Cleveland attorney questioned about Chizek estate; his home damaged after water pipes froze and burst in May

WNIR talk show host Howie Chizek,
who died in June of 2012 is shown in
 an undated photo. (Shane Wynn Studio)

A Cleveland attorney named by local radio icon Howie Chizek as the executor of his $1.6-million-plus estate is in hot water in Summit County Probate Court over an apparent oversight that caused extensive damage to Chizek’s Twinsburg home earlier this year.

Testimony at a probate hearing Tuesday morning showed that Chizek’s home was not properly winterized in the months after his June 2012 death.

Water lines eventually froze inside the two-story home and, some time later, burst during the spring thaw, causing more than $118,000 in damage from flooding and extensive development of mold, according to testimony.

The flooding was so serious, Chizek’s brother Larry said during the hearing, that water could be seen gushing out the front doors. He said that Twinsburg police notified his wife about the problem in May.

The apparent oversight, along with the fact that Chizek’s estate has not closed in probate court some 18 months after his death, could lead to the removal of the estate’s executor, attorney Charles M. Morgan.

Chief Probate Magistrate George R. Wertz told attorneys from both sides that he would take the matter under advisement and notify them about a decision.

Morgan, who was granted three extensions on the filing of probate documentation because of his involvement in a Cleveland murder case, declined to comment following Tuesday’s hearing.

But in sworn testimony to direct questioning by Wertz, Morgan told the magistrate: “As far as winterizing, I went over and I thought I had turned off the water. Obviously I probably turned it the wrong way. I thought I had turned it off.”

Morgan went on to testify that he remembered being at Chizek’s home about five or six weeks before the May flooding call by Twinsburg police.

“That five or six weeks, that’s a guess,” Morgan said. “I didn’t write down every day I was there.”
Morgan said he “peeked inside” the home before it flooded, but did not walk through it to check on whether everything was secure.

An assistant to Twinsburg police Chief Christopher Noga told the Beacon Journal later Tuesday that the department received a call about the flooding on May 20. Someone who lived in Chizek’s neighborhood made the call.

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Cleveland attorney questioned about Chizek estate; his home damaged after water pipes froze and burst in May