Kansas City, Kan. ? Eight staff members fired by Johnson County District Attorney Phill Kline on the day he took office lost a round Thursday in their lawsuit against the former Kansas attorney general.

The eight – seven assistant prosecutors and one investigator – sued Kline on Jan. 16, claiming he lacked authority to fire them or to refuse to participate in a county grievance hearing over their removal. They are seeking reinstatement and damages.

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Vratil declined Thursday to order Kline to take part in such a hearing, but she also said the county could hold the hearings without Kline’s participation.

“Nothing in the record suggests that (Kline’s) refusal to participate in the hearings will irreparably harm the plaintiffs,” Vratil wrote, referring to the employees. “Conversely, plaintiffs’ position may stand to benefit from his absence.”

Vratil’s order was limited in scope and did not address a key issue: whether Kline would have to abide by the outcome of any grievance hearing.

Kline, a Republican, took office Jan. 8 as the appointed successor to Democrat Paul Morrison, who had two years left on his term when he ousted Kline from the Kansas attorney general’s office in November’s elections.

Johnson County Republican committee members were allowed to pick Morrison’s replacement because he won his five terms in the county office as a Republican. Morrison switched to the Democratic Party to challenge Kline.

Some members of Morrison’s Johnson County staff followed him to his new post in Topeka, and Kline brought in members of his own team to replace the employees he fired from the district attorney’s staff.

Kline contends that as a district attorney he is a state official with the authority to hire and fire. He says county policies and procedures do not apply to him.