YOUNGSTOWN — Laura Morway, a former Youngstown assistant law director, filed a federal sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit against the city, its former law director and a current deputy law director contending she was fired in retaliation for complaining about a “hostile work environment.”

Morway is seeking at least $75,000 in damages against the city, Deputy Law Director Lou D’Apolito and Jeff Limbian, the city’s former law director.

Morway worked for the city from May 2, 2022, until Limbian fired her Sept. 30, 2022.

The federal case was assigned to Judge Benita Y. Pearson and Magistrate Carmen E. Henderson.

Morway filed a discrimination charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on May 25, 2023, with the EEOC permitting her to sue the city on Oct. 9, 2024. The EEOC granted the permission without making a judgment on the merit of her claims.

In the lawsuit, filed on her behalf by attorney Joseph Frate of Mentor, Morway contends Limbian, D’Apolito and “the other assistant law directors, who were all men, talked down to her, questioned her intelligence and credited the ideas of men over her ideas.”

The lawsuit added: “On several occasions, defendants Limbian and D’Apolito treated plaintiff as if she was intellectually inferior to her male coworkers, questioning and marginalizing her. They did not speak to or question male attorneys in a similar way.”

On another occasion — no date provided in the lawsuit — Limbian and D’Apolito were assigning work to Morway and two of her male peers when D’Apolito announced that the men could give their work directly to Limbian, but Morway “would need to have her work checked first by the men.”

After that, an attorney listed as J.V. in the lawsuit — who would be James Vivo, the first assistant law director — supposedly told Morway that D’Apolito is “a big chauvinist.” Also, the lawsuit states it was “known through the department that defendant D’Apolito treated women unfairly.”

When Morway was hired by Limbian she did not have an Ohio license to practice law. She had one from North Carolina and was working to get reciprocity from Ohio. Morway received that on Dec. 21, 2022, according to the Ohio Supreme Court, which meant she wasn’t a licensed attorney in Ohio during her time at the city law department.

Limbian and D’Apolito were personally hired by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown. After a falling out with Brown, who was once one of his closest friends, Limbian resigned in November 2023 after nearly six years as law director.

Limbian fired Morway, the lawsuit contends, a week after he became “hostile and aggressive, speaking to (her) in an inappropriate manner” after she emailed fire Chief Barry Finley regarding a proposed fire department policy change.

On the day Morway was fired, the lawsuit states, she spoke to the city’s human resources director — Marti Kane, who is also a woman — about Limbian and a deputy law director identified as D.D. — which would be former Deputy Law Director Dan Dascenzo — yelling at her a day prior. Kane told Morway she was being treated unfairly, but nothing could be done because “the buck stops with the law department,” according to the lawsuit.

With Kane present, Limbian fired Morway on Sept. 30, 2022, according to the lawsuit.

City Law Director Lori Shells Simmons, who replaced Limbian and never worked with Morway, declined Thursday to comment “at this time due to pending litigation.”

A city spokesman said: “We are currently reviewing the complaint. The city takes any allegations of this kind very seriously.” He also declined to comment further because of the litigation.

But Limbian, who is currently the Newton Falls law director, had a lot to say in response to the lawsuit.

He said Thursday: “The allegations in this complaint are professionally and personally insulting and repugnant. While I will not comment on the facts of this case, suffice it to say that Ms. Morway was given ample opportunity to demonstrate lawyering skills and abilities and exhibit the appropriate temperament to be a lawyer in a collaborative environment. All of the lawyers in the law department worked extensively to help Ms. Morway find a niche where she could succeed. She failed to take advantage of these efforts.”

Limbian added: “On a personal level, as the son of a mother who did the work traditionally given to a man, who was never able to break the glass ceiling, not paid appropriately, I find this terribly insulting and pathetic. I am confident that the truth will prevail, and this sad and desperate attempt to place blame on others will ultimately be dismissed.”

The lawsuit states Limbian “has demonstrated a pattern of failed oversight and improper treatment of employees within the city’s legal department.”

Before she was hired by Youngstown, Morway worked for the Youngstown office of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, filing two lawsuits and appeals against the agency and two supervisors claiming harassment, retaliation, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act for not receiving overtime pay, infliction of emotional distress, wrongful discharge and that a supervisor had either a propensity toward aggression or an inability to supervise female subordinates. Norway didn’t win the cases or the appeals.