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Settlement reached in civil lawsuits
The former councilman is ‘satisfied’ with the settlement.
YOUNGSTOWN — The trial on civil lawsuits filed by an ex-city councilman and a former city council clerk is over before it started.
The details of a settlement reached on the defamation and wrongful-termination suits weren’t available Monday, the day the trial involving former Councilman Artis Gillam Sr., D-1st, and ex-city Clerk Arlene Bahar was to begin.
The office of Maureen Sweeney, the Mahoning County Common Pleas judge who was to oversee the trial, said the matter was resolved, but the parties hadn’t filed an official settlement agreement.
Gillam confirmed the issue was resolved but declined to disclose its details.
“From what my lawyer said, I’m satisfied” with the settlement, he said.
Ronald D. Yarwood, Gillam’s lawyer, and Gregory Gordillo, Bahar’s attorney, didn’t return telephone calls Monday seeking comment on the settlement.
Gillam filed his lawsuit against Bahar in March 2006, when he was on council, less than three weeks after council fired her as clerk, a job that paid $62,886 annually at the time. She countersued Gillam in April 2007.
Bahar’s lawsuit stated she was fired in February 2006 because she complained about being sexually harassed by Gillam for more than four years. Gillam said council fired her by a 4-3 vote because she repeatedly failed to report to work on time despite numerous warnings.
Gillam filed his defamation suit saying a letter Bahar wrote just before being fired accusing him of sexual harassment caused him “public hatred, contempt, ridicule, shame and/or disgrace.”
Bahar’s case took a blow last week when Judge Sweeney dismissed the city as a co-defendant in the lawsuit she filed. Gordillo said last week that the judge’s decision would be appealed.
skolnick@vindy.com