City settles gender discrimination suit against Sheriff John Darr for $265,000 | Latest News | Columbus Ledger Enquirer

After a nearly three-year legal battle, the city of Columbus has settled a federal gender discrimination claim against Sheriff John Darr stemming from a 2010 promotion, City Attorney Clifton Fay confirmed Tuesday.

The city has agreed to pay Lt. Donna Tompkins and Lt. Joan Wynn a lump sum payment of $265,000 to end the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Georgia, in 2011.

Attorneys for Terri Ezell, a party to the original suit filed against Darr, filed a motion to appeal a decision by Judge Clay Land that threw out a claim that Ezell’s First Amendment rights were violated when she was demoted from jail commander by Darr after he defeated Sheriff Ralph Johnson in 2008. Ezell was a Johnson supporter.

The Wynn and Tompkins case went to trial in September, and a jury sided with the two women in their claims that Darr discriminated against them when he promoted what they claimed to be a lesser-qualified man to captain. But seven-woman, five-man jury did not award Wynn and Tompkins any financial compensation in what one juror described as a “compromise verdict.”

via City settles gender discrimination suit against Sheriff John Darr for $265,000 | Latest News | Columbus Ledger Enquirer.