Community Police Commission Lawsuit Dismissed At Plaintiffs' Request

Three former employees of the Cleveland Community Police Commission have asked a judge to dismiss their lawsuit against the city and the CPC’s director.

The suit, filed in July, accused director Jason Goodrick of harassment and alleged that the city retaliated against the three women for complaining about their boss. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Michael P. Shaughnessy dismissed the case late last week.

Bethany Studenic, Rosemary Jovic and Chinenye Thompson left their jobs earlier this year with the CPC, which was created under Cleveland’s consent decree to advise the city on police reforms.

Claire Wade-Kilts, the attorney for the former staffers, said her clients decided that going through with the lawsuit wasn’t worth reliving their experiences again in court.

“These women are really disappointed,” Wade-Kilts said in a phone interview. “They really cared about the consent decree and the city of Cleveland. It’s disappointing that the city of Cleveland didn’t care about them.”

The city placed Goodrick on leave in April and commissioned an investigation. A subsequent report concluded there wasn’t sufficient evidence that Goodrick broke any city policies. He and the city denied the allegations against them in court.

Dan Williams, a spokesman for Mayor Frank Jackson, wrote in an email that there was no settlement in the case and that the city had no other comment.

In their court filing seeking a dismissal, the plaintiffs said they reserved the right to file the suit again.