COLUMBUS — Two former employees of the Hocking County Prosecutor’s Office have dropped their federal sex discrimination lawsuit against the county and its former Prosecutor Ryan Black.
Kate Ricketts and Kelsey Vanscyoc, the two women who were the plaintiffs in the suit, had alleged, among other things, that Black subjected them and other female staffers to an ongoing, unwelcome barrage of “demeaning, degrading, sexist and offensive comments and conduct”; used his authority to pressure Vanscyoc into having sex with him; and kept employees, who knew he had a shotgun in his office, in a state of fear with his “constant, unpredictable outbursts” and raging tirades. After the two women complained about his behavior, they claim, he made their work environments so intolerable that they had little choice but to resign.
They also alleged that county officials knew about the “open and notorious” illegal discrimination that was going on in Black’s office, but “did not take sufficient action to stop the harassment.”
Ricketts and Vanscyoc filed their lawsuit in February in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Eastern Division. It lodged claims of sex discrimination; retaliation; violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments; and failure to pay overtime. It asked for unspecified compensatory and punitive damages and attorney fees, back pay and benefits, and an order for Black to reinstate them in their jobs and refrain from retaliating against them further. On Thursday, a two-sentence stipulation filed in the federal court reported that plaintiffs were dismissing their suit with prejudice — meaning it cannot be refiled.
Contacted Friday morning, Michael A. Moses, attorney for Ricketts and Vanscyoc, said he could not comment on the decision by his clients to dismiss their lawsuit, or whether a settlement was involved. The Logan Daily News was unable to reach the county’s attorney, Cassaundra Sark.
Ricketts and Vanscyoc had worked in victim advocacy for Black, who resigned in the wake of the lawsuit. Though the civil litigation has been dismissed, Black still faces potential disciplinary action after the disciplinary counsel of the Ohio Supreme Court filed a complaint against him in April.
That complaint covered some of the same territory as the federal lawsuit, and also contained new allegations including the claim that Black had an inappropriate sexual relationship with suspended Hocking County Commissioner Jessica Dicken.
In an answer to the complaint Black has denied many of its allegations, but has also claimed that mental health issues and alcohol use contributed to any misbehavior he displayed while he was county prosecutor.
According to the website of the Ohio Board of Professional Conduct, Black still has a formal hearing on the matter scheduled for Sept. 11-12 in Columbus.
Email at jphillips@logandaily.com
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