Washington state county settles 3 discrimination lawsuits

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Snohomish County officials in Washington state have agreed to pay $750,000 to settle three discrimination lawsuits filed by former employees who worked under the same county prosecutor.

The lawsuits focused on the culture under former county prosecutor Mark Roe, who multiple employees accuse of creating a hostile workplace, rife with insensitive comments, crude innuendos and derogatory slurs, the Herald reported.

A fourth civil lawsuit is ongoing in King County Superior Court.

Roe, who served as prosecutor from 2009 until December, declined to comment on the specifics of the settlements.

“As long as any of the cases are still active, I am not going to say anything more about them than what I did when the first was filed,” Roe said in email Wednesday. “I will say that I have great trust and faith in the people handling these cases for the county, and complete confidence in the decisions they make.”

The three settlements included $175,000, $325,000 and $250,000 payments to former employees.

Seattle attorney Robin Williams Phillips, who represents three of the four plaintiffs, said the public should be concerned with the conduct, particularly in the prosecuting attorney’s office.

A resolution has yet to be reached in the case of former deputy prosecutor Dana Bittinger, who sued the county in October, echoing previous lawsuits that Roe made inappropriate and vulgar comments during her employment from 2010 to 2019.

“Until the current litigation is concluded, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further about the pending case or any settlement agreements between the County and Plaintiffs,” said Prosecutor Adam Cornell, who ran unopposed to become the prosecutor after Roe.