Jeanetta Lee appears to have secured a signal victory in her lawsuit claiming that Henrico County engaged in racial discrimination in bypassing her in 2017 to promote a less qualified white man to manage the county’s in-house insurance office known as the Risk Management Division.

Without admitting fault, attorneys for Henrico County agreed to a settlement with Ms. Lee Monday after a jury had been selected and the trial was set to begin in U.S. District Court in Downtown.

The settlement terms, which still need county approval, were not disclosed.

Ms. Lee sued for $1 million in damages and other compensation. She declined comment. However, her attorney, Christopher E. Brown, described his client, who still works for the county, as “very pleased.”

The Free Press has learned from a source that one condition of the settlement provides for the Virginia State Conference NAACP to work with the county to prevent similar situations.

While Mr. Brown would not confirm that provision, he said that Ms. Lee filed the suit as a way to push the county to recruit more African-American employees, ensure they “were treated better so far as hiring and promotions go and were provided the same opportunities and resources” as white employees.

Ms. Lee, who is African-American, works in Henrico County’s Risk Management Office as manager for damage and worker compensation claims involving the county. Her suit grew out of the competition with Jason Young, a safety specialist in the division, for the vacant director post two years ago.

The settlement was a surprise considering the stout defense the county mounted since Ms. Lee filed suit last year.

The county denied in court documents Ms. Lee’s claim that Mr. Young received special treatment and coaching to win the promotion despite lacking the knowledge and experience the county required from applicants for the position and which Ms. Lee had.

Instead, the county asserted that it followed legal and accepted procedures and that Ms. Lee’s complaint amounted to sour grapes from being a losing candidate.

However, the county’s defense began to collapse on the trial’s opening day when the county’s legal team was forced to tell U.S. District Judge Robert E. Payne that six crucial pages of information had not been turned over to the plaintiff as required during the discovery phase.

The pages, which the lawyers presented in court, included notes that appeared to show that Mr. Young had been coached on ways to improve his chances to win the promotion.

Mr. Brown said the information “strengthened our case.”

Judge Payne, who expressed dismay at the admission, told the attorneys that he would have to inform the jury about the missing pages before they began deliberations.

“We were prepared to go forward,” Mr. Brown said, but reopened settlement talks when the county’s legal team notified him that they were prepared to offer better terms. The court required the two sides to hold settlement talks well before the trial. Mr. Brown said those talks broke down because the “offer was inadequate.”