COEUR d'ALENE - Kootenai County is accused of breaching terms of two confidential settlement agreements involving a former deputy prosecutor.

Kenneth D. Stone and his wife filed a tort and breach of contract claim Thursday accusing the Board of County Commissioners of disclosing information they agreed to keep confidential. Stone is seeking more than $10,000 in attorney fees and damages exceeding $25,000.

Stone was fired from the Kootenai County Prosecutor's Office in March 2011 and filed a federal lawsuit against the county for wrongful termination and age discrimination. The county released a press release in December stating Stone had been paid a confidential amount and was being rehired until he was eligible for a lifetime, taxpayer-funded pension.

In April, The Press learned through a public records request that Stone had been paid $315,000 by the county's insurer, The Idaho Counties Risk Management Program. Further investigation by The Press revealed Stone had not worked a day for the county since he was "rehired" and ICRMP paid the county an additional lump sum of more than $30,000 to keep him on the payroll.

The claim alleges that both the county and ICRMP, as public entities, should have known the settlement amounts were subject to disclosure through public records requests.

"The question is what exactly does the public records law cause to be disclosed, and should they be making confidential settlement agreements under those circumstances," Kathlene Kolts, Stone's attorney, told The Press on Thursday.

Kootenai County employees and Commissioners Todd Tondee and Dan Green "purposely revealed" other terms to The Press that were supposed to be confidential, according to the claim.

"The county prosecutor's office is quoted as saying 'Stone does not work in the office' - yet another breach of the confidential 'terms' under which Stone settled his employment/age discrimination lawsuit," the claim states.

Release of the confidential information caused Stone "shame, humiliation, loss of reputation, loss of business to (his wife), physical injuries requiring medical attention" and attorney fees, according to the claim.

The state retirement system - PERSI - made an inquiry about his eligibility and his benefits were jeopardized, according to the claim.

Though the county and ICRMP have revealed terms and amounts of the settlement, the claim says "the county insists that the claimants are still bound by the confidentiality clauses."

"Claimants cannot even attach the agreements in question," the claim states, "because of the county's intractable position on the confidentiality."