GREEN, Ohio — A prominent Northeast Ohio business owner says he has sold one of his staple restaurants after allegations of harassment and bullying posted on social media prompted him to file two lawsuits claiming damage to his personal and business reputation.
James House claims to have sold The Town Tavern bar and restaurant in Green following controversy over his alleged treatment of young, female staffers. In March, the father of one of House's teenage employees at the Sunrise Social cafe shared a screenshot of a group chat where House asked his staff if anyone had "a learning disability" since they weren’t liking, commenting, and sharing his company's social media posts.
"I did give him the chance to apologize," the father, Dustin Halsey, told 3News Investigates. "I said, 'Hey, all we're looking for here is just an apology. I don't want to have to go public with any of this,' and he pretty much just said, 'No.' He wasn't going to apologize, and that's when I went ahead and posted everything."
Halsey posted the group chat on Facebook on March 19. He said when he went to bed that night, "there might have been three comments and 10 likes on it, or something.
"I woke up the next morning, and my phone was just going crazy with notifications saying, 'Your post has been shared 1,000 times already.'"
Now, Halsey faces a lawsuit accusing him of falsely implying House is "disrespectful, manipulative, and abusive to his employees,” with the filing claiming House has suffered "significant reputational harm" because of the post.
Halsey's group chat post was eventually shared almost 6,000 times, including by the citizen journalist behind The Dirty 330 Facebook page, Sean Carroll.
Carroll, of North Canton, had been running the account where he shares things related to the 330 area code anonymously, but House named Carroll in a separate lawsuit. That lawsuit accuses Carroll of encouraging people to share what House calls false allegations, avoid House's businesses, and defamation.
The lawsuit against Carroll is 164 pages long. When I asked Carroll what was in it, he said, "Everybody else's comments and my posts that they commented on, and basically, me being told that I caused the downfall of their business."
The lawsuit includes the re-post of the group chat on The Dirty 330 Facebook page, which refers to House as a bully and reads, “Maybe boycotting his places of business will let him know how fortunate he is, and that he can’t treat employees, especially children, this way.”
Carroll believes the lawsuit was filed against him to deter him from sharing posts about House and his activities online.
"(It was filed) so I would stop, so I would take it down, and if I don't, so that I would have to spend money that I don't have to defend myself for something that I didn't do, which really makes no sense to me," Carroll told 3News Investigates.
In the months that followed Carroll reposting Halsey's allegations against House online, thousands of comments about House and his business associates were posted on Facebook, in support of both Carroll and Halsey. House's attorney Andrew Stebbins said, "Mr. House stands by the allegations made in the complaints, including that the various statements made against him by the identified defendants are not only false, but also have caused Mr. House and his restaurants a tremendous amount of damage."
Carroll's lawyer, Peter Pattakos, issued a statement a statement reading, "None of the statements at issue in this lawsuit are remotely defamatory. They are all accurate summaries of information provided by third parties, or constitutionally protected opinions. We expect that Mr. House will shortly dismiss the lawsuit or that the court will do so if he does not."
Halsey has also hired a lawyer to represent him in court, with more than 140 community members donating to help pay for his legal defense.
"The number of people that reached out was fantastic," Halsey said. "(People have donated) anything from $5 to one guy even donated $1,000. And it just makes you feel good, you know, knowing that you've got that kind of support behind you and that many people think you've done the right thing."
In both lawsuits filed by House, he's demanded that Halsey and Carroll delete posts referring to him from their respective social media pages. Both men refuse to do that, citing what they call the truth of the things posted. It's a defense they've each included in their respective answers to the lawsuits, which were filed in late June and July.
The case against Halsey has been moved to Stark County, while the case against Carroll continues in Summit County. Neither case has a scheduled hearing or court date on the docket at this time.
As for ownership of Town Tavern in Green, the liquor permit is still in House's name. The Ohio Department of Commerce told 3News Investigates:
"Our records indicate that for the permit holder at 1840 Town Park Blvd. in Uniontown, James House is listed as the sole member of this permit. Our records show that the renewal of their permit for the October 2024-2025 has not yet been filed; however, they have until Nov. 1 to file a late application. Renewal times are a typical occasion when permit holders inform us of any ownership changes."
The LLC associated with the business, 1840 Town Park Blvd LLC, still lists House as the registered agent. 1840 Town Park Blvd LLC hasn't had any new filings with the Ohio Secretary of State since 2021. House's attorney didn't get back to me when we asked for proof of the sale.