Mahoning & Trumbull County - Trumbull County Judge David Engler and Cleveland Attorney Issa Elkhatib are being accused of tampering with records and keeping a disqualified attorney on a case without telling their client.

This goes back to a wrongful death case from 2022 that was dismissed shortly after. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is the mother of James Kennedy, who was found unconscious in jail and died after undergoing emergency surgery.

James Kennedy was in a car accident in 2019, and was put on antiseizure medications. His mother, Linda Fekety, said once Kennedy was put in jail, his condition got worse. 

In her lawsuit, she claims "Jail Personnel and Wellpath medical providers were aware of James's deteriorating condition," and ultimately, "failed to prevent his death."

But when she sued the jail, the case was dismissed. 

“Attorney Engler had failed to serve the other defendants on that case with a copy of the summons and the complaint. Federal court ordered him to show cause why that was not done, and according to the docket, as we've stated in a complaint, he never responded to the federal court,” said Martin Desmond, attorney. 

Engler refiled over a year later, but the case was dismissed again. 

“When you go to a lawyer, you expect that lawyer to handle your cases, if that their case was theirs, and so it was one of their loved ones that was lost. And as we've stated, that was not done here,” said Desmond.

Now, Fekety is suing over the handling of those cases, claiming Engler and Cleveland attorney Issa Elkhatib put a disbarred lawyer on the 2022 case without notifying the client. 

“That disqualified lawyer should not have any direct contact with the client, as we've alleged here. That did happen. This disqualified lawyer did have direct contact with our client,” said Desmond. “There's a variety of things that a disqualified lawyer should not have done, and he did, and he was an employee of David Engler.”

Fekety also says they refused to give them the case file. Desmond said attorneys need to give clients their file.

“Those records have to be maintained for seven years. And so the fact that they are not turning those over, leads us to believe that they've been destroyed or altered in some way,” said Desmond.

Judge David Engler responded to 21 News with a comment on the death of Kennedy.

"The young man's death was tragic. He died after being in custody. The allegations in the lawsuit are incorrect and my lawyer will defend it vigorously," said Engler.