After nearly five years of back and forth allegations, the legal battle between former Mahoning County Prosecutor Martin Desmond and Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains has been settled.

In the settling of the lawsuit, a press release from Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains' office states that the county has agreed to pay $550,000 covering all claims by Desmond and his counsel. The county will pay approximately $185,000 and the county's insurance provider will pay $365,000 to settle the suit.

Mahoning County parties continue to maintain that Desmond's discharge was a legitimate, non-discriminatory employment action.

Todd Raskin, counsel for Mahoning County said “There certainly is no admission of liability. It is an economic decision...”

Desmond was placed on administrative leave in March 2017 before Gains fired him two weeks later on April 5. Gains accused Desmond, who had worked for him since 2004, of knowing that defense attorney James Wise was going to file a civil rights lawsuit against the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office and several of his colleagues while failing to tell his supervisors about it.

In early February, Desmond successfully appealed the rulings made in his lawsuit against Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains.

The ruling showed that Gain's attorneys showed Desmond a list of case rulings filed by Desmond's lawyers and asked him to disclose which ones he recognized. Desmond's lawyers objected, but he proceeded to name 12 of the cases he was familiar with. However, he said he could not recall all of the cases discussed. 

Desmond said he remembered having discussed 24 cases, but never provided a list of them to the FBI.

Appeals judges also overturned Underlies rulings based on attorney-client privilege, determining that it “is one of the oldest recognized privileges for confidential communications.”

This information led the appeals panel to make their conclusion to reverse Underlies rulings from last year.