Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas — recently retained by the city of Toledo in the lawsuit it filed against the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio — is asking the state high court to disqualify Judge James Bates from the case because of a potential conflict of interest.

Mr. Douglas filed a request to remove Judge Bates over statements his wife, Lucas County Prosecutor Julia Bates, made in a Nov. 20 letter to state officials about the financial crisis facing CCNO if Toledo would withdraw from the regional jail near Stryker, Ohio.

The affidavit alleges Mrs. Bates “publicly declared” in the letter that Toledo could be violating the CCNO operating agreement because it had not met the Oct. 15 deadline to commit to beds it will need in 2016.

At the time, Toledo was about $300,000 behind in making its fourth-quarter bill for regional jail operations, and just weeks earlier the city had said it would not be able to make the $1.4 million payment.

Toledo filed a lawsuit last month in Lucas County Common Pleas Court asking that Lucas County be held responsible for housing all state prisoners regardless of which agency arrested them and which court sentenced them.

The city also is asking to be reimbursed for payments Toledo made for such prisoners in the past and asked the court to nullify the amended operated agreement approved last May that holds members responsible for the cost of inmates sentenced from their jurisdictions.

The Corrections Commission of Northwest Ohio and the boards of commissioners for Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties, which are defendants in the complaint, filed a counterclaim and asked Judge Bates to issue a preliminary injunction that would require Toledo to continue making quarterly payments for 228 beds at the jail.

However, a hearing on that motion was canceled because Toledo submitted the required $1.6 million payment for the quarterly bill last week.

Mr. Douglas said he is not attempting to cast aspersions on Judge Bates.

“That would be the last thing that would be in my mind,” he said. “He has been a judge for a long time. He knows the law. He knows how to be fair. The only reason for the affidavit is because my client does not have the level of comfort with him presiding over the case that a client should have in a neutral arbitrator.”

The decision on whether to remove Judge Bates will be made by Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor.

Marc Fishel, a Columbus lawyer, said he does not plan to respond to Mr. Douglas’ motion, either in favor or against, on behalf of the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio and Defiance, Fulton, Henry, and Williams counties.

"We have no interest in getting in the middle of the battle between the city of Toledo and Judge Bates," he said.

Judge Bates’s only comment on the request for his removal is that a response will be made to Chief Justice O’Connor, a courtroom bailiff said.

An ordinance is on the agenda for next Tuesday’s Toledo council meeting to pay Mr. Douglas for representing the city in the lawsuit. The cost is not to exceed $50,000.

Mr. Douglas, 83, a Republican, was elected to the state's high court in 1984 and served three terms until retiring in 2002. He was also was a judge on the 6th District Court of Appeals and Toledo city councilman.

After retiring, he was a partner in Columbus law firm Crabbe, Brown & James until 2004, when became executive director of the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association. In 2009, he left the union to rejoin the law firm.

Contact Mark Reiter at: markreiter@theblade.com or 419-724-6199.

First Published January 13, 2016, 5:00 a.m.