Cincinnati City Workers Won't Hit Class-Action Jackpot After All: Judge Tosses $55 Million Lawsuit

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Big money was at stake for each city worker -- an average of $22,357. Just four months after certifying the case as a class action, U.S. District Judge S. Arthur Spiegel tossed out the lawsuit brought by 2,460 current and former City of Cincinnati employees. They claimed ownership of $55 million in proceeds from the conversion of their insurer, Anthem, to a stock company. Anthem, a unit of Indianapolis-based healthcare giant WellPoint (NYSE:WLP), made the switch from a mutual company in 2001. It gave 870,021 shares to the city as the group policyholder for its employees.

Seven years later the employees decided that they were the real policyholders and, under state law, deserved to split the money among themselves. They hired a four-lawyer team and filed suit in 2008 in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. Last week, Spiegel granted Anthem a partial summary judgment and closed the case. Anthem's payment of $55 million to the city, he wrote, did not violate state law. Moreover, it conformed with the bylaws of the original insurer, Community Mutual Insurance Co., which merged with an Indiana company that became WellPoint. Spiegel declared in his 29-page ruling:

"As a general rule, 'policyholders' are the insureds, who are typically 'owners' and entitled to proceeds. However in some specific situations, like the one at bar where the city is indisputably the owner of the group policy, the insureds do not necessarily have equity rights."

There were 15 lawyers representing various parties in the case, which was filed as Mell, et al v. Anthem Inc, et al, Case No. 1-08-cv-00715, U.S. District Court Southern District of Ohio. Lawyers for the workers were Eric Zagrans, Michael Bender, Dennis Barron, and Al Gerhardstein. Zagrans and Bender are from Elyria near Cleveland. The Anthem (WellPoint) legal team was comprised of Adam K. Levin v, Craig Hoover and Peter Bisio of Hogan and Hartsone in D.C.; Vorys Sater lawyers Peter Wolfla, Kent Allen Britt, Robert Neal Webner and Glenn Whitaker in Cincinnati, and Christopher Scanlon and Anne K. Ricchiuto of Baker & Daniels in Indianapolis. Terence Nestor represented the City of Cincinnati. No word yet on an appeal.

Cincinnati Declares Malaysians An Official Minority: Placed On Par With African Americans For Jobs

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Contract language for the city-financed renovation of the downtown Cincinnati Metropole Hotel into luxury accommodations decrees that Malaysians are defined as an official minority for hiring purposes. The contract says the construction workforce on the project -- which includes up to $6.1 million in city money -- should be at least 11.8% minority persons. The contract was approved Wednesday March 3, 2010 and requires developer 21c Cincinnati Inc. to undertake best efforts to recruit minority workers for the 550 construction jobs expected to open. Malaysia is a nation on the South China Sea that had been a British Colony until 1963. Its residents were never enslaved in the United States, nor did they suffer the economic and racial discrimination that black Americans endured for centuries. The city's definition of minorities for hiring on the Metropole project seems to cast an extremely wide net -- besides Malaysians it includes everyone who can trace their heritage back to Asia, the world's most populous continent. Here's the contract language: "'Asian or Pacific Islander' means a person having origin in the original people of the Far East or the Pacific Islands, which includes, among others, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Philippine Islands, Malaysia, Hawaii and Samoa."

Inquiring minds might wonder: Is there a wealth of evidence and history showing Malaysians were subjected to economic abuses by officials in Cincinnati? Malaysians aside, the whole definition of a minority looks somewhat slippery. Under Cincinnati's definition of a minority -- which sweeps up masses of humanity without regard to economic status -- the chairman of Toyota would meet the test, as does the Emperor of Japan. So does Hu Jintao, the president of China.

The issue of minority hiring and government contracting has been percolating recently with the Cincinnati NAACP's concerns that black contractors are not getting their share of school construction work. There has been debate carried in The Cincinnati Beacon here and here. The NAACP has protested at school board meetings, and is raising legitimate points. Perhaps equally as important is a review of who actually gets the label "minority." Certainly, it seems it should be based on more than geography, and should be tied to equalizing or addressing a past wrong inflicted by the government unit awarding a contract or hiring a worker. There is no doubt that black Americans were discriminated against and were shut out for far too long. Malaysians? Koreans? Japanese? Indians from India? Should they be able to seek jobs that probably should be set aside for black Cincinnatians?

