Lawyers for Schuylkill County are asking a federal judge to enforce a $1.7 million settlement agreement with one of several Jane Does in a 2021 sexual harassment lawsuit.

According to a court document filed April 11, Schuylkill County alleges that the settlement was reached after months of negotiations, but Jane Doe 1 reneged on the agreement, “citing unjustified demands for a larger payout after the court issued opinions denying motions for summary judgment.”

“Doe 1 accepted the offer of $1.7 million in exchange for a full release which included payment via a 1099,” Marie Milie Jones, lawyer for Schuylkill County, wrote in the court filing. “On March 14, counsel for Doe 1 indicated that because of the Court’s rulings, she was now changing her position relative to agreement on the amount of the settlement, now seeking $2 million.”

The 2021 lawsuit names the county as well as former Schuylkill County Commissioner George Halcovage, Solicitor Glenn Roth, Administrator Gary Bender, and former Human Resources Directors Heidi Zula and Doreen Kutzler.

In the lawsuit, four Jane Does accuse Halcovage of requesting sexual favors and making inappropriate comments.

The complaint alleges Halcovage making comments about oral sex, exposing himself, sending questionable correspondence and showing up uninvited at the residence of a plaintiff. Repeated phone calls and text messages are also alleged.

The lawsuit says the women felt “extremely humiliated, degraded, victimized, embarrassed and emotionally distressed,” as a result of the actions of the defendants.

Jones, of the JonesPassodelis law firm in Pittsburgh, said she is representing the county, Bender and Zula in the lawsuit.

She added that her clients are requesting attorneys’ fees associated with seeking to enforce the agreement, citing what they perceive as an improper attempt by the plaintiffs to evade their obligations.

“Doe 1’s efforts, through her counsel, to void the settlement reached in an effort to effectively shake down the taxpayer funded defendants and squeeze additional funds is plainly vexatious and a textbook example of bad faith,” Jones wrote.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Daryl F. Bloom had not ruled on the motion to enforce the settlement as of Wednesday morning.