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CONTENTS OCTOBER 21-27, 2020 • VOL. 52 NO 11

Upfront ............................................5 Eat .................................................. 13 Arts .................................................17 Music ............................................. 18 Savage Love ................................. 18

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UPFRONT

WITHOUT BIDEN CAMPAIGN SUPPORT, CLEVELAND DEMS HAVE BEEN GETTING OUT THE VOTE ON THEIR OWN

IN NOVEMBER OF 2016, OHIO

City resident Paula Kampf made a public and private promise: that on Nov. 4 2020, she would wake up knowing that she had done everything in her power to ensure that Donald Trump was no longer in the White House.

She began making good shortly thereafter, creating the “Cleveland Resistance Community Against Trump” Facebook group in January 2017, in the immediate wake of the Women’s March. And over the course of the past four years, she’s worked alongside a handful of committed activists to publicize and mobilize support around local, state and national progressive causes.

But in July, in the absence of a Joe Biden campaign presence in Ohio — an oversight that a number of local Democratic Party leaders and organizers found baffling, given the state’s 18 crucial electoral votes — Kampf kicked her work into high gear.

“For a multitude of reasons, from the pandemic to gerrymandering, Ohio wasn’t supposed to be in play. And the Biden campaign just didn’t invest heavily and didn’t make a plan for winning,” Kampf told Scene by phone last week. “It became clear to us in July that we had to win Ohio. It was on us to make it happen.”

Kampf’s campaign-season work, including both non-partisan and partisan voter engagement, has been a formidable example of local Democratic grassroots efforts without organizing support from the national campaign.

“My daughter told me the house has turned into a community center,” Kampf joked. “I’ve had lots of super Covid-safe events: phone banking on Saturday mornings, massive campfire postcard writing on Monday nights, Walk the Ward [3] events, delivering info to neighbors about how to vote.”

She said that by the end of September, the Ward 3 team had touched every Democratic or Democratic-leaning voter in the Ward at least three times. More recently, a number of ward leaders

across town joined forces to create what they’ve called the “Amazing Ballot Race.” The goal is to mobilize and energize Cleveland voters in the pivotal weeks before the election concludes on Nov. 3.

“It’s astonishing,” Kampf said. “As far as I know, it’s unprecedented. I think it speaks strongly to how much people really believe in getting Donald Trump out of office and electing Joe Biden.”

One of the more innovative efforts that Kampf has spearheaded is a volunteer ride service called “Voter Drive CLE,” which aims to match residents who are willing to give rides to the polls with those who need transportation.

“This was right after John Lewis died,” Kampf said. “And a coalition of neighbors came together on Zoom to figure it out. In Cleveland, there are lots of people who need to be transported to drop off their ballot or to get to their polling place. We just thought this was a good way to remember John Lewis.”

The Voter Drive CLE effort gained momentum quickly. It is now a nonpartisan project officially under the auspices of the May Dugan Center, and has garnered enough financial support from area foundations, nonprofits and individual donors to expand citywide.

“It got really big really fast,” Kampf said. “But we realized this should be more than just a neighborhood effort. We now have community partners spanning from Cleveland VOTES to Cleveland Public Theatre to the Cleveland Cavs, Browns and Indians.”

Kampf said the effort was far more complex than it seemed at first. Safety and sanitization during Covid-19 was of course paramount, but the process of vetting and insuring drivers, to say nothing of abiding by election law, was also necessary. (No driver can physically touch the ballots of those they’re transporting, for example, or discuss politics en route.)

There is now a functioning website and two community organizers working nearly 30 hours per week to coordinate volunteers. Voter Drive CLE has also contracted with three Black-owned professional transportation services, Kampf said, to provide specialized rides and to accommodate increased demand.

“If you were to sign up to get a ride today, you’d get a call back, assigned a time and a driver, and then that driver would show up to take you and your completed ballot to the polls. You will not speak about politics in the car. And from the back seat, you will drop off your ballot, and then you will be returned to your home.”

