Clark County is paying $ 1.4 million to settle the dismissal complaint

VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) – Clark County Council has agreed to pay Don Benton and two other former county employees $ 1.4 million less than four months after a jury made the trio $ 693,998 in one Wrongful dismissal lawsuit.

The county announced on Wednesday that the council had approved the deal with Benton, a former Washington state senator and former director of the now-closed Clark County Department of Environmental Health, program coordinator Christopher Clifford and administrative assistant Susan Rice.

Details on the distribution of the funds were not disclosed. It stated that the payout “resolves your pending claims against Clark County in full and for good and resolves all related insurance claims between Clark County and its insurance carriers,” the Colombian reported.

The three were fired in 2016 shortly after Benton filed a whistleblower complaint about then-district manager Mark McCauley. Her complaint accused McCauley of illegal acts and political retaliation.

In May, the jury awarded Benton $ 67,798, while Clifford and Rice, who had worked for the county for 19 years, each received six-figure awards.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys found that Benton, who was a Republican Senator at the time, was awarded in part less because he was able to find a job more easily than the others, thus mitigating his economic damage.