Settlement Reached in Longstanding Litigation

Licking County – The Southwest Licking Community Water and Sewer District announces today that the District’s insurance carrier, Selective Insurance Company of America, has decided to settle all outstanding legal matters between the District and John Carlisle. This settlement concludes the nearly four years of litigation between Mr. Carlisle and the District.

The terms of the District’s general liability insurance policy permit the insurance carrier to settle claims at their sole discretion, which in this instance they determined to be pragmatic. Specifically, a settlement offer from the insurance carrier in the amount of one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars, less than one third of Mr. Carlisle’s claimed legal fees as presented to the court by his attorney team, was offered by the carrier and accepted by Mr. Carlisle, subject to the execution of a settlement agreement. No District funds are being paid towards the settlement. The District’s numerous counterclaims against Mr. Carlisle for unjust enrichment, fraud in the inducement, and breach of fiduciary duty will be dismissed as a result of the settlement.

“It was our insurance carrier’s prerogative to settle the pending cases. Although we were confident that we would ultimately be successful on the merits in each of the cases, our insurance carrier examined the costs associated with prolonged litigation, because of the potential for appeals, and they elected to make a business decision to settle the matter for pennies on the dollar” said Nick Eippert, the Chief Legal Counsel for the District.

“Four years is a long time to "settle" an issue that was "unsettling" from the beginning. The massive misuse by Mr. Carlisle of a government body for self-enrichment is stunning and wrong. To settle for an actuarial solution, I'm sorry to say, is the system under which we operate. But this is the situation we find ourselves in. Our job is to protect and serve our member/customers, which the Board did. Our preferred solution was to litigate the facts. Our insurance provider, however, had the discretion to settle the lawsuits for us. Honorable Trustees is the only answer,” said Larry Kretzmann, President of the Board of Trustees.

“It’s important for our customers and community partners to know we were not in favor of contributing any money towards a settlement agreement” said Melissa Carter, Secretary of the Board of Trustees.

“Our insurance carrier provided us with an outstanding legal defense team, and on behalf of our entire staff, we want to thank the law firm of Teetor Westfall and express our appreciation for all of their hard work over the last four years. They truly helped to minimize the disruptions caused by this litigation and were support agents for our entire team,” said Board of Trustees Vice President Trent Stepp.

“This has been a challenging time for our team members that were pulled into this situation. We are grateful for their efforts and are pleased they did not have to deal with the stress of a trial. We are excited to turn the page and dedicate the full resources of the District toward the new growth in the legacy District and expansion of our services in the 161 Corridor,” said Jim Roberts, Executive Director.

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