Top officer sues MTS for retaliation over fallout of Nathan Fletcher scandal

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A new lawsuit is facing the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System over the agency's response to allegations of sexual misconduct levied at former chairman of the board Nathan Fletcher.

MTS chief information officer Emily Outlaw filed the suit against the agency on Tuesday, claiming she was retaliated against after raising questions about when they were made aware of the accusations surrounding the then-County Supervisor from a former employee, Grecia Figueroa.

A statement from MTS on April 6 and a 90-page report on a subsequent independent investigation into MTS' response released in January said that officials were not aware of Figueroa's claims until her lawsuit was filed at the end of March 2023.

However, Outlaw refutes this in her suit alleging that MTS officials knew about the allegations over a month prior due to a letter sent by Figueroa's attorneys to chief human resources officer Jeff Stumbo on Feb. 17 that notified them of potential legal action.

That was the same day Stumbo reportedly sent an official notice of termination to Figueroa, two weeks after giving her notice they were planning to let her go and wanted to engage in severance negotiations.

Outlaw also claims in the complaint that she was instructed by her supervisor, chief executive officer Sharon Cooney, in early April to "retrieve" messages sent by Figueroa through a communications platform used by MTS.

She refused saying it would require her team to break its policies by hacking into the account, according to the suit. It does not detail what messages Outlaw was instructed to retrieve and who was on the receiving end.

In the months that followed, the complaint claims Outlaw's relationship with Cooney "deteriorated," cumulating with her being placed on paid administrative leave between December 2023 and February 2024 for an unknown reason.

She also alleges her performance review rating was nearly cut in half after receiving good marks the year before, and was denied a cost-of-living raise — something the complaint says is standard for MTS employees.

FOX 5/KUSI reached out to MTS for a statement but did not immediately receive a response. In previous statements, the transit agency has maintained they were not aware of the specific allegations until the end of March when Figueroa filed her lawsuit, despite the Feb. 17 letter.

According to the complaint, Stumbo said he "did not see" the emailed letter until after several days after it was sent, because it went to his spam folder.

On April 3, Outlaw said she was tasked with conducting an IT investigation into whether this recