Former Coroner Reaches Settlement With Bucks County

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Bucks County Coroner Meredith Buck had a going away present before she left office —a settlement.

Buck told Patch Wednesday that the settlement —reached in August —came after a state appeals court ordered the case back to the Common Pleas Court for reconsideration after an out-of-county judge dismissed most of Buck’s lawsuit in 2022.

Buck had sued all three Bucks County Commissioners, who oversaw the Warminster Township-based coroner's office funding, claiming they had "unlawfully" and "maliciously" slashed her budget by $1.03 million. She took office in 2020.

According to the settlement, the commissioners agreed to pay $22,500 in attorney fees for Buck, whose term ended Tuesday.

They also agreed the county maintains on its website two footnotes attached to the 2021, 2022, and 2023 preliminary and final budgets stating the beginning fund balances in those years are adjusted, she said.

"I'm sorry that it took legislation to have them right what they've done," Buck told Patch. "Because of the lawsuit, this will never happen to anyone else."

Patch obtained a copy of the settlement agreement, that was approved in November. The agreement did not need a public vote.

Due to the lawsuit, Buck was not able to secure her party's nomination and she lost in the Democratic May primary election to newcomer Patti Campi, who also won the Nov. 7 general election for coroner. Campi began her term on Tuesday.

"It's bittersweet," Buck said. "I loved my job and I did it well. I left it a better place than how I found it."

James O'Malley, the county's deputy director of communications, said he could not comment on the settlement.

Senior Judge Emanual A. Bertin, an out-of-county judge appointed to the case, had previously tossed most of the lawsuit when he dismissed three counts that sought court intervention in the 2021 budget process.

“Today is the day I can finally report on the close of a case that wasted too much time, too much money, and too much precious attention that could have been diverted elsewhere over the last 18 months,” county solicitor Joe Khan said in a prior Patch story about the lawsuit.