A Kansas town will pay $850K to end a reporter’s lawsuit over a 2023 raid on her paper’s offices
The settlement ends a federal suit over the 2023 raid that drew national scrutiny and led to Marion County paying more than $3 million in related claims.
- On Tuesday, Marion, Kansas, agreed to pay $850,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by former reporter Phyllis Zorn over a 2023 police raid of the newspaper's offices.
- Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody led the raid claiming he was investigating potential identity theft; however, authorities determined the search of the newspaper's offices and Publisher Eric Meyer's home was not legally justified.
- Zorn alleged the raid violated press freedoms and protections against unreasonable searches guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, which reporters viewed as retaliation for hard-hitting local coverage.
- Attorney Randy Rathbun and city counsel Jennifer Hill filed a joint statement Tuesday dismissing the lawsuit, adding to Marion County's prior agreement in November to pay more than $3 million to settle related claims.
- While this settlement ends Zorn's case, some legal claims against present and past officials remain, with a pretrial Zoom hearing scheduled for Oct. to address ongoing litigation.
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A Kansas reporter raided by police settles for $850,000
Phyllis Zorn, a reporter at the Marion County Record, will get $850,000 from the city of Marion, Kansas to settle her federal lawsuit over the 2023 police raid on the newspaper, reports the Kansas Reflector. Lawyers for Zorn and the city filed the motion to dismiss on August 11, three years to the day after the raid. — Read the rest The post A Kansas reporter raided by police settles for $850,000 appeared first on Boing Boing.
Kansas town will pay $850K to end reporter's lawsuit over a 2023...
Reporter Phyllis Zorn alleged the raid almost immediately led to health problems, causing the return of potentially life-threatening seizures that had been controlled for years with medication A small Kansas town has agreed to pay $850,000 to a former reporter at its weekly newspaper to end her federal lawsuit over a police raid of the paper's offices in 2023 that ignited a national furor over press freedom. Now-retired Marion County Record repo…
3 years after police raid on Kansas newspaper, reporter settles lawsuit for $850K
TOPEKA, Kan. — Phyllis Zorn, the reporter whose acts of journalism served as an excuse for the August 2023 police raid of the Marion County Record, will get $850,000 from the city of Marion to settle her federal lawsuit over…
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