For those voting in person on election day, provisions have been made with nearby parking lots so that volunteer drivers can park for free while they wait.

“There really hasn’t been anything like this in Cleveland that I know of,” Kampf said. “The idea is that, literally and figuratively, we are driving people to the polls.”

Courtesy Voter Drive CLE

-Sam Allard

The Shady Group Shittily Opposing the Cleveland Schools Levy Refuses to Tell the Voting Public Who They Are

You can tell the people behind the effort to defeat the CMSD levy on the November ballot believe they are on the right side of the debate for the right reasons and not merely arguing that Clevelanders should forsake the future of public schools for a few more dollars in their pocket mainly because they have taken extraordinary efforts to shield their identities from the voting public.

Mailers arrived this month in mailboxes across the city imploring residents to vote against Issue 68, the levy renewal and increase that represents more than 12% of CMSD’s budget. The group behind the effort — Cleveland’s Future Fund — is an LLC that was registered with the state of Ohio in September by a law firm based in Dayton. The website — ClevelandsFutureFund. com — contains no hints as to the people behind the campaign. Nor does the address listed on the mailer, which is that of a coworking spot in downtown Cleveland.

CMSD CEO Eric Gordon has said that without passage of the levy, Cleveland schools would be facing staggering cuts. The district announced in a recent board meeting that if the levy fails, CMSD would be forced to close 25 schools, including some in the middle of the school year, cut 15% of its staff (300 people), and slice $3.3 million | clevescene.com | October 21-27, 2020 5

FEATURE UPFRONT

Vince Grzegorek

of programming from athletics, owners won’t publicly touch the topic supplemental instruction and other of an anti-levy campaign. But some extracurriculars. high-profile landlords acknowledge

Since the arrival of the first that they’re concerned about the mailer, and a second and third and economic impact of the additional fourth mailer since then, as well 5 mills, which the district expects as a YouTube ad-spot, little has to put toward ongoing work on been learned about the mysterious its transformation plan and new backers. challenges, such as remote learning

Only Crain’s Cleveland has sought and digital literacy, created by the to unmask those behind the effort, pandemic. which the scuttlebutt had pegged to “’The levy is crazy,’” said Doug downtown Cleveland property owners. Price, CEO of the K&D Group, a

Here’s just part of their first look major owner of apartments and office at who is rumored to perhaps be buildings in the central business involved and how downtown’s legion district. “It’s no surprise there is of property owners responded: an anti-levy campaign. Business

“Rumblings of an anti-levy effort conditions are terrible, and it’s a 30% spread among downtown real estate increase in our taxes. insiders early this month. But major “Price wouldn’t comment on property owners contacted by Crain’s whether he supports the anti-levy declined to comment on support for movement. But he clearly opposes an anti-levy campaign. the additional millage that’s being

“Several sources said to contact layered atop a tax increase that James Kassouf, a longtime Cleveland voters first approved in 2012 and parking-lot owner whose portfolio renewed in 2016.” has grown to include the Tower at (Neither here nor there, but Doug Erieview, the adjacent Galleria and Price was also most recently in the buildings in the Warehouse District. news for throwing a hissy fit over In an email, Kassouf offered to ‘ask a First Amendment-protected light around’ about the levy. He didn’t display supporting Biden on the answer specific questions posed by Terminal Tower, which K&D owns. If Crain’s in emails and phone messages. you were wondering, public records

“Many downtown property show Price and K&D are staunch 6 | clevescene.com | October 21-27, 2020

How To Vote

You’re going to cast your ballot in this election, the only question is how and when.

Here are your options:

Absentee Ballot The deadline to request your absentee ballot from your local board of elections is Saturday, October 31. You can do so online, by phone, or by printing and mailing a request. (If you’re mailing your request, the state recommends you get it in the mail by Tuesday, October 27.) Once you have it, you can mail it back (don’t forget to use two stamps, not one) or drop it in-person at your local county board of elections during business hours or in the 24-hour secure dropbox. Find info on all that at ohiosos.gov.

