Grecia Figueroa is having trouble keeping her case against former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher and the Metropolitan Transit System on track.
Last week, amid a flurry of accusations from Fletcher’s attorneys that she was withholding or destroying evidence, Figueroa parted ways with her attorney, Jessica Pride, from the Pride Law Firm. It’s unclear whether Figueroa asked Pride to step away or Pride left. Pride did not respond to a request for comment.
Figueroa would only confirm for Voice of San Diego that she planned to continue the case with new legal representation.
Figueroa also failed to appear at a hearing Wednesday where Fletcher’s lawyers were set to demand access to Figueroa’s phone and the phone of a witness, a friend of Figueroa’s. The judge continued the hearing to Thursday.
Background: Almost exactly a year ago, Figueroa accused Fletcher of sexually harassing and assaulting her and filed suit against him and MTS. As a county supervisor, Fletcher was also chair of MTS where Figueroa worked as a public relations specialist. MTS officials fired Figueroa shortly after her contact with Fletcher ended. Figueroa’s suit alleges Fletcher’s pursuit of her created a hostile work environment, and MTS officials failed to prevent sexual harassment and retaliated against her.
After the accusations came out, Fletcher immediately stepped down as chairman of MTS and eventually resigned his supervisorial seat and vanished from public life. He admitted only to consensual interactions with Figueroa and spent time in rehabilitation to recover from substance abuse and post-traumatic stress.
But the cases against him and MTS have progressed sluggishly since then. Figueroa already changed attorneys once and Fletcher’s attorneys have relentlessly sought and surfaced proof that Fletcher’s interactions with Figueroa were not abusive or violent but welcome and encouraged. To that end, two months ago, the team released a batch of Instagram messages Figueroa and Fletcher exchanged that revealed more about her participation in the flirtations that eventually led to their encounters.
Her case, however, also involves MTS, her employer at the time. At least two of the encounters she describes as assaults occurred in MTS’ headquarters. The agency released a report compiled by independent investigators that found Figueroa had “exceeded job requirements” in her performance for the agency until her encounters with Fletcher began.
“The fact that Figueroa received a negative evaluation only after the alleged sexual harassment and assault by Fletcher, could suggest that her job performance was not the reason for the termination,” investigators wrote. But they also found that managers had become more and more frustrated with her work and didn’t know about what was happening with Fletcher.
The latest news: Fletcher’s attorneys have been fighting for access to Figueroa’s phone and messages she exchanged with another witness that they say could offer more evidence of her efforts to pursue Fletcher and extract benefits from their relationship.
But before the new witness produced their exchanges, they sought assurances their messages would remain confidential. And then the witness and their attorney also separated. Both Figueroa and her friend do not have attorneys as they face pressure to turn over documents.
Before they left her side, Figueroa’s attorneys responded she was producing documents and evidence as quickly as possible while they complained that Fletcher had backed out of a planned deposition.
“Ms. Figueroa has exercised good faith and diligence in the face of your office’s staggering 208 document requests – many of which refer to other documents/exhibits in contravention of discovery practices,” wrote one of Pride’s associates, Zachary Freire-Aviña, in response to Fletcher’s team’s accusations.
Andrea Lopez-Villafaña contributed to this story.
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