus attorney who represented the mental health board in the appeal.In theory, the Sixth Circuit ruling could be appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. But it's not the type of case the Ohio Supreme Court usually would take, Kasson said. As for any other possible litigation, "I can't imagine anything else he could sue them for," Kasson said. Halliday's lawyers, Cleveland attorneys Peter D. Traska and Michelle L. Traska, could not immediately be reached for comment. In his lawsuit, Halliday said he was defamed when the board said a math error cost Firelands about $500,000. The error was quickly corrected without much fuss or controversy, but Halliday contended his reputation was damaged and that board members showed little interest in his opinions on the matter. The Sixth District opinion, written by Judge Arlene Singer and judges Mark Pietrykowski and Gene Zmuda, ruled there was no evidence of "actual malice" by the board. As Halliday is a public figure, he is required by law to demonstrate actual malice, i.e. that statements defaming him were made with reckless disregard for the truth. In his ruling last year, McDonald also found no evidence board members had said anything that was false. Kasson said Friday he agrees. "I don't think our folks said anything that was untrue," he said.