Judge okays dismissal of lawsuit by Trumbull County employee against commissioners
YOUNGSTOWN - The Trumbull County Commissioners and one of their employees have mutually agreed to dismiss a $1 million discrimination lawsuit filed by a county employee.
U.S. District Court Judge Benita Pearson has signed an order acknowledging that attorneys for the commissioners and receptionist Dawn Guarino Gedeon.
The complaint was filed by Gedeon in March of last year alleging she was the victim of discrimination, defamation, and emotional distress.
Noting that she is of Italian American heritage, Gedeon accused Commissioner Niki Frenchko of repeatedly making derisive comments about Italian Americans, likening Italians to “mafia types and organized crime members”, and allegedly referring to Trumbull County’s Italian American employees as “greasy” and “sausage makers” akin to Michael or Don Corleone from “The Godfather” movie.
Just days after the lawsuit was filed, Judge Pearson issued a gag order to prevent those involved from making public comments on the case.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed in court records.
Over the past two years, five other civil cases involving the commissioners have been filed in federal court.
In late 2021, county employee Lisa Blair filed a $1 million discrimination and defamation lawsuit against the commissioners alleging that Commissioner Frenchko repeatedly made derisive statements about Italian Americans. Frenchko has denied the allegations. The case has yet to be decided.
Frenchko also denied allegations made in a lawsuit filed by the administrative secretary to the commissioners, Christine Glenn, who alleged a "hostile and abusive work environment." That case was dismissed earlier this year by a federal judge who ruled that Glenn failed to prove loss of income or job status.
Just over a year ago, County Commissioner’s Clerk Paula Vivoda-Klotz sued the board alleging discrimination and retaliation.
The case, which is still pending in federal court, claims Vivoda-Klotz was demoted in retaliation for taking a leave of absence and requesting a reduced work schedule.
A case still being fought in U.S. District Court was filed against the commissioners early last year by Ernest Cook, who alleges he was removed from his job as county 911 director due to age discrimination.
Commissioner Frenchko is suing fellow commissioners and County Sheriff Paul Monroe and several deputies over her arrest at a board meeting after Frenchko read a letter from the mother of a jail inmate complaining about her son’s treatment in the county jail.
A visiting judge dismissed a charge of disturbing a lawful meeting that had been filed against Frenchko.
