County settles sex cases against Carter

Times-News (Twin Falls, ID)

July 22--TWIN FALLS -- The county's insurance premiums have increased dramatically because of lawsuit settlements paid by Idaho Counties Risk Management Program -- most recently, a civil suit filed by former deputies against Sheriff Tom Carter.

The suit, filed by Susan Stringer and Becky White, claimed gender-related harassment and discrimination. The case was scheduled to go to trial in August, but the women have accepted a settlement offer from Twin Falls County, said their attorney, Jeffrey Hepworth of Twin Falls.

Neither side has publicly revealed the amount of the settlement, but the county acknowledges its insurance rates will increase because of it.

Twin Falls County commissioners met earlier this week with a representative of ICRMP.

"We were concerned that the premiums were rising and rising," Commissioner Leon Mills said Thursday. "He showed us the figures" that justify the increase.

"It's because of the lawsuit settlements," Mills said. "ICRMP pays whatever the settlement is, then adjusts premiums to get their money back over time."

ICRMP pays both settlement costs and legal fees. As costs are incurred, premiums go up to cover the added expenses.

The county's insurance payments have increased 58 percent over the past five years, according to County Clerk Kristina Glascock's office, from $350,639 for the 2012 fiscal year to $553,114 for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

"I heard (Twin Falls County) has gone from being awesome -- the No. 1 county in ICRMP's eyes -- to being their worst customer," Mills said.

ICRMP paid $1.35 million to settle lawsuits against Twin Falls County between 2012 and 2015, according to results of a records request made in May.

Most of the suits pertained to allegations of inmates' mistreatment in jail, the records show.

Carter said lawsuits go with the territory at the jail.

"Jail is the biggest liability you have in this business," Carter told the Times-News in May ahead of the spring GOP primary, which he won handily. He also insisted that he wasn't a misogynist.

But $500,000 of the $1.35 million was paid to settle sex discrimination lawsuits.

Stringer and White claimed they were bypassed for promotion and that Stringer was demoted from a staff sergeant position and replaced by a man; that they were paid less than the men and denied training opportunities the men had; and that there was a pervasive atmosphere of sexual harassment by Carter and other male managers, such as comments at staff meetings about menopause, about women being crazy and emotional, "that they didn't need shotguns because they were females, that females, including themselves, were lying bitches, and offensive remarks about their sex lives, 'getting laid' and 'whoring around,'" according to the complaint.

Rick Ferguson, executive director of ICRMP, declined over the phone to give the amount paid to Stringer and White and asked the newspaper to file a formal public records request. The Times-News will pursue the figure through the request. Meanwhile, Hepworth declined to comment until he alert his clients. And Carter declined comment until he has time to look over the settlement.

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