On Aug. 23, 2024, Joy submitted an email request to then-acting Village Manager Rob Anderson for “the complete and unredacted invoices for all legal services” provided to the village by McNamee and his law firm McNamee Law Group LLC.
“The council members of the village of New Lebanon are the duly authorized officers representing the citizens through election. Therefore, all council members are entitled to complete and unredacted invoices pertaining to village business,” Joy said in the claim.
Joy said he requested the invoice records multiple times and was denied each time.
One denial was issued by McNamee himself in an email dated Aug. 27, 2024, which is included in the claim filing documents.
“My invoices are considered to be work product and subject to attorney client privilege,” McNamee wrote in the email. “Mr. Joy may not waive this privilege in his individual or councilmanic status.”
McNamee added that he planned to request a legal opinion from the Dayton Bar Association to support his stance.
“In short, Councilman Joy’s demands will not be met until bar counsel opines,” McNamee wrote.
However, an email included in Joy’s complaint filing shows he contacted the Dayton Bar Association himself in June, at which time he was informed the DBA had not received any such request from McNamee.
In response to Joy’s court claim, the village, being represented by McNamee, filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.
Joy’s complaint fails “to state a claim upon which relief can be granted,” McNamee said in the motion.
McNamee asserts again that the requested records — unredacted invoices — contain “confidential narrative entries” that are protected by attorney client-privilege and attorney work product.
The motion to dismiss accuses Joy of taking an oppositional position against the village.
“(Joy) has adopted an adversarial posture toward the village, including repeated threats of litigation and public advocacy on behalf of litigants adverse to the village,” it states.
The motion further asserts Joy’s position as a material witness in other pending litigation involving the village, namely the ongoing court cases between the village and former employees Curtis Hensley and Glena Madden, both of whom were fired by the village in early 2024, reaffirms the basis for denial of the unredacted records.
A letter from McNamee dated June 24, 2025, to Village Manager Bill Draugelis, which is included as evidence in the motion to dismiss, further supports this adversarial defense.
“It is well-settled law that once a public official or council member adopts a posture that is adversarial to the entity they serve, access to privileged communications is not only inappropriate, it is legally impermissible,” McNamee wrote. “(Joy’s) conduct has placed him in precisely that posture.”
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