YOUNGSTOWN — Youngstown will pay $33,000 to a former city deputy law director, fired after fewer than five months on the job, as part of an agreement that dismisses her federal sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit.

City council will consider the settlement with Laura Morway at its Wednesday meeting. The board of control also needs to sign off on it.

A Jan. 29 mediation between the city and Morway, fired in 2022, with U.S. Court Magistrate Carmen E. Henderson resolved the lawsuit.

The settlement agreement states the $33,000 will be paid through Youngstown’s insurance and the city “does not admit any violation of law, liability or invasion of any rights and that any such violation or liability is expressly denied by the” city.

The agreement adds: “The consideration provided herein is made entirely for the purposes of settling the dispute, to settle and extinguish all actions, causes of action, suits, proceedings, damages, claims and rights which the undersigned had or may have against the” city.

The agreement states Morway is to keep the terms of the settlement confidential, but it doesn’t stop the city from providing them.

The agreement also doesn’t permit Morway or “her agents” to “directly or indirectly issue or communicate any public statement or statement likely to become public that maligns, denigrates or disparages the city of Youngstown or any employees, officials or officers of the city of Youngstown. The foregoing shall not be violated by truthful responses to legal process or government inquiry.”

The “nondisparagement provision,” which includes any party in the lawsuit, “prohibits and prevents” Morway and her agents from making such remarks “in oral, written or digital form and through any online and / or social media outlets.”

While the agreement doesn’t prohibit Youngstown city officials from commenting on the settlement, Law Director Adam Buente declined to comment Thursday “beyond the document itself.”

Morway filed the lawsuit Jan. 7, 2025, seeking at least $75,000 in damages. She claimed Jeff Limbian, the former law director; Deputy Law Director Lou 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, stated Limbian and D’Apolito “treated plaintiff as if she was intellectually inferior to her male co-workers, 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 when Limbian and D’Apolito assigned work to Morway and two of her male peers, 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.”

The city had denied the charges.

Among the city’s defenses were 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 nondiscriminatory 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.”

U.S. Court Judge Benita Y. Pearson agreed July 10 to dismiss Limbian and D’Apolito from the lawsuit “because they never employed” Morway.

After Limbian was dismissed from the lawsuit, he said: “The allegations in this complaint are ridiculous and outrageous.”

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Limbian said: “The allegations in this complaint are professionally and personally insulting and repugnant. While I will not comment on the facts of this case, suffice it to say that Ms. Morway was given ample opportunity to demonstrate lawyering skills and abilities and exhibit the appropriate temperament to be a lawyer in a collaborative environment. All of the lawyers in the law department worked extensively to help Ms. Morway find a niche where she could succeed. She failed to take advantage of these efforts.”

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.