Early Voting The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is open for in-person early voting the following days and hours:

Thursday-Friday, Oct. 22-23: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24: 8-4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25: 1-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, Oct. 26-30: 8 a.m-7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1: 1-5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2: 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

You need to bring an acceptable form of ID with you whether voting early or on election day: Any photo ID issued by the U.S. government or the State of Ohio with your image, name and current address; a military ID, a utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document with your name and current address.

Note: Passports are not a valid form of ID and, due to COVID-19, drivers licenses or state identification cards that were set to expire on or after March 9, 2020 have been automatically extended and will remain valid through the Nov. 3, 2020 General Election.

Vote on Election Day Election day is Tuesday, November 3, and takes place 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m.

financial supporters of Republicans.) (It’s also worth noting, of course, that the people who denied knowledge of the campaign or being involved but who may sympathize with the efforts, by and large, do not live in the city of Cleveland proper and their kids, if they have them, most likely either attended or attend a well-funded suburban school or a private one. But we digress...)

“We’re not going to respond to this directly, because it’s obviously from dark money,” Mary Anne Sharkey, a spokeswoman for the levy campaign, told Crain’s. “Somebody’s funding this who doesn’t have the courage to put their name behind it. We don’t want to respond to something completely anonymous. We suspect that it’s some large property owners, maybe businesspeople, who don’t want to pay the additional dollars. But we don’t know. We don’t know who’s doing it.”

CMSD Eric Gordon responded directly to the scattershot but vague claims of the anti-68 campaign in a City Club forum on Oct. 1.

Those scary claims — Issue 68 Will Increase Rent; Issue 68 Will Force Small Businesses in Cleveland to Close; Think the Cost of Living in Cleveland is High Now? It’s About to Get Even Higher — come with absolutely no supporting material.

A WKYC article estimating the new levy would collect $90 million per year for Cleveland schools, with an average increase of only $7 a month for Cleveland households, is the only source listed on the mailer, which invites readers to learn more, without specifying where to do so. The campaign’s website, meanwhile, merely lists the exact language included on the mailer.

“The literature, I would say, is really stretching the truth,” Gordon said. “They suggest it’s another $90 million a year when in fact 75% of the levy has already been approved twice. And that the district’s not accountable... We’ve set up our levy on time limits, the first time Cleveland’s done that, so we can prove results.”

Gordon said those results includes higher math scores and increased graduation rates, for starters.

“And that somehow supporting kids and families is going to hurt families... We’re the highest childhood poverty in the country, we’re the worst-connected city in the country and the ninth-most segregated city in the country, and the avenue out of that is education, not trapping people in low-wage jobs because they can’t get the education they need.

“And it’s kind of exploiting the pandemic as a reason not to support schools rather than seeing all that the schools have had to do... to connect families that don’t have internet. This is exactly the time to support those families that are the most marginalized.”

As for the shady origins and motivations behind the opposition, Gordon said: “Ours is being done transparently — where the money is coming from, how much. As opposed to the opposition, which is funding the campaign in the dark as opposed to being transparent about who’s trying to influence voters and how.”

– Vince Grzegorek

Cleveland Reporter, NE Ohio Times Among 50+ Ohio News Sites Controlled by Republican Propaganda Empire

A New York Times report published Sunday revealed that hundreds of news sites cropping up nationwide are part of a growing media empire with content largely controlled by conservative think tanks, political operatives and public-relations executives.

Ohio is now home to more than 50 of these sites, which are aimed chiefly at promoting Republican candidates, including President Donald Trump, and trashing their opponents.

The Cleveland Reporter, the NE Ohio Times, the West Cleveland News, the Buckeye Reporter, the East Cleveland News, the Akron Reporter, the Lake County Times and others are all part of the Metric Media network. The sites feature identical minimalistic graphic design and share much of the same content across the state, produced mainly by freelancers making anywhere from $3 to $36 per article, the Times reported.

