Ohio teachers pension board members sue Attorney General Dave Yost over legal fees

Two former STRS Ohio board members are suing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost over legal representation in a lawsuit against them

By Laura A. Bischoff

Columbus Dispatch

August 15, 2025

Key Points AI-assisted summary

•  Yost sued the board members for alleged breach of fiduciary duty, and they hired their own lawyers, whose fees Yost refused to pay.

•  The lawsuit is the latest development in ongoing turmoil at STRS Ohio, including management changes and investigations.

•  STRS Ohio manages $95 billion for 500,000 members and is undergoing a board restructure.

What happens when your lawyer sues you and he gets to pick which attorneys can defend you and how much they should get paid?

State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio Board Chairman Rudy Fichtenbaum and former Board Member Wade Steen are suing Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost over just that question.

In May 2024, Yost sued Fichtenbaum and Steen, accusing them of violating their fiduciary duty to act in the best interest of the public pension system.

The Ohio attorney general is the lawyer for STRS and its board members. If outside counsel is hired to represent the state on any matter, it's the attorney general who makes that call.

But Steen and Fichtenbaum hired their own legal team to represent them and sent their legal bills to Yost for payment. The attorney general's office declined to cover the bills and asserted that Yost would pick their lawyers and determined how much they should be paid, according to a new lawsuit filed Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

Steen and Fichtenbaum balked at this arrangement. Their legal team sued Yost.

It's the latest dramatic twist at STRS, the state's second largest public pension system. The board oversees $95 billion invested on behalf of 500,000 retirees and teachers.

The fund has faced historic turmoil in recent years that has included top manager departures, anonymous memos, multiple lawsuits and an ethics investigation.

The turmoil prompted state legislators to revamp the pension board. STRS Ohio is currently governed by an 11-member board of four appointed financial experts, five teachers and two retirees. Teachers and retirees will lose their majority, and power will shift to financial experts appointed by politicians.

STRS is one of five public pension systems in Ohio. Combined, the five systems have about $225 billion invested for 655,000 public employees, 486,000 retirees and 1.1 million former government workers.

Public employees in Ohio aren't in the Social Security system, so the pension funds are their primary retirement money.

Read this article online here. 

State government reporter Laura Bischoff can be reached at lbischoff@gannett.com and @lbischoff on X.