The sexual harassment lawsuit brought against former county supervisor and MTS Chair Nathan Fletcher was dismissed Friday due to what a judge said were continuous failures by Fletcher's accuser to turn over evidence and, in some cases, the destruction of evidence.
The lawsuit by former MTS public relations specialist Grecia Figueroa was set to go to trial next month, but Superior Court Judge Matthew Braner ruled that too much evidence had been deleted or not turned over to the defense for the case to go before a jury.
The evidence at issue included numerous text and audio messages, some between Figueroa and Fletcher, and others between Figueroa and a close friend.
Fletcher's attorneys have argued those messages support their contentions that any intimate interactions between Fletcher and Figueroa were consensual. Figueroa's attorneys have argued that many of the messages were deleted inadvertently due to an auto-delete function on her phone, while other seemingly flirtatious conversations with Fletcher were not entirely consensual, but rather a product of the power imbalance that existed between them at MTS.
Braner's decision confirmed a tentative ruling he issued Thursday, which stated that Figueroa "engaged in rampant and willful spoilation of evidence" and undertook "more than two years of consistent efforts to alter, delay, and destroy the substantial wealth of evidence that undermines her case."
In court, Braner said, "The evidence of discovery abuse in this case is overwhelming" and that there had been "delay, alteration, and destruction (of evidence) at virtually every phase."
In a statement made in court, Figueroa said, "I find it quite disrespectful to invalidate my experience and call abuse of power an affair."
She also said she had produced thousands of messages and other records to the defense, and sat through 25 hours of depositions.
"Nothing was deleted with intent to hide anything. In fact, I wish I had some of the missing evidence because I believe it would be helpful for me," she said.
One of Figueroa's attorneys, Francis Flynn, argued it was premature to end the case now because both sides were still waiting on other messages to be extracted from Fletcher's phone. But Fletcher's attorneys argued those messages only cover the time period after the filing of the lawsuit, and wouldn't be relevant to the case.
One of Fletcher's attorneys, Sam Sherman, told reporters after the hearing, "We've maintained from day one that this case was built on a mountain of lies."
Sherman declined to comment on what the dismissal might mean for Fletcher's career going forward, but said Fletcher will continue to pursue a defamation countersuit against Figueroa.
"Nathan Fletcher takes responsibility for what he did and the mistakes he made, but he does not feel it was justified to destroy his career over it, to create these false allegations," Sherman said.
MTS, the lone other defendant, was dismissed from the case last week. Braner ruled that Figueroa's termination from MTS had no connection to Fletcher, but rather "legitimate, documented performance issues."
Figueroa was fired on the day Fletcher announced he was running for state Senate. Less than two months after Fletcher announced the bid, he ended his campaign, stating that he would seek treatment for post-traumatic stress and alcohol abuse.
Figueroa's lawsuit soon followed, leading to Fletcher's resignation from the county Board of Supervisors and MTS Board.
A separate lawsuit that remains ongoing accuses Fletcher of using campaign money from his state Senate bid to fund his defense in the sex harassment litigation.
