The Denver Gazette: Nearly six months after a group of residents filed a lawsuit in district court, alleging the Elbert County Board of Commissioners had given two senior county employees hefty employment contracts outside the public’s view, the county quietly settled the case in exchange for payment of attorney fees.

Steven D. Zansberg, attorney for the plaintiffs, confirmed the case had been settled.

Court documents ordered the case dismissed March 13, 2025.

In exchange for the voluntary dismissal of the case, the county paid the five plaintiffs — Jill Duvall, Jim Duvall, Christopher Hatton, Nic Meyer, and former Elbert County Commissioner Robert Rowland — a total of $15,000 to cover their attorney’s fees and costs, Zansberg said in an email to The Denver Gazette.

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