The CRST headquarters building at 3930 16th Ave. SW. (image via Cedar Rapids GIS)

One of the nation’s largest trucking companies will pay $50,000 to end a high-profile sexual harassment lawsuit — but could recoup millions it spent fighting the case.

CRST Van Expedited agreed in a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to the payment to a Texas woman to avoid trial. The woman’s claims were the last remaining in a case that started in 2007 with EEOC seeking relief for 270 women who’d allegedly been harassed.

The settlement allows Cedar Rapids-based CRST to ask a judge to order EEOC to pay its legal fees for defending claims that were dismissed. A judge earlier awarded CRST $4.5 million, but was overturned.

The case produced an appeals court ruling making it more difficult for EEOC to bring class-action lawsuits in several states.