The Times West Virginian

Local News

January 21, 2010

Mon County defamation lawsuit settled out of court

From Staff Reports

MORGANTOWN — A lawsuit alleging that The Dominion Post among others defamed an employee working for the Monongalia County Board of Health has been settled out of court.

Linda Chico filed a lawsuit in December 2007 shortly after she was demoted from her job as health administrator to office assistant. Defendants named in the lawsuit were West Virginia Newspaper Publishing Company (The Dominion Post), Monongalia County Commissioner Bob Bell and the county’s Board of Health.

On Tuesday, Chico’s case was settled between The Dominion Post and Bell.

The newspaper published several stories and editorials that questioned Chico’s qualifications to serve as health administrator, according to court documents.

However, the state’s Division of Personnel determined that Chico was qualified and had the certifications needed to serve as health administrator.

Though this information was provided to the BOH and The Dominion Post, according to court documents and testimony from Chico and others involved, the newspaper continued to publish articles challenging Chico’s credentials.

The newspaper disputes what information it had and when it had it.

In January 2009, the BOH settled its case with Chico for $100,000.

Chico’s attorney, Kelly Reed of Reed and Kimble PLLC, would not discuss specifics of the settlement with The Dominion Post or Bell. However, Reed said, “Linda is extremely pleased with the settlement.”

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