Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Settlement finalized in Joplin R-8 sexual harassment lawsuit

No details were offered in online court filings, but the sexual harassment lawsuit filed by former custodial supervisor George Morris against the Joplin R-8 School District and buildings project director Mike Johnson is over, according to a notice of dismissal sent today by Morris' attorney, Wesley A. Barnum to Judge David Dally.

The only remaining step is for Dally to officially dismiss it.

The trial for the case, which was filed in 2010, was originally scheduled to begin Tuesday in Jasper County Circuit Court.

The Morris lawsuit is at least the third in the past three years in which the district has had to pay off a plaintiff. In one of the lawsuits, filed by Urban Metropolitan, which included accusations of racism against Johnson, the district paid $276,000.

George Morris alleged wrongful firing, retaliation, harassment, and sexual harassment against Johnson. Though Huff was not listed as a defendant in the action, he is prominently featured in the lawsuit,

The description of the lawsuit can be found in the February 4 Turner Report.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How can they keep this sort of insane liability employed? This settlement money being paid out is a sad testament to the ongoing hubris of the current leadership.

Anonymous said...

When the majority of the BOE goes, CJ goes.
When CJ goes, MJ goes.
Until then...status quo.

Anonymous said...

I guess I don't understand, that if an individual, becomes a walking lawsuit waiting to happen; One lawsuit, maybe it's frivolous; Two Lawsuits, and there's no defense to it and settlement is the only option, why is this guy still employed? If nothing else, why is he still a director of anything?

But when school board Presidents demands teachers support and addresses, advisory board members throw up websites and proclaim their new found "expertise" on tornado recovery and city councils can hire master developers, lose a ton of public money and proclaim complete ignorance and there's no public outrage demanding their ouster, I guess it's not all that surprising.

And to think, Joplin thinks itself so much more advanced than the folks that inhabit Neosho or McDonald County-at least Neoshoians took the initiative and rid themselves of Jan Blaise

Anonymous said...

I feel like the taxpayers got bent over a table

Anonymous said...

Untouchable.

Anonymous said...

Is this a happy ending for CJ and the BOE?

Anonymous said...

Randy,

The persistent rumor has been that his daughter was left at a rest stop by a school bus driver on a cheerleader trip. In order to avoid a lawsuit the BOE offered him a job as Director of Buildings and Grounds after his failure at Leggett and Platt. This deal was brokered by Suzanne Sharp as the two sat next to each other at St. Peter's church.

CJ was shortly thereafter brought in by Miss Sharp and CJ and MJ became fast friends as the former enjoyed the cow towing of the latter.

Is there any evidence of any of this? Is there evidence to the contrary? If it is true, have we yet reached the point in monetary lawsuits alone where it would have been cheaper to pay him off?
What has been the total cost of this man to the district since he has been employed? Include compensation package, lawsuits paid, legal fees, decreased productivity, unprofessional decision, etc....

Concerned Citizen

Anonymous said...

I THINK Johnson has been around longer than Huff.

Anonymous said...

"CJ was shortly thereafter brought in by Miss Sharp..."

I think it was less than a year differenc.

Anonymous said...

Did this settlement ever appear in the Globe? I admit I don't read the paper carefully, but it wasn't frontpage...