A retired Cuyahoga County judge has been assigned to Toledo’s lawsuit against Block Communications Inc. to recover the city’s costs for moving Buckeye Broadband’s underground utilities during the Summit Street reconstruction project.

The certificate of assignment that was issued Wednesday by Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor does not explain the circumstances under which Janet R. Burnside, of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas’ general division, was designated to preside over the pending case, effective Wednesday.

Lucas County Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Goulding had received the case after Toledo on June 11 filed its lawsuit, which seeks to recover the nearly $1 million the city spent to relocate Buckeye’s underground equipment beneath Summit to facilitate a street reconstruction and beautification project.

BCI, which owns both Buckeye and The Blade, has maintained that because the Summit Street project was undertaken primarily for aesthetic purposes, Buckeye was not obligated to pay for moving its equipment.

First Published July 22, 2021, 2:02 a.m.