Westmoreland County to settle lawsuit against Recorder of Deeds
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Westmoreland County commissioners are expected to settle a federal lawsuit filed earlier this year by a former employee claiming she was fired by new Republican Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer after he took office in January.
The $27,500 settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing, officials said Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed by former office supervisor Alida Patterson, 34, of Latrobe, a employee in the Recorder of Deeds Office since 2015. She was fired by Schiefer, the incoming office holder, on his first day on the job.
According to the lawsuit, Patterson, a Democrat, claimed Schiefer knew she was a political supporter of incumbent Democrat Tom Murphy, who was defeated in the previous year’s election. She claimed Schiefer confronted her about social media posts that suggested her support for the incumbent, then terminated her employment, the lawsuit said.
Schiefer and Murphy had been political rivals for nearly a decade. Schiefer ousted then three-term incumbent Murphy as the county’s Recorder of Deeds in 2011. Murphy won back the office four years later before losing it again to Schiefer last fall.
The settlement, which commissioners are slated to vote on Thursday, would be the second payout made to resolve a federal lawsuit filed against Schiefer since he reclaimed the office at the start of this year. Commissioners in June agreed to pay Alyssa Nuss of Greensburg, who also alleged she was fired for political reasons, $50,000 to end her lawsuit against Schiefer.
Schiefer did not return a call seeking comment on Wednesday.
In June he denied he fired any office employee for political reasons.
“We live in a very litigious society,” Schiefer said. “I’ve hired people from both parties. Politics has never been a consideration, but what’s going to stop somebody from filing a lawsuit?”
Following the settlement of the first Schiefer lawsuit, commissioners announced a policy to hold elected row officers liable for financial payouts to resolve legal actions related to their conduct. Costs of the settlements would be taken from office budgets, commissioners said.
Republican Commissioners Sean Kertes and Doug Chew said Wednesday that policy would not be enforced with the latest Schiefer settlement.
Chew said the most recent Schiefer lawsuit did not meet the threshold to hold him personally responsible for the payout.
“It’s something I believe in but there’s not liability in every lawsuit. It’s not intended for every case,” Chew said of the county’s liability policy.
Kertes said, because the policy was implemented after Patterson’s lawsuit was filed, it was exempt from the new policy.
“Row officers need to be cognizant when they hire and fire. As we move forward, we’ll implement this (policy),” Kertes said.
Democratic Commissioner Gina Cerilli could not be reached for comment.
Commissioners said they announced the liability program in response to what has been a growing number of lawsuits filed against elected row officers. The county paid out more than $500,000 in court settlements and legal fees to resolve litigation including a dozen lawsuits filed against former Sheriff Jonathan Held, who was defeated last November after eight years in office.