Former deputy prosecutor sues county

COEUR d'ALENE - A former Kootenai County deputy prosecutor has filed a lawsuit against the county complaining it breached the terms of a confidential settlement agreement related to his firing.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in 1st District Court by Kenneth D. Stone and his wife, Saviraj Grewal, through their attorney, Kathlene Landgraf Kolts, of Hayden.

Kolts didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, Stone and his wife were damaged personally and professionally following a series of articles in The Press, which published settlement details Stone alleges the county provided to the newspaper.

"The articles caused damage to Stone's reputation, including questions to his wife, Grewal, also an attorney, as to whether Stone 'deserved' such a large sum of money based on the (unfounded) allegations that caused the county to settle in the first place," the suit said.

In May 2012, Stone and his wife sued the county in U.S. District Court, alleging wrongful termination, age discrimination, negligence and breach of contract in connection with Stone's previous employment as a deputy prosecutor. He was fired in March 2011.

In November 2013, Stone and the county quietly settled the federal court lawsuit.

A month later, the county and its insurer, the Idaho Counties Risk Management Program (ICRMP), signed a joint press release - as did Stone - to announce a settlement agreement had been reached.

The press release said Stone was paid a confidential amount and was returning to his position with full salary and benefits, and would retire once he vested in the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho. His official rehire date was reportedly Dec. 16, 2013.

But while the press release didn't provide any more detail, The Press discovered in the spring of 2014 that Stone hadn't actually worked a day for the county since he was "rehired."

The Press then ran a series of articles in April and May of 2014.

"By the information revealed in the numerous newspaper articles, it was clear that (the county) and its agent ICRMP divulged the terms of Stone's continuing employment by stating that Stone didn't have to come to work as a deputy prosecutor to receive his remaining paychecks," the lawsuit states.

The articles reported he was paid $315,000 in the settlement, which went way beyond what the two sides decided the public should know through the joint press release.

Some of the articles were headlined "Accused harasser gets job, payment," and "Paid not to work."

Stone's new lawsuit said the county and ICRMP had insisted on confidentiality, only to immediately violate that part of the agreement.

He and his wife were told the confidentiality "term was mandatory and that no settlement was possible without plaintiffs agreeing to confidentiality."

Scot Nass, a Coeur d'Alene attorney with a firm retained by ICRMP to provide risk management counsel and defend claims against Kootenai County, said a confidentiality term is often part of settlement agreements.

Nass said Tuesday that both parties "were interested in a confidentiality element," and both sides signed it.

"The county feels strongly it fully complied with the terms of the settlement agreement, including the confidentiality provision," Nass said.

The county, he said, didn't disclose the $315,000 settlement amount. The county did, however, comply with public records requests, he said.

"The county had no ability, legal or otherwise, to interfere with valid public records requests to a different entity," he said.

The Press learned through a public records request that Stone had been paid $315,000 by ICRMP, which is also a public entity. ICRMP is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.

"The question is, what exactly does the public records law cause to be disclosed, and should they be making confidential settlement agreements under those circumstances?" Kolts told The Press in May.

The county, Nass said, took its legal obligations seriously.

"The county is confident it has complied with the terms of the settlement agreement, and the spirit of it as well," Nass said.