CLEVELAND, Ohio — Cuyahoga County Council voted Tuesday to pay $400,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former judicial assistant who accused Judge Leslie Celebrezze of retaliation and witness intimidation.

The payout ends two years of litigation stemming from Georgeanna Semary’s claims that she was demoted and had her salary cut by almost $20,000 after providing public documents to a journalist in April 2023.

Semary said she followed standard protocol when a reporter for The Marshall Project-Cleveland requested a file involving Celebrezze, who was then the administrative judge over the domestic relations division of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

According to the lawsuit, court administrator James Zak accused Semary the same day of violating ethical rules and reassigned her

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