Appeals court agrees Dover’s former mayor must pay back wedding payments
CANTON (November 26, 2024) – The Fifth District Court of Appeals has affirmed a $100,000-plus judgment in favor of the city of Dover against its former longtime mayor Richard Homrighausen.
Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court Judge Mike Ernest had previously ruled Homrighausen owed Dover $77,802.06 for compensation he received while suspended in 2022. Ernest also ordered Homrighausen to pay Dover $28,355 for wedding payments he collected.
The Fifth District Court of Appeals last week denied Homrighausen’s appeal in the civil case, saying “any fees he charged and collected” for performing weddings “belonged to the city and should have been paid to the treasury of his public office.”
There was one dissenting opinion among the three-judge panel.
Judge Andrew King said the wedding payments should be considered gratuities and the city has no legal claim to them.
Homrighausen lost the mayor’s job in late 2022 when he was convicted of theft in office for pocketing wedding fees. He has appealed that case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is scheduled to consider Homrighausen’s criminal appeal on Dec. 6.