Meta subpoena OK’ed by judge in Fletcher sexual assault lawsuit

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A judge on Friday denied a request by the former San Diego Metropolitan Transit System employee who accused Nathan Fletcher of sexual assault to quash a subpoena to Instagram’s parent company, ending at least one of the disputes in her lawsuit that has led to major delays.

The subpoena to Meta Platforms, Inc. has been a point of contention between Grecia Figueroa and Fletcher since it was first proposed in July 2023.

The summons would compel the technology company to release records of direct messages between the two on Instagram, which were prominently featured in her initial complaint alleging sexual assault by the former Supervisor before she was abruptly fired by MTS.

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Fletcher had been pursuing them as evidence to back up his claim that their relationship was consensual. A batch of these messages that appear to show some degree of a consensual online relationship were released earlier this year in court filings from Fletcher’s lawyers, as Voice of San Diego reported.

However, Figueroa’s attorneys filed a motion to halt the subpoena shortly after, arguing it was too broad and would have asked for personal data like passwords or her location.

In response, Fletcher’s attorneys offered new language in a clarifying letter that would explicitly instruct Meta to keep this information out of the scope of what they do disclose, and proposed a protective order on the documents.

During Friday’s hearing, Figueroa, who is now representing herself after parting ways with her second set of attorneys, reiterated these concerns before the judge hearing her case, arguing the subpoena was more invasive than it had to be.

“I am concerned that Meta providing photos of my family, of my friends, of places that I frequent, that I am exposing them, but also they could end up in the hands of the people that they represent that have been quite vindictive,” she said.

Figueroa instead offered to “sit down with an inspector” to go through her Instagram account.

Judge Matthew Braner did not address this offer, instead reiterating his tentative ruling before Friday’s hearing that the request to limit the scope of the subpoena as “rather quickly addressed by the Defendant’s proposed clarifying letter to Meta.”

” … Plaintiff’s [Figueroa’s] present objection appears to be a delay tactic particularly in light of Plaintiff’s recent document subpoena to Meta requesting the same or similar documents as Defendant’s [Fletcher’s] subpoena,” he wrote in the ruling.

The settling of this aspect of the legal fight surrounding Figueroa’s allegations against Fletcher comes one day after his attorneys accused the former MTS employee of destroying evidence, prompting Braner to place a temporary restraining order on her cell phone and other devices.

The former Supervisor’s attorneys have accused Figueroa of “improper delays” multiple times due to document disclosure since her suit was filed last March. It included an attempt to get over $10,000 in legal penalties against her for a claimed failure to respond to evidence requests.

Before Figueroa departed with her previous attorneys, they said she was working to produce all documents and evidence that Fletcher had requested as quickly as possible.

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That said, on Friday, Figueroa argued that the online communications, including a contested voice message, are not relevant to the question of whether she gave consent to Fletcher in the two sexual interactions she described in her complaint.

“Putting aside the fact that he was my supervisor at work, that voice message exonerates him of nothing. The defense and Nathan Fletcher, the defendant, forget that consent is given in person — not on Instagram,” she said.

Another discovery hearing is scheduled for next Friday, Apr. 5. At this hearing, Figueroa is also expected to provide an update to the court on her efforts to find a new attorney — something she said on Friday was still an ongoing process. She is representing herself in the interim.

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