The city apparently recognizes that blacks have a special case. It notes: "'Black' means a person having origin in the black racial group of Africa." That wording excludes the North Africans -- the Berbers and Libyans, Egyptians and Arabs. Interestingly, the city's wording does allow some European whites to claim minority status. Besides Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Central and South Americans, Hispanic is defined broadly to include all people of "other Spanish cultural origin." The King of Spain seems to meet that test.

Who Are The Most Frugal Folks At Cincinnati City Hall? Hint: Not The Mayor Or Council

CINCINNATI (TDB) --The annual City of Cincinnati year-end financial statement for 2009 is going into the books today. The Daily Bellwether has the numbers and is breaking them out by departmental spending (see below). That list shows Clerk of Council Melissa Autry runs City Hall's most frugal shop. She spent just 78.2% of her $521,771 budget. In an era of fiscal austerity and recession -- with both the private and public sectors of the economy hurting -- Autry deserves praise as a penny-pincher. In comparison, Mayor Mark Mallory spent 96.8% of his budget, and City Council spent 96%. They were not as tight as City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr., who spent 85.4% of the $5,202,526 appropriated for his office. Here's how the 18 City Hall agencies ranked when measured by coming in under budget:

1. Clerk of Council -- 78.2% of $521771.
2. City Manager -- 85.4% of $5,202,526.
3. Transportation/Engineering -- 85.9% of $2,730,511.
4. Regional Computer Center -- 87.2% of $4,270,890.
5. Community Development -- 87.9% of $5,636,741.
6. Parks -- 90.2% of $3,943,167.
7. Finance -- 91.6% of $4,659,135.
8. Public Services -- 92% of $19,001,872.
9. Human Resources -- 93.2% of $1,479,177.
10. Law -- 95.1% of $3,991,490.
11. City Planning -- 95.2% of $4,068,010.
12. (tie) City Council -- 96% of $1,400,386.
Recreation -- 96% of $14,665,592.
13. Citizens Complaint Authority -- 96.3% of $407,347.
14. Mayor -- 96.8% of $460,850.
15. Police Department -- 98.5% of $96,625,320.
16. Health Department -- 99% of $17,843,295.
17. Fire Department -- 99.2% of $69,686,979.

Overall, the city spent 96.4% of the $344,632,931 that was budgeted in 2009. Spending was down $10.6 million from 2008.

Ohio Going Global: Translation Programs Increase Transparency

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- This is what Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann has to say about himself to Japanese speakers:

"イラクの私達の軍隊を確かめるために戦う堕落を露出し、きれいにするために充満を導いて防護着を持つために必要とするかどうか私達の公立学校を、家族の農場、絞りかすDannの維持を私達の環境改良するために、働くことは最も高く倫理的な標準に民主的な主義に防御の社会保障、または助力を保護して終生の責任、責任、および働き家族にオハイオ州の司法長官のオフィスに激しい献身を持って来る"。

That is the first paragraph from Dann's biography on his official state Web site. The Democrat has created a portal that can be translated into 15 languages, including Arabic and Chinese. The English version goes as follows:

"Whether leading the charge to expose and clean up corruption, fighting to make sure our troops in Iraq have the body armor they need, working to improve our public schools, protecting our environment, defending Social Security, or helping to preserve family farms, Marc Dann brings a lifelong commitment to democratic principles, a commitment to the highest ethical standards, and a fierce devotion to working families to the office of Ohio Attorney General."

Here it is in Russian: "Ли водящ обязанность для того чтобы подвергнуть действию и очистить вверх по развращению, воюя для того чтобы make sure наши войска в Ираке иметь панцырь тела им, работа для того чтобы улучшить наши бесплатные государственные школы, защищающ наши окружающую среду, защищая сочиальное обеспечение, или помогать сохранить семейные фермы, Марк Dann приносит пожизненное принятие окончательного решения к демократическим принципам, принятие окончательного решения к самым высоким этичным стандартам, и свирепую преданность к работая семьям к офису attorney general Огай Огайа."

How cool. In this era of globalization and instant links, there are pockets of Ohio opening up to the world. Everything on Marc Dann's official site can be changed at the click of a mouse. The practice has not caught on widely yet in Ohio, but expect to see more in the not so distant future. Dann is a state government pioneer who is using World Lingo , an instant Web site translation program that is becoming increasingly popular.

Cincinnati, too, has stepped into the global village. The city's Web site can be switched to French, German, Spanish, simplified Chinese, Korean, Russian and Japanese.

The move opens a door to visitors in far off places. And it probably is good for business. Take a look at the Cincy portal in RUSSIAN.