A settlement has been reached on the civil lawsuit filed in Montgomery County Court that saw three former and current Pennsburg officials seeking damages from the Pennsburg Fire Company and three of its members.

        According to attorney Adam Sager and plaintiffs Diane Stevens and Charles Shagg, Selective Insurance, the fire company's insurer, will pay out $2,000 in legal fees and $417 in court costs to Stevens, a sitting councilwoman, and Shagg, a former mayor and candidate for borough council.

        Attempts to reach attorney Stephen Sobocinski of Selective Insurance concerning the case were unsuccessful.

        The fire company, headquartered at 501 Penn Street in the borough, will not be responsible for any out-of-pocket costs, fire company officials said.   

        Stevens and John Kevin, also a former councilman who dropped out of the suit several months ago, had their honorary lifetime memberships restored back in December 2014.  Shagg also had his membership restored and the fire company agreed to waive his membership dues through November, officials said, as part of the settlement.  

        The fire company maintains it has no record that Shagg was ever given an honorary lifetime membership and Shagg doesn't have any documentation to support that claim.

        The suit alleged the fire company failed to follow its by-laws, according to court documents, and originally sought $50,000 or less in damages.  Sager maintains his clients were looking for $5,000 to pay their legal fees. 

        In addition to the fire company, the suit named Scott Seip, the company's chief and former president, Brenda Koder, former secretary, and member Cody Belmont as defendants.   

Koder made the motion, with Belmont seconding it, to take away the memberships in June 2013 for "negative actions directed towards the fire company," according to the organization's minutes.

        Seip said the honorary memberships were given back in the early 2000's due to the trio's fundraising and other efforts on behalf of the fire company at the time.  Lifetime memberships are normally bestowed on individuals with 20 years or more of active service with the company, Seip said. 

        "I'm just glad it's over and done with," said Seip of the settlement.  "They got reinstated, they got what they wanted.  They are now members.  We have a meetings the second Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. and they are more than welcome to attend. 

        "If they have any questions or problems they should come out to the meetings and we will be more than happy to address them."

        Stevens, who said she believes her membership was revoked after questioning fire company spending while a company official sat on borough council, and Shagg released a joint statement on the settlement:

        "This lawsuit need never have happened, and wouldn't have, if the Pennsburg Fire Company had simply followed their by-laws. The suit arose because they did not inform us that we had our memberships revoked.  We were denied the due process guarantees stated clearly in their by-laws.

        "It was never our intent to make one cent from the suit. We merely wanted reinstatement, an apology, and any legal fees paid. To date, we have not received an explanation of why our memberships were revoked or an apology from the fire company or any of its members.

        During the lawsuit, others including borough council members, and an elected state senator, got involved and made us out to be something we are not. Outrageous claims were made that clearly misrepresented our position. We are satisfied with the legal outcome of the lawsuit and hope that not another member of the fire company has to endure what we went through. The lawsuit is over and we will move forward."