The board of the Mason County District Library has reached a $57,000 settlement in a civil rights lawsuit.
LUDINGTON (AP) -- The final chapter of an ongoing lawsuit in Mason County is coming to a close.
The board of the Mason County District Library has reached a $57,000 settlement in the civil rights lawsuit filed by Sally Stern-Hamilton, an ex-employee who wrote the book "The Library Diaries" under the pen name Ann Miketa.
The Ludington-based library fired Stern-Hamilton after the book was published in 2008, and she filed a federal lawsuit in 2011. The Ludington Daily News says she has filed for bankruptcy, so the money will go to her creditors.
Stern-Hamilton says the library violated her First Amendment rights to free speech. The library says the book was an attack on easily identifiable library patrons and violated their privacy.
The book sets the story in a community called Denialville. It doesn't name Ludington, but its cover includes a small picture of the Ludington library.
Stern-Hamilton worked at the library for fifteen years before she was let go.
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