Despite lawsuit, unclaimed funds for Browns stadium moves forward

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Part of the Ohio budget signed last week is already being challenged in court.

As it stands, $1 billion will be taken from Ohio’s unclaimed funds program. That money could be an uncashed check or a forgotten bank account that the state holds onto for its citizens until it is claimed.

Lawmakers now want to use some of that money to build new sports stadiums.

Ohio resident Felicia Snell said the move is misguided.

“A stadium is not going to feed a child; a stadium is not going to put someone in an apartment,” she said. “It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Right now, that fund houses $3.7 billion. Lawmakers want to capitalize on what they call idle money and use it for a new “Ohio Cultural and Sports Facility” fund. The $1 billion that is used will be money that has been in the fund for more than 10 years; $600 million of it will go to the Cleveland Browns for a new stadium.  

Snell did not know that the state plans to give $600 million to the Cleveland Browns or use the other billions of dollars in the fund for sports stadiums in the future. She said she is shocked the state hasn’t notified residents.

“Since I’m not that important, I mean, I guess why not take it,” she said. “They’re snatching funds and not focusing on children who are with crime, people that are homeless, people in addiction.”

So, what is the class action lawsuit? It argues that using unclaimed funds unconstitutionally seizes Ohioans’ private property without due process.

“I’m confident we’re on good constitutional grounds and I’m also confident that they’re not going to be able to prove damages by anybody,” Ohio Senate President Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) said. “Everybody who has money in the fund still has ten years to come get the money and so there is no harm, there are no damages for those individuals, so I think it’s going to be a tough case to prove all the way up.”

McColley said he does not think the lawsuit stands a chance, in the higher courts, at least.

“They may win it at the local trial court level but that’s something that we’re confident as it advances through the stages that we’ll be successful,” he said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Jerry Cirino (R-Kirtland) said that unclaimed funds have been used before, like in emergencies.

“This is not the first time, and we didn’t recall any challenges to those occasions when that money was used,” he said.

The lawsuit was filed by Marc Dann, a former Ohio attorney general who also sued the state -- and won -- over $900 million in COVID-era unemployment funds for Ohioans.

"The way they've decided to do it, by taking people's money that doesn't belong to the state, is uncosted and it's unconstitutional for several reasons," Dann said. "One is the government can't take your money or your property without compensating you for that. Secondly, they can't take your money at all, for a, for something that's not a public purpose and I think there's a pretty good argument that a, a football stadium for, for, that will benefit only the Cleveland Browns and Jimmy Haslam is, is is, is not a public purpose. The third reason is that, that there's not good due process."

Unless the courts say otherwise, the money will be taken from the fund on Jan. 1, 2026.