Some of the content is not only shaped but produced directly by “clients” who pay for their own promotion. Such arrangements are violations of traditional journalism ethics.

In Northeast Ohio, the lead story on multiple sites is currently an opinion piece attributed to the Donald Trump campaign’s senior advisor for strategy, Steve Cortes. It describes three reasons why “the Cleveland area of Ohio” should re-elect Trump and repudiate the Biden agenda. The top-line item is “dangerous illegal migrant crime,” heavily referencing a murder in Painesville in 2016.

The Times report notes that while the Metric Media sites “generally do

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not post information that is outright false, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency. Only a few dozen of the sites disclose funding from advocacy groups.”

Founded by “TV reporter turned internet entrepreneur” Brian Timpone, Metric Media is not strictly a digital operation. In some markets, the company has acquired legacy print outlets and — in the mold of other conglomerates — promptly cut staff and “streamlined” operations, to the detriment of local readers.

That’s what happened in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, according to the Times closed up shop for good, as the report. In August, Metric Media Youngstown Vindicator did last year. purchased the only print newspaper The resulting news vacuum has in the town, about 40 miles northeast created massive information gaps of Columbus. The paper then did that companies like Metric Media are what all papers do right before it lays only too eager to fill. -Sam Allard off employees and drastically reduces coverage. It proclaimed the opposite, saying that the new online version In Bay Village, Someone Called would “undergo a redesign with Cops on a Sleeping Homeless the addition of more local content Person. It was a Statue of Jesus. and [would] continue to keep our readership up to date with breaking news, incorporating technology to Twenty minutes after a “homeless assist readers and enhance stories.” Jesus” sculpture was installed on the (Italics added.) grounds of St. Barnabas Episcopal

But the reality was far different, Church in Bay Village last week, according to the Times. someone called the cops.

Tanner Salyers, a city councilman Created by Canadian sculptor in Mount Vernon, population 17,000, Timothy Schmalz, the sculpture said that when he emailed Metric depicts Jesus as a homeless person Media to ask what its plans were lying on a bench covered in a for the town’s only newspaper, Mr. blanket. It was purchased by the Timpone called back to say that he local Community West Foundation now owned the Mount Vernon News and has been traveling to churches and that he would rebuild it. Yet since and other religious organizations the change in ownership, Mr. Salyers across the region since October said, the newspaper has cut much of 2018. It is scheduled to be on site at its staff and reduced print circulation St. Barnabas until Dec. 1. to two days a week from six. Fr. Alex Martin, the St. Barnabas

“I’m the first person to admit pastor, tweeted that he’d had a that the Mount Vernon News was conversation with a Bay Village not Pulitzer material,” Mr. Salyers police officer because someone said. “But nevertheless, it was reported a homeless person sleeping local and independent. You could on a park bench. St. Barnabas abuts go to the grocery store and bump a public park, Fr. Martin told Scene, into the writers.” Now, a reporter and the statue was displayed in a based in Atlanta has covered local high-visibility area intentionally. happenings, he said, and not well. Martin said that while the police When a water line broke last week, officer was “extremely professional” forcing the town’s residents to boil and eager to learn about the their water, the Mount Vernon News sculpture itself, he believed the didn’t mention it. incident could serve as a catalyst for

Ohio has lost more than 40 conversation about how best to help percent of its working journalists those in need. since 2012, including dozens “[The sculpture] reminds us that, at the Plain Dealer. Many daily even though homelessness is a not a newspapers have reduced home significant problem in our immediate delivery, have been acquired by neighborhood, we don’t have to drive national conglomerates or have far to find those in tremendous need,” 8 | clevescene.com | October 21-27, 2020

Martin wrote in an email. “Perhaps the statue will inspire those who see it to take action and help... Seeing Jesus depicted this way reminds us that Jesus identified with the outcast and marginalized in his own day. He spent much of his time with tax collectors and prostitutes, largely to the chagrin of polite society.”

