Lawyers suing over unclaimed funds for Browns stadium ask U.S. Supreme Court to hear similar case

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- The lawyers who are suing to stop Ohio from using unclaimed funds to build a new stadium for the Cleveland Browns have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a similar case out of California.

Former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann with DannLaw sued to block $1 billion in unclaimed funds being used for a private stadium, arguing that the money is private property and cannot be taken without notice, consent, or payment.

The state budget, signed by Gov. Mike DeWine in June, includes $600 million out of the state's unclaimed funds for the Browns.

The attorneys filed an amicus brief in Peters v. Cohen, a related case out of California, which is challenging the state's ability to liquidate private property under its unclaimed property law without notifying owners or compensating them.

"This isn't about football or California or Ohio, it's about whether our most basic property rights mean anything when the government decides it wants what's ours," Dann said in a statement. "If states can take money held in trust for citizens and spend it on private ventures, no one's property is safe. We're asking the U.S. Supreme Court to make clear that due process and just compensation are not optional."

The amicus brief asks the Supreme Court to hear the California case and set national standards for notice and compensation when it comes to unclaimed property.

"The issues presented are of national importance, as states like California and Ohio exploit unclaimed property laws to seize private assets of private property owners across the country and around the world without notice, undermining the constitutional protections guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments," the attorneys wrote.

DannLaw claims the provision in Ohio's state budget violates both the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions.

"Constitutional protections for private property were a direct response to governmental abuses Americans experienced during the Revolutionary War era," attorney Jeffrey A. Crossman said in a statement. "Our nation's founders believed deeply that property rights meant freedom, liberty, and a safeguard against tyrannical government. What's happening now in Ohio and California violates that principle."

The lawsuit accuses the Browns’ owners, the Haslam Sports Group, of seeking public funding “for their thoroughly private venture” to cover half of the new stadium’s construction cost.

The Haslams also own the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer.

The Ohio case, Bleick v. Maxfield, has a hearing scheduled for Sept. 1, with a trial date set for July 2026, according to online court records.