For the second time a federal judge has turned down Fulton County’s bid to have its insurer pay more than $6.5 million toward the settlement of multiple lawsuits claiming pay disparities by some county lawyers and Sheriff’s Department employees.

The county reached a global settlement of more than $18.3 million in 2015 to settle a half-dozen “pay parity” lawsuits and demanded that insurer National Casualty Co. tender almost all of its $7 million policy limits to help defray the cost.