Martin said he hoped the sculpture would make those in the Bay Village community — Northeast Ohio’s 18th-wealthiest suburb by median home income — and those outside it “a bit kinder and gentler with one another.” St. Barnabas, for its part, is using the opportunity to raise money for those experiencing hardships.

Bay Village police chief Kathy Leasure confirmed the Oct. 12 police call to Scene and said that the caller had advised dispatch that they were unsure if the homeless individual was a human being or a statue.

“If this was a person laying on a bench, the officer would have made sure the person was not in any sort of medical distress,” Leisure wrote in an email, explaining the theory behind a police response. “If the person was, the officer would have been able to radio for an ambulance to respond and start rendering first aid. Additionally, if this were a homeless person, the officer would have checked to make sure the person was okay and to see if they needed anything. There are hotels in nearby cities that will give homeless individuals a free night stay. The officer could have helped to facilitate this. If the person did not want or need anything, the person would have been permitted to stay where they were.” (You can check out a reference to this story on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” for Oct. 17.)

-Sam Allard

Screen shot

Marty Sweeney Laying Groundwork for 2021 City Council Run in Ward 11

A recent bulk mailer sent by Marty Sweeney to residents of Cleveland’s Ward 11 have many political insiders speculating that the former City Council President will seek office there. According to some, the mailer should be interpreted to mean that Sweeney’s 2021 city council run in Ward 11 is all but guaranteed.

“It won’t be official until he pulls petitions,” said one county party source, “but I think the cat was out of the bag when that mailer hit. I doubt that was a coincidence.”

The mailer was not about his campaign but about participation in the U.S. census, a feel-good nonpartisan issue designed chiefly, observers believe, to increase name recognition in a ward where he does not live.

When reached by Scene, Sweeney neither confirmed nor denied his 2021 political aspirations, saying that many have speculated about his next move.

“They have me running for everything,” he wrote in a text. “I’m just trying to be helpful where I can.” When asked why specifically he would send the mailer to Ward 11 if not to set the table for his upcoming candidacy, he reiterated that he was just trying to be helpful. “I know the importance of the census and getting an accurate count,” he said.

Sweeney last ran for public office in 2018, narrowly losing to Nickie Antonio in a race for the Ohio State Senate, despite the endorsement of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party. He served as Cleveland City Council President in what is now Ward 16 from 2006 until his

resignation in 2014, appointing current councilman Brian Kazy on his way out. He was then elected to the Ohio House of Representatives, where he served until 2018, resigning so that his daughter, Bride Rose Sweeney, could run to assume his seat.

Ward 11 encompasses most of the Cudell, West Boulevard and Jefferson neighborhoods and includes small portions of both Edgewater in the north and Bellaire-Puritas in the South. Sweeney is still a resident of the adjacent Ward 16, but insiders within the county Democratic party have speculated that he might move to Ward 11 if he were to win the council race there. He might also purchase or otherwise acquire a home during the campaign to maintain an address in the ward, a tactic popular among Cleveland political candidates in the past. Others note that, seeing as the residency requirement is immaterial in the City Charter, Sweeney might simply keep living in Ward 16.

DIGIT WIDGET

500+

Domestic violence-related firearms cases that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Ohio tried in 2020, an increase of more than 300% from 2019.

90%

Percentage of people charged by University Circle Police since 2015 who are Black.

14.8%

Cleveland’s estimated tree canopy in the year 2040, if current losses continue, far below the administration’s goal of 30%.

28,000

Trees that Cleveland residents and businesses would have to plant every year until 2040 for the city to achieve its canopy goal. (In 2018 and 2019 combined, members of the city’s tree coalition planted or gave away only 8,300 trees.)

Sweeney is a career politician, and has been dogged both by a sexual harassment settlement in 2007 and the persistent whiff of ethical misconduct, including ties to the chief players in the 2008 county corruption scandal.

