Ashtabula Area City Schools’ lawsuit against Liberty Mutual continues, as both sides filed more documents over recent months.
The lawsuit largely surrounds AACS’ allegations against the insurance company related to Lakeside High School.
Lakeside’s roof collapsed during the 2024 Thanksgiving weekend snowstorm. Since then, students were moved to other district buildings.
The district announced the lawsuit against Liberty Mutual in early November 2025, alleging the company acted in bad faith, failed to fulfill its contractual obligations and left LHS exposed to the elements.
Ashtabula schools’ second amended complaint, filed Jan. 15, includes four counts.
The insurance company filed an updated reply March 16, seeking to dismiss counts two, three and portions of four of the second complaint with prejudice.
“Instead of correcting the deficiencies Liberty Mutual identified in its original motion to dismiss, the district largely reiterated the same allegations,” the company stated in its memorandum.
The district filed a memorandum in opposition to Liberty Mutual’s motion April 15, which argued there were sufficient claims to warrant progressing to discovery.
The insurance company filed a reply further supporting its motion April 28.
Count two of the district’s complaint alleges Liberty Mutual broke its contract by taking over the roof removal at LHS and failing to protect the building from the elements and subsequent microbial growth.
The district argues the company entered into an implied secondary repair contract by those actions.
The insurance company asserts it did not exercise the right to repair with the building, and under Ohio law the company would not have entered into a secondary repair contract even if it did.
Count three of the district’s second amended complaint requests a declaratory judgement saying that Liberty Mutual’s two-year deadline for reconstructing Lakeside and repairing other buildings is unenforceable because of payment delays by the insurance company.
Liberty Mutual stated in its memorandum count three is not ripe for the court’s judgement and should be dismissed, because the two-year deadline has not passed yet.
The district insisted count three represents a live and ripe dispute in its reply, but deferring the ruling until after Dec. 1 would be acceptable.
In its reply, the insurance company claimed an abeyance in judgement would not be procedurally proper.
Count four of the the district’s second complaint alleges Liberty Mutual acted in bad faith in relation to LHS and other district buildings.
Liberty Mutual argues portions of count four failed to state a claim.
“Even accepting the district’s above allegations as true on this Motion to Dismiss, they do not rise to the level of actual malice required for punitive damages … Accordingly, the district has not pleaded sufficient facts to support recovery of punitive damages, and the Court should dismiss the plaintiff’s request,” Liberty Mutual states in is memorandum.
The district disagreed in its reply.
“The [second amended complaint] alleges a pattern of conduct that, if proven, establishes a lack of reasonable justification by Liberty under Ohio law,” its reply stated.
