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County coroner’s lawsuit settled

LISBON — The insurance company representing Columbiana County commissioners has agreed to settle the overtime pay lawsuit filed by a former investigator for the county coroner’s office.

A judgment entry was filed last week in county Common Pleas Court stating visiting Judge Richard Reinbold was dismissing the lawsuit filed by Brian Fullum after the court was advised by attorneys for both sides they had agreed to an undisclosed settlement.

Fullum was working as an investigator for former county coroner Dr. William Graham Jr. when he filed a lawsuit in November 2011 claiming he had unfairly been denied overtime pay while on call, which Fullum contended he was entitled to whether he was called out or not. Fullum’s initial lawsuit was dismissed on a technicality but he refiled in 2012.

In May 2012, Fullum resigned, claiming Graham had created a hostile work environment by cutting his hours and pay in response to the overtime dispute and because of other questions he raised about how the coroner’s office was being run, including alleged wrongdoing on the part of Graham. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation cleared Graham of any misconduct alleged by Fullum and by another former coroner’s office employee who also filed a lawsuit against the county. That lawsuit was dismissed by Reinbold due to lack of evidence to back up the allegations.

The settlement is coming from the county’s insurance carrier, but the insurance carrier’s attorney said he was not otherwise at liberty to discuss the case.

County Commissioner Mike Halleck said the details of the settlement were not shared with him but he made it clear to the insurance carrier that any settlement it wanted to pursue would not include any county tax dollars.

“The board of commissioners deemed this a frivolous lawsuit from the beginning, but our insurance company was authorized to settle this, which they did,” he said. “The only thing we agreed to is that Columbiana County wouldn’t be responsible for any of the damages … We wouldn’t agree to that, nor would we because we do not believe we were liable.”

Fullum could not be reached for comment.

tgiambroni@mojonews.com

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