Suit claims AA contract unconstitutional

A suspended Avon attorney is suing two officials with the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program saying his agreement to participate in Alcoholics Anonymous infringed on his constitutional rights.

James L. Lindon, 55, filed the suit Aug. 24 and named Paul Caimi and Scott Mote, both of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program Inc., or OLAP, as defendants.

Lindon is seeking in excess of $25,000 in damages as well as orders declaring the use of the AA 12-step program by Lawyers Assistance Program as unconstitutional, that it offers a secular alternative to AA, that it ceases utilizing AA and an order that Lawyers Assistance Program include in paperwork that it cannot compel participation in AA.

Messages from the Morning Journal to the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program were not returned Aug. 27.

According to the suit, Lindon, who practiced in Avon, was convicted June 16, 2016, on drug charges.

He was visited by Caimi in jail while incarcerated on the offense.

Lindon currently is serving an interim suspension from practicing law stemming from the felony conviction, according to Ohio Supreme Court records.

Caimi was a representative of the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program, which presents itself as a chemical dependency treatment resource to help attorneys and judges to “retain and regain their legal credentials,” by complying with chemical dependency contracts, the suit says.

When Caimi visited Lindon, he signed one of the contracts which required him to attend AA meetings and participate in the organization’s 12-step program, the filing says.

The 12-step program requires participants to participate in several different rituals and beliefs involving a higher power or god.

Lindon, who according to the suit identifies himself as an atheist and humanist, repeatedly emailed Caimi asking if there was a secular alternative to AA, and was told there is not.

The suit claims Lindon was not properly informed of the religious component to the program before he signed the chemical dependency contract.