Ocean City Paid 135K To Settle Sexual Harassment Lawsuit: Report

Ocean City NJ

02 May, 2022

11:02 AM

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OCEAN CITY, NJ — The Ocean City City Council paid $135,000 in February to confidentially settle a sexual harassment lawsuit out of court, according to a report by Transparency NJ. In the 2021 lawsuit, Ocean City resident and lifeguard Riley A. Devine alleged that her supervisor, senior lifeguard Christopher Denn, sexually harassed her while she was working. According to the lawsuit, Denn made "specific sexual comments" to Devine, "exposed his male genitalia" and "requested sexual acts" from Devine. The lawsuit says that this is not the first time that the Ocean City Beach Patrol had these issues. "Ocean City was this on notice that it had a major issue with regard to sexual misconduct at The Beach Patrol which should have required them to undertake conduct to prevent the harm done in this particular case, as well as in others," the lawsuit said. Read More: Prosecutors Probe Allegations Against Ocean City Beach Patrol The settlement included a confidentiality clause. However, Transparency NJ was able to obtain a copy of the settlement as settlement agreements that come from lawsuits where a government agency or official is a defendant are public records obtainable under the Open Public Records Act. The settlement agreed that it was a "compromise" and not an admission of guilt for either party.