Housing secretary files suit against Ontonagon officials, resident

By JAN TUCKER

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Ontonagon — The secretary of the Ontonagon Housing Commission filed suit in Ontonagon County Circuit Court Monday, against one village councilman, one member of the Village Housing Commission, one resident of the village housing and the Housing Commission itself.

Sue Lockhart, a 23-year employee and secretary of the commission, who has resigned from the position effective Oct. 18, has filed a three-count suit of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, against village council trustee Tony Smydra, Housing Commission member Richard Ernest and village housing resident David Chastan. She has also filed a claim of Violation of the Whistle Blower Protection Act against the Housing Commission. Lockhart is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages to her reputation and emotional distress.

The suit claims defendant Ernest distributed a seven-page document of complaints from the village housing residents, some of which contained comments concerning Lockhart. She claims the document contained many false accusations, were distributed and discussed at several public meetings. The suit also claims “distribution of false allegations to the other commissioners, let alone the press, is still publishing false allegations to a third party.” The suit claimed Ernest knew some of the allegations were false.

The suit claims that Smydra also repeated the false allegations to others. The suit also claims Chastan was the source of many of the false complaints and that he repeated them to the public. The suit claims these were acts of malice. The suit claims Ernest admitted most of the accusations were false.

Lockhart claims damage to her reputation, economic loss, loss of work hours, ultimately causing loss of her job, emotional distress, physical and mental ailments, with other damages as may arise during the course of discovery and trial. The document claims that Smydra’s and Chastan’s conduct was intentional or at the least reckless.

The Housing Commission itself is charged with violation of the Whistle Blower Protection Act, claiming the procurement policy was violated when the housing commission hired an attorney without following that policy. The suit claims the office of Housing and Urban Development instructed the housing commission to forward all invoices received from the law firm for review before paying the invoices. The plaintiff said the interim executive required the plaintiff to place the attorney’s bill on a list of bills to be paid by the commission and a letter of reprimand was given when she refused. She claims she was discriminated against and claims her reduction of work hours was the result.

As a result of this, the plaintiff claims she suffered physical ailments, a hostile and stressful work environment, high blood pressure, headaches, depression, lack of sleep and other conditions.

The suit will be heard in Ontonagon County Circuit Court.