North Dakota's former workers compensation director says he may go to court to force the state to pay legal fees he spent defending himself against three felony charges that ultimately were dropped.

Sandy Blunt, who was forced out last December as chief executive officer of Workforce Safety and Insurance, has filed a claim with the state's risk management division, which is a necessary precursor to a lawsuit over the issue.

"I am actively seeking counsel," Blunt said in response to e-mailed questions about the dispute. "I am following the appropriate steps required to be reimbursed for the costs we expended to prove my innocence and defend my family and my career."

Blunt declined to say how much he is seeking, but e-mails suggest the sum is more than $22,000. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said he believed the amount was more than $20,000.

During negotiations over a $150,234 severance package Blunt received to leave the agency, he insisted on keeping his right to sue the state to recoup his legal fees, e-mail correspondence between Blunt and WSI says.

Stenehjem said the state would not pay to defend any employee against criminal charges, and said any lawsuit by Blunt would be vigorously contested.

Blunt made it clear that he intends to try to seek state payment of his legal fees, Stenehjem said in a telephone interview.

"I don't think he'll win, and this isn't something that we're going to settle, either," Stenehjem said. "So, it's not something where he could file a lawsuit, and then the state will say, 'Well, we'll split the difference somehow.' We're not going to pay it. He was paid plenty."

In correspondence with WSI after he was forced out, Blunt requested that settlement paperwork reflect that his "separation from WSI was a resignation and not termination," an e-mail to agency lawyer Tim Wahlin says.

The "resignation" was suggested by the agency's board of directors less than two hours after its chairman, Robert Indvik, met with Gov. John Hoeven's chief of staff, Ron Rauschenberger, and his attorney, Ryan Bernstein, who told Indvik that Hoeven wanted Blunt fired.

Shortly after the board voted Dec. 6 to replace Blunt, its members declined requests by Blunt and Romi Leingang, its investigations director, for repayment of their attorneys' fees.

Leingang resigned from the agency last month to take another job.

Blunt and Leingang were charged with conspiracy to disclose confidential information, which is a felony punishable by five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, in connection with an investigation Blunt had ordered.

Prosecutors dropped the charges, concluding Blunt and Leingang might have relied on mistaken legal advice in asking for confidential driver's license photos as part of the investigation.

Blunt also faced two separate felony charges of misspending public funds, involving about $18,000 allegedly spent on meals, gifts and trinkets for Workforce Safety and Insurance employees and meals for state lawmakers.

South Central District Judge Robert Wefald dismissed the charges last August, concluding there was no evidence Blunt benefited personally from the expenditures.