YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown deputy law director and its former law director are no longer co-defendants in a federal sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit filed by a fired assistant law director.

U.S. Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson agreed to a joint motion from the city and Laura Morway, fired in 2022 after less than five months in the Youngstown law department, to dismiss Deputy Law Director Lou D’Apolito and Jeff Limbian, the former city law director, as co-defendants in the case.

The joint motion states, “It is well-settled in the 6th Circuit (Court of Appeals) that an individual employee or supervisor generally does not qualify as an ’employer’ and, therefore, cannot be held liable under Title VII claims.”

Title VII of the federal Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. But individuals cannot be sued under it, the motion states. Morway’s lawsuit claims the city violated Title VII through disparate treatment and harassment based on sex, and retaliation.

“As a matter of law, only the city of Youngstown can be considered Morway’s employer and sued for alleged Title VII violations,” the July 9 joint motion reads. “As a result, plaintiff agreed to dismiss the individually named defendants in this case.”

Pearson wrote in a July 10 decision that D’Apolito and Limbian were dismissed “because they never employed” Morway.

The claims against the city remain, with a telephone case management conference scheduled July 30.

Morway said she was fired in retaliation for complaining about a “hostile work environment.” The city denies the charges.

In response to his dismissal, Limbian, who is now Newton Falls law director, said Tuesday: “I am grateful to the great team of lawyers who helped clarify that this was a ridiculous claim. I will be even more satisfied when the judge or a jury vindicates those of us who were in the law department at the time. The allegations in this complaint are ridiculous and outrageous, and I am confident that in the end the case will be completely dismissed.”

Morway filed the lawsuit on Jan. 7, seeking at least $75,000 in damages, and stating Limbian, D’Apolito and “the other assistant law directors, who are all men, talked down to her, questioned her intelligence and credited the ideas of men over her ideas.”

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Joseph Frate of Mentor on Morway’s behalf, states that on “several occasions, Limbian and D’Apolito “treated plaintiff as if she was intellectually inferior to her male coworkers, questioning and marginalizing her. They did not speak to or question male attorneys in a similar way.”

Morway worked for the city from May 2, 2022, until Limbian fired her Sept. 30, 2022.

Morway filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on May 25, 2023, with the EEOC permitting her to sue the city on Oct. 9, 2024. The EEOC granted the permission without making a judgment on the merit of her claims.

The lawsuit contends Limbian and D’Apolito were assigning work to Morway and two of her male peers when D’Apolito announced that the men could give their work directly to Limbian, but Morway “would need to have her work checked first by the men.”

After that, an attorney listed as J.V. in the lawsuit — who would be James Vivo, the first assistant law director — supposedly told Morway that D’Apolito is “a big chauvinist.” Also, the lawsuit states it was “known through the department that defendant D’Apolito treated women unfairly.”

When Limbian hired Morway, she did not have an Ohio license to practice law. She had one from North Carolina and was working to get reciprocity from Ohio. Morway received that on Dec. 21, 2022, according to the Ohio Supreme Court, which meant she wasn’t a licensed attorney in Ohio during her time at the city law department.

Limbian, who resigned in November 2023 as Youngstown law director, fired Morway, the lawsuit contends, a week after he became “hostile and aggressive, speaking to (her) in an inappropriate manner” after she emailed fire Chief Barry Finley regarding a proposed fire department policy change.

On the day Morway was fired, the lawsuit states, she spoke to the city’s since retired human resources director — Marti Kane, who is also a woman — about Limbian and a deputy law director identified as D.D. — which would be former Deputy Law Director Dan Dascenzo — yelling at her a day prior. Kane told Morway she was being treated unfairly, but nothing could be done because “the buck stops with the law department,” according to the lawsuit.

With Kane present, Limbian fired Morway on Sept. 30, 2022, according to the lawsuit.

Sarah Chiappone of the Cleveland law firm of Mazenec, Raskin & Ryder — representing the city in this case — listed 18 defenses in a March 28 motion to seek the dismissal of the lawsuit.

Among the city’s defenses are Morway was “an at-will employee, as as result, any and all claims are barred by the at-will employee doctrine;” actions taken by the defendants were “for legitimate non-discriminatory reasons;” the city has statutory immunity, which gives it immunity from liability in which it is performing a government function; the damages “were solely and proximately caused by plaintiff’s own acts or those of third parties for whom this defendant has no legal responsibility;” Morway “failed to mitigate her damages;” and “punitive damages are unavailable against defendant under state and federal law.”