Judge pauses plan to fund Browns stadium with unclaimed funds

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio's plan to use unclaimed funds to help fund construction of a new domed stadium for the Cleveland Browns was temporarily blocked in court on Monday. In her preliminary injunction, Franklin County Magistrate Jennifer Hunt found that plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann are substantially likely to win their case on the merits. Her order pauses the plan while the case is heard. The class-action lawsuit argues that provisions of Ohio's two-year, $60 billion budget that took $1 billion from the state's Unclaimed Funds Account to pay for the stadium that Haslam Sports Group is planning for suburban Brook Park, south of Cleveland, violate constitutional prohibitions against taking people's private property for government use, as well as citizens' due process rights. The strategy was among several hotly debated topics during Ohio's budget planning last year. Dann and former state Rep. Jeffrey Crossman, both Democrats, filed the legal action on behalf of three named Ohio residents, as well as all other individuals whose unclaimed funds were being held by the state as of June 30, 2025. The litigation challenges specific budget provisions that diverted more than $1 billion in unclaimed funds to create an Ohio Cultural and Sports Facility Performance Grant Fund and designate $600 million for the Browns as its first grant. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's office said it was reviewing the decision and determining next steps. Before ending his bid for governor last year, the Republican spoke out against using unclaimed funds for such a purpose, having gone so far as to urge DeWine to veto it. However, the state's top lawyer has further said that he believed the plan was legally sound.