COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, WWMT-TV reported Tuesday that former Branch County Prosecuters Office employee Evon Staley will get $90,000 as part of the settlement of her sexual harassment lawsuit filed in October 2017 against Branch County and former Prosecutor Ralph Kimble.
The lawsuit was originally scheduled to go to trial next Tuesday but was settled last September to the satisfaction of all of the parties involved.
Special Judge Susan Dobrich signed the dismissal of the case at that time.
Branch County was also listed as a defendant because Staley claims the county “failed to take timely and appropriate action based on Prosecutor Kimble’s sexual harassment of their female employees.”
WWMT-TV also reported that Branch County agreed to purchase an additional five years of service credit toward Staley’s pension and the county was also responsible for all of the mediator fees in the case.
Staley lost her job after the Southwest Michigan Enforcement Team conducted a drug investigation at her property on Grass Lake Road in November, 2016.
After a criminal case was filed, Staley filed her sexual harassment lawsuit against Kimble and Branch County.
Staley eventually entered a no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly person-illegal occupation. The rest of the charges, which included delivery and manufacturing marijuana, were dismissed in exchange for the plea.
