Newburgh Heights Mayor Trevor Elkins suing Channel 5 for ‘outlandish’ defamatory story—Cleveland Scene
Newburgh Heights Mayor Trevor Elkins and four Newburgh Heights village councilpeople have filed a scorching lawsuit against News Channel 5. They allege that a November story by reporter Jonathan Walsh was false and defamatory.
A complaint filed Thursday morning in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas contends that the story, and the defamation therein, represents a “calculated and perverse political smear” against Elkins, a rising star in the County Democratic Party.
The News Channel 5 story in question — “How a government-sanctioned scam in Newburgh Heights has taken thousands of dollars from drivers” — described a process in which the village of Newburgh Heights billed “drivers and insurance companies” for calling the police.