Sweeney’s name had been one among many that local politicos bandied about as potential mayoral candidates in 2021. He has reportedly decided against that move and cast his gaze on what are thought to be contestable seats on Cleveland’s largely white west side, where his Irish back-slapping still goes a long way. He was reportedly considering challenging Charles Slife in Ward 17 as well, but believes Brian Mooney is a more vulnerable candidate. Both Slife and Mooney were appointees by outgoing council members in the previous term, (Martin Keane and Dona Brady, respectively).

Mooney, when reached by phone, told Scene that he “absolutely” intends to run to maintain his Ward 11 council seat in 2021 and believes, with support from Dona Brady, who is still the Democratic Party ward leader, that he is more likely to win the party’s crucial endorsement. Mooney said he was “intrigued” by Sweeney’s potential candidacy and by how he’ll spin his prior baggage to Ward 11 voters.

Like others, Mooney received the census mailer and chuckled at Sweeney’s absurd pretense about just wanting to be helpful. He also noted Sweeney’s appearance on the cover of this month’s Ohio Irish American Times (photo above), another possible tactic to increase his visibility after a few years out of elected office.

‘This is Marty Sweeney,” Mooney said. “Everyone knows what’s going on.” -Sam Allard

Cleveland Clinic’s Billing Practices Under the Microscope in Class Action Suit

A legal complaint filed in August seeks up to $5 million in damages and a permanent injunction against the Cleveland Clinic on behalf of plaintiffs who allege that the hospital’s billing practices create confusion, cause undue stress and result in the financial ruin of many patients.

In Amanda van Brakle vs. Cleveland Clinic Foundation, attorneys for the potential class argue that the Clinic should be governed by the same consumer protection laws which mechanics, contractors and other personal service providers are subject to; namely, that the Clinic should

Dear Millennials and Gen Z: If Trump Wins, It’s Your Fault

Please know this headline isn’t meant to incite. It’s merely a statement of statistical fact. By age grouping, Millennials and Gen Z now compose the largest voting bloc in America. The country is yours for the taking.

I understand your reluctance. It’s a bit like inheriting a crack house. We, the Boomers and Gen Xers, have left you a nation in ruin. You might say we were never big on that whole “consideration for others” thing.

We were left with a promising land. The World War II crowd – aka “The Greatest Generation” – made for America’s finest moment. It wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was still quite weird. But considering they fought through global war and depression, it was a stirring performance.

Then they retired to Sarasota. Boomers and Xers threw a kegger to celebrate our promotion. Fifty years on, the house is now splashed in blood and vomit. It must be rebuilt from the studs to make it livable again.

Gen Xers will try to avoid responsibility. “The Boomers started it!” they cry. But they are responsible for guys like Ted Cruz. There is no court — here or in the afterlife – that lets you skate on the crime of Ted Cruz.

Our crowning achievement was electing The Angry Creamsicle. With the nation lurching toward collapse, we hired a halfwit megalomaniac to save us. His idea was to set the house on fire, then tell you the flames would save on the heating bill.

At least Boomers now see the error of their judgment. After decades of buying Cheeto-like products, they’ve decided a crack house doesn’t make for comfortable living. Among voters 65-and-older, the Screaming Carrot is now losing by 21 points.

The same can be said for women – particularly white women. In 2016, a majority of the latter voted for a serial sex offender. They had no choice. His opponent had committed barbarous crimes involving… emails?

Four years later, they’ve changed their mind. Trump is now losing the female vote by nearly 30 percent. It’s the highest margin since the advent of polling.

The problem is white men. We’re what’s clinically referred to as “huge morons.” And since we are many, we represent a whole lotta stupid.

For years our goal has been to destroy the country, then pretend it’s someone else’s fault. You may have seen us sputtering our support for Pumpkin Spice in the news. The words “tough,” “speaks his mind,” “doesn’t care about your feelings” are a recurring motif. In other words, we cheer his achieving the basic attributes of a caveman.

Many of us were around When American Was Great. Back then, if Trump went to a bar behaving as he now does, there would be a line outside the door waiting to punch him out. Even at the fern bars. Unfortunately, our memory doesn’t stretch beyond what we had for lunch. A country club candy-ass now passes for a man.

