Adams County Paid $1.6M To Settle Harassment Cases
BRIGHTON, Colo. (AP) - Adams County spent more than $1.6 million settling sexual harassment and retaliation charges against its former coroner, James Hibbard.
The Denver Post reports that the county in recent months reached settlements of up to $650,000 with former employees in the office. The largest payment went to a physician who said he was fired in part because he preserved evidence of Hibbard observing an employee's breasts with an autopsy camera.
Of those settlements, $1.1 million was paid by Adams County; the county's insurer paid $550,000, according to the county attorney's office.
Hibbard could not be reached for comment. He was coroner for eight years. Hibbard declined to run again in 2010, even though voters approved a term-limit extension for his office.
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