Ohio Judge Denies Cleveland’s Try to Arbitrate Utility Fee Suit

An Ohio judge on Thursday rejected an attempt by the city of Cleveland to push into arbitration a long-running class action litigation over allegedly improper electricity customer fees.

Cleveland’s try for arbitration was based on a 2022 municipal law mandating that disputes with the city-owned utility be heard by an out-of-court panel that it claimed was retroactive. But the city didn’t properly notify class members of the law and the class didn’t “contemplate a retroactive arbitration clause that would undermine seven years of litigation,” Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joan Synenberg wrote.

• Synenberg also found that Cleveland didn’t ...