County Ups Payment Limit in Lawsuit Defense

The county is increasing its payment limit to the law firm of Nye, Peabody, Stirling & Hall, LLP, from $250,000 to $410,000 to defend the county in a lawsuit filed by former employee Shawn Terris. Terris was a 13-year employee working in the Sheriff’s Department when she was fired in 2009. Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Donna Geck denied in a tentative ruling the county’s motion for a judgment in its favor, and the case will proceed toward trial. Though Geck has dismissed several of Terris’s allegations, the case will move forward on allegations of employment discrimination, as well as violation of multiple sections of the Labor Code.