SAN DIEGO, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- San Diego has agreed to pay $250,000 to former Mayor Bob Filner's communications director to settle a sexual harassment lawsuit, officials said Monday.
Irene McCormack Jackson, one of the first women to allege Filner had made sexual advances to her, filed one of three lawsuits against the city, KNSD-TV reported. She is currently on unpaid leave and is expected to leave her job officially April 1.
City Attorney Jan Goldsmith and Gloria Allred, the celebrity lawyer representing McCormack Jackson, announced the settlement. Goldsmith said Filner will not pay anything on the theory that the city, as his employer, is responsible for his misconduct, but he said settling will cost the taxpayers far less than a trial would have.
Goldsmith praised McCormack Jackson.
"It's really a very difficult situation for her," Goldsmith said. "She handled it with dignity and I wish her well."
Filner faces lawsuits by women who did not work for the city. He pleaded guilty in October to false imprisonment and battery involving three women identified only as "Jane Doe" and received a house arrest sentence.
