Jury orders men to repay church $400,000
20/4//2010
ELYRIA — A jury on Monday ordered two former board members of an Avon church to repay the church $400,000 in funds that other church members had accused them of mishandling between 1995 and 2003.
The jury also determined that Lube Kotevski and Mirco Jovanovski had breeched their fiduciary duties and had violated state gaming laws when they were overseeing St. Clement of Ohrid Macedonian Orthodox Church’s once-profitable bingo games, which ceased in 1998.
Eric Zagrans, the lawyer for the church members who first sued Kotevski, Jovanovski and other board members in 1998, said the verdict was a victory for his clients, even if Kotevski and Jovanovski weren’t ordered to pay all the money — $678,757 — they were accused of mishandling.
“This is obviously a complete vindication of the efforts that 25 of the church members have made for 12 years now in standing up for the rights of the church in saying there was money that was misspent, mishandled and misappropriated,” Zagrans said after the verdict.
Kotevski and Jovanovski, who represented themselves during the weeklong trial, said nothing as they left the courtroom.
During closing arguments before the five hours of jury deliberation, they had insisted they had done nothing wrong.
“Personally, I do nothing wrong in my knowledge,” Jovanovski told jurors.
Kotevski said he and Jovanovski had wanted only what was best for the church when they were serving as board members.
“I’m getting sick and tired of everybody accusing us of this and that, this and that, when we’re working our butts off,” he said.
Three other defendants who had also served on the board with the two men reached confidential settlement agreements before the trial began last week.
The two factions at St. Clement have been feuding for more than a decade over the lucrative bingo games the church used to run.
Zagrans said during his closing argument Monday that when Kotevski, Jovanovski and their allies took over the church leadership in 1995, there was about $1.3 million in the church’s bingo account. When they were forced out of office in 2003, there was only about $750,000 left, he said.
The money was misspent, Zagrans said, on items ranging from Indians jackets to excessive prizes to legal fees to defend Kotevski, Jovanovski and their allies when they were first sued in 1998 and again in 2000.
Threats, excommunications, arguments over proposed land deals and other problems have also arisen during the long-running feud.
This is the second time that Kotevski and Jovanovski have been ordered to pay the church they once helped run.
The pair, along with the three defendants who settled, were ordered in 2007 to pay nearly $624,000 by visiting Judge Lynett McGough, who also later ordered them to pay about $540,000 to cover the costs of the lawsuit and Zagrans’ legal fees.
McGough’s verdict in the first trial was later overturned on appeal, and the case sent back for a new trial.
Zagrans said he wasn’t awarded legal fees this time around — he asked, he said, but visiting Judge Judith Cross rejected his request, something he said he’ll live with.
“My concern is to make sure that the church treasury is made as whole as possible and my attorneys fees are secondary,” he said.
Kotevski and Jovanovski could appeal the jury verdict.
Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.