Which brings us back to you, dearest Millennials. You have the power to rescue the country. Mitch McConnell? Lindsey Graham? That Third Reich Barbie who’s shrieking on your TV? You could do away with them in one fell swoop. But you suck at voting. Over the past 40 years, the 29-and-under crowd has broken the 50 percent mark just twice.

We, your elders, can empathize. It’s much more pleasant to stay home and bitch. If you get good at it, you can even land a primetime slot on Fox News.

But don’t think of it as saving us. Frankly, we don’t deserve it. Think of it as saving yourself.

America may be a smoldering pile of debris. Yet there’s still an outside chance we could be something better. Maybe a little more equitable in race and income. A little friendlier to the sick and impoverished. A little less groveling toward those who’ve amassed so much.

You have the numbers to erect a sign on America’s door: “Sorry, we’re trying not to be such assholes anymore.” Could you at least think about it?

-Pete Kotz

UPFRONT

be required to provide written or oral estimates of service costs and accurate receipts, which include partial payments.

The particulars of the case will no doubt sound familiar to many who have navigated the complex labyrinth of medical billing and insurance. The named plaintiff went to Cleveland Clinic’s Lakewood office in the summer of 2018 for radiology / imaging services, having been referred there by another Cleveland Clinic medical provider. She paid a $25 co-pay at the time, but received no receipt. (The costs associated with medical care are notoriously opaque. Kaiser Health News even has a “bill of the month” segment which highlights some of the more outrageous examples of routine procedures resulting in exorbitant bills, e.g., $28,000 for a throat swab.)

The bill associated with van Brakle’s service was not necessarily stratospheric. It was around $800. The problem was that her partial payments — $10 here, $50 there, plus the initial $25 co-pay — were not coherently or timely applied to receipts. A statement van Brakle received in September claimed that her payments would not appear on her statements until insurance finished processing her claim, but that’s in conflict with Ohio consumer law, attorney Daniel Myers says.

Van Brakle was also, crucially, never provided an oral or written estimate of what her services were likely to cost. She was hounded by debt collectors and was forced to “make the same payment again and again” to escape harassment.

Myers, the attorney for the

plaintiff, told Scene that he’s hopeful the suit would “not only compensate patients who have been wronged, but force all hospitals in Ohio to provide actual price transparency for medical services.”

“If the Court rules in our favor,” Myers wrote in an email, “the Cleveland Clinic may be forced to give estimates to all patients, or at least written notices to all patients that inform the patient of their right to get an estimate, and force the Clinic to provide the estimate in the manner initialed by the patient. This would allow patients to know up front what something is going to cost them. It would take the surprise out of the medical bills, and it would reduce billing errors.”

The Cleveland Clinic, represented by Jones Day, filed a motion to dismiss the case late last month. They argued that the consumer protection law cited by the plaintiffs simply did not apply.

Unlike goods and services which have a known price, the Clinic’s lawyers argued that medical services are both dependent on a specific patient’s needs, whether or not that patient has insurance, and the specific terms of the insurance plan. That’s why Ohio lawmakers created a statute in 2015 which required medical providers to furnish a “reasonable good-faith estimate” before services are rendered.

“The level of specificity required by the [Ohio Administrative Code] Regulation conflicts with [Ohio Revised Code’s] requirement that a ‘good-faith estimate’ is sufficient, rendering the Regulation invalid,” the motion read.

The Clinic also argued that because physicians are exempt from the Consumer Sales Practices Act, so too are the hospitals they work for. That’s an argument with mixed legal precedent and Dan Myers told Scene that the Clinic was “completely wrong” in its application.

“There is literally a Cuyahoga County appellate court decision stating that hospitals are not physicians and therefore that exclusion from the law does not apply to hospitals,” he wrote in an email. “There are multiple federal court and state court decisions that all say the same thing—hospitals are suppliers under the consumer law and the regulations apply to them.”

Myers said that his client will oppose the motion to dismiss and that he intends to file the opposition Thursday. -Sam Allard