In the immediate hours after being accused of sexual harassment and assault, former San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher insisted the claims in a lawsuit by a public relations specialist were completely untrue.
Now, nearly one year after he resigned from public office, the once-powerful politician has filed a cross-complaint accusing former Metropolitan Transit System worker Grecia Figueroa of defamation.
“Ms. Figueroa strove to defame and destroy Mr. Fletcher, with actual malice, in the court of public opinion,” he says in the 20-page countersuit posted on the San Diego Superior Court docket Thursday.
The defamation claim appears to be based largely on a post Figueroa made on social media in the early days of the political scandal. That Twitter post, made in response to someone else’s comment and since deleted, said, “Nothing about it was consensual.”
The post did not specify what it was referring to, but Fletcher’s lawsuit argues that the statement referred broadly to their interactions in general and cites dozens of text messages he says prove she actively participated in private communications and secret meetings.
The countersuit also accuses Figueroa of lying in saying that Fletcher sexually assaulted or harassed her at any time. It seeks unspecified monetary damages, attorneys’ fees and other legal costs.
“She repeatedly made false, defamatory, and extrajudicial statements to members of the press, including journalists in the print and television media covering her lawsuit against Mr. Fletcher,” it asserts. “Ms. Figueroa engaged in this malicious conduct to coerce Mr. Fletcher into an undeserved multimillion-dollar payment.”
Figueroa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a hearing Thursday, Figueroa told Judge Matthew C. Braner that she was now representing herself in the litigation but planned to quickly find a new attorney. “I am hoping it will be soon,” she said. “I would ask for more time to retain counsel.”
The Pride Law Firm, which took over her case last year, withdrew from it last Friday. A court filing indicates that the withdrawal was a mutual decision between the lawyers and client, each of whom signed the document.
Figueroa’s former lawyers attended the hearing as a courtesy to the judge, they said during the proceeding.
Both parties’ lawyers have been battling for months over access to evidence. Fletcher’s attorneys have complained that Figueroa and her legal team have withheld text messages and other communications requested last year as part of the discovery process, and Figueroa’s lawyers have accused Fletcher and his lawyers of failing to provide evidence requested months ago.
They also have been at odds over the terms of a subpoena that Fletcher’s team wants to send to Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, in order to retrieve instant messages.
Figueroa has argued that the request was overly broad and might improperly lead to disclosure of health or even geolocation information.
The hearing on Thursday was called in part to discuss a request from the defense team to direct Figueroa to make her cellphone and other devices available for an independent download of all information to make sure no evidence is deleted.
“This isn’t a hypothetical concern,” attorney Sean McKaveney told Braner, accusing Figueroa of having already destroyed some evidence.
Both Figueroa and her former attorneys denied that claim, saying they have turned over evidence as systematically as possible after it has been vetted for protected information, such as medical and other private data unrelated to the litigation.
Figueroa also accused Fletcher and his wife, California Labor Federation executive secretary and former state lawmaker Lorena Gonzalez, of trying to intimidate her. She said Gonzalez had pledged to “go nuclear” on her and “wants blood” if the harassment case proceeds.
Braner appeared unfazed by the urgency posed by the plaintiff and defendant alike.
“The statements uttered by both sides are for the press as much as for the court,” he said at one point during the hearing.
Nonetheless, Braner issued a temporary restraining order barring Figueroa from deleting or otherwise altering evidence on her cellphone and other electronic devices.
At a hearing Friday, he upheld a tentative ruling he issued Thursday and declined to grant Figueroa’s request to quash the Meta subpoena.
Figueroa was fired by the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System on Feb. 6, 2023, the same day Fletcher announced he was running for the California State Senate seat that will be vacated by Sen. Toni Atkins later this year.
According to her legal complaint, Figueroa was stalked online by Fletcher and felt pressure to respond and meet in person because she feared for her job. The March 2023 lawsuit also accused Fletcher of groping Figueroa twice inside MTS headquarters.
Fletcher acknowledged what he said was an inappropriate relationship but denied any harassment or assault. He resigned from the MTS board and later the county Board of Supervisors.
Two days before the allegations became public, the U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran announced that he was stepping away from public office and suspending his Senate campaign to enter a residential treatment program for alcohol abuse and post-traumatic stress.
In his defamation case, Fletcher cites dozens of messages the two exchanged that he argues show their contacts were wholly consensual.
“As one example of consent (among many), Ms. Figueroa confirmed to Mr. Fletcher on May 2, 2022, that she ‘wouldn’t be communicating with [him] if [she] felt uncomfortable,” the defamation lawsuit states. “She also ‘promised’ him that she would tell him if he ever said anything that was inappropriate or made her uncomfortable.”
The two encounters in which Figueroa accused Fletcher of sexually assaulting her took place later that year, in June and December.
The Fletcher suit also claims that Figueroa was first to reach out to the then-MTS board chair. “She initiated Instagram communications with him, on her own volition and consent, by tagging him in her story,” says the counterclaim, which includes a screenshot of the post dated Aug. 24, 2021, that says “You started a chat with nathan_fletcher.”
His lawsuit argues that other communications Figueroa sent to Fletcher also show a consensual relationship, pointing to messages saying “You need company,” “You find a day and time (to meet) and I’ll follow your lead” and “What a night!” after the two spent a few hours in the stairwell of a hotel he was staying at.
“Notably, she never expressed any regret,” the claim says of their stairwell visit. It also characterizes messages she later sent in the aftermath of one alleged assault as “hardly the type of reaction one would have after a supposed nonconsensual sexual battery or assault.”
A related court filing from McKaveney said Figueroa deleted a 23-second audio file that he says would prove she was flirting with Fletcher in what the lawyer called “a serious spoliation of key, exonerating evidence.”
McKaveney also alleged that Figueroa traded “hundreds upon hundreds” of private messages with a person identified as Witness #1 that he believes may show the two discussed Figueroa’s interactions with Fletcher in ways that might generate money for her.
According to McKaveney’s filing, that person initially said they would comply with a subpoena for messages from their cellphone but dismissed their lawyer the same day Figueroa parted ways with hers.
The Fletcher legal team and Figueroa are due back in court next week for further proceedings.
The Pride Law Firm said in court Thursday that they would again appear next week as a courtesy to the court but not to represent Figueroa.
