Marion County Settles Newspaper Raid Lawsuits for Over $3 Million as Some Claims Still Stand
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Aug 13
Marion County Settles Newspaper Raid Lawsuits for Over $3 Million as Some Claims Still Stand
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Aug 13
Summary
$3 million-plus will be paid by Marion County to resolve lawsuits stemming from the 2023 police raids on the Marion County Record, including $600,000 for reporter Deb Gruver Zorn.
The suits challenged raids on the newspaper and publisher Eric Meyer’s home that Police Chief Gideon Cody said were tied to a probe into possible identity theft over a restaurant owner’s driving record.
Authorities who later reviewed the searches found they were not legally justified, while Meyer, Zorn and others argued the action was retaliation for aggressive local reporting and scrutiny of Cody’s law-enforcement past.
The raids drew national attention to Marion, a town of about 1,900 residents; Cody later resigned, and Meyer says the stress contributed to his 98-year-old mother’s death the next day.
Some claims against the city and current and former officials have been settled or dismissed, but others remain, with a pretrial Zoom hearing set for Oct. 15.