A lawsuit filed by former employees of the Marion County Clerk of Courts against the Clerk, Julie Kagel, and the Marion County Commissioners has been settled. The payments were approved by the Commissioners at their Thursday meeting.
The lawsuit, which was currently pending in federal court, was filed after the employees were fired. Theresa Azaroff, Lori Maynard, Hollis McGeorge, and Kimberly Phillips alleged they were fired because they supported Kagel’s opponent for re-election.
The approved settlement is a onetime payment of $17,500 made to each of the former employees for a total of $70,000. The settlement does not include any additional payments for attorney fees or costs. No information was available on how much of the settlement will go towards attorney fees and how much will actually go to the plaintiffs.
The agreement spells out that the settlement is not an admission of fault or wrongdoing and the Commissioners maintained they are not admitting and liability.
Due to the non-disparagement agreement that is part of the settlement, the Commissioners declined to comment on the specifics of the case. They did say they had nothing to do with the reason for the lawsuit, but that it is common practice to include the commissioners whenever a lawsuit is filed against a county department.
The settlement will be paid from the County’s insurance policy, but Commissioner Josh Daniels said that doesn’t mean that lawsuits like this don’t cost Marion taxpayers. He explained that anytime an insurance policy is used, there is a possibility of the premiums going up which would then cost the taxpayers more money.
Daniels said the settlement was made because in the end it was more cost effective for the County.
This story was updated to correct the dollar amount of the settlement.
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