Fletcher’s accuser brings on new lawyer in sexual assault lawsuit

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The former Metropolitan Transit System employee who accused Nathan Fletcher of sexual assault in a bombshell lawsuit has brought on a new attorney almost a month after parting ways with her second lawyer.

Grecia Figueroa had previously opted to represent herself in the interim while she worked to secure new counsel. She dropped her previous representation days before discovery hearings were scheduled to begin in earnest ahead of a planned civil trial next year.

During a scheduled discovery hearing on Friday, Figueroa’s new lawyer, Maryann Gallagher, told the judge hearing the case, Matthew Branner, that she was still getting up to speed in the case and working to piece together the slew of motions that have been filed.

Timeline: Unfolding of the Nathan Fletcher scandal

That includes requests by Fletcher and Figueroa to compel the other party to respond to investigative questionnaires — actions which sanctions were asked for, but Branner said in a tentative ruling is “very unlikely” to be granted.

On Friday, Gallagher also expressed concern with the one-sided nature of a temporary restraining order that was placed on Figueroa’s phone after the former Supervisor’s attorneys accused her of destroying evidence.

Branner said the two parties will meet to discuss these issues during another hearing at the end of May. It is unclear if this will impact the scheduled start date for the trial.

Figueroa filed her lawsuit against Fletcher and MTS back in March 2023. In the suit, she accused Fletcher of at least two instances of sexual assault while he was serving as chair of the MTS Board of Directors. She was later fired by the transit agency.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, Fletcher stepped down as the MTS chairman and announced his resignation from the Board of Supervisors that became effective at the end of a stint in an out-of-state rehabilitation center for treatment of substance abuse and post-traumatic stress.

Fletcher has denied the allegations of sexual assault, but did admit to an intimate relationship with Figueroa that he described as consensual.

His attorneys have pursued messages between the two of them since, with a batch released in January and again in his defamation suit filed last month that appeared to show at least some degree of a reciprocal relationship online.

As far as MTS goes, the transit agency has also held that Figueroa’s firing had nothing to do with her allegations against Fletcher, which officials have said they did not know about until after her termination was initiated. An MTS-requested independent investigation affirmed those claims that her firing was not a result of retaliation, rather due to issues with her performance.

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