Judge orders cancer researcher’s art collection seized to pay fees from failed libel suit

The sheriff of Franklin County, Ohio, has received an order to seize and sell property of Carlo Croce, a cancer researcher at The Ohio State University in Columbus, to pay his nearly $1.1 million debt to lawyers who represented him in failed libel and defamation suits. 

Last December, a judge ordered Croce to pay $1,098,642.80, plus interest, to Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter, which was one of the firms that represented him in his libel lawsuit against the New York Times and his defamation case against David Sanders, a researcher at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. 

He lost both cases, and the firm sued him for $900,000 in unpaid fees. Croce also lost a suit against Ohio State in which he sought to regain his post as chair of his department after the university removed him. 

Croce’s appeal of the December judgment is still in process, but in January the court denied his request for a temporary stay of execution, meaning garnishment and other enforcement of the judgment can continue unless Croce can provide a surety bond or letter of credit for the full amount of the judgment, plus 18 months worth of interest. 

Croce and his current lawyer, Andrew Mills Holford of Johrendt & Holford, and Maria M. Guthrie of Kegler Brown, who was representing the firm in its case against the researcher, did not immediately respond to our request for comment. 

After the judgment was issued, the court garnished Croce’s bank accounts, and Ohio State has been garnishing his wages since March by about $15,600 each month, or about 25% of his paycheck. As we have previously reported, Croce earns more than $800,000 per year at OSU. 

On May 12, the state of Ohio issued a writ of execution to the sheriff of Franklin County, in which Columbus is located, ordering that Croce’s “goods and chattels” be sold to pay his debt. 

The court’s records include an itemized list of Croce’s extensive artwork collection. 

On June 2, Croce filed a request for a hearing that stated “I believe that some or all of my property may be exempt from execution in the above case.”

We count 14 retractions for Croce, as well as many corrections and expressions of concern. 

Meanwhile, another firm that represented Croce is also suing him for unpaid legal fees.

Hat tip: David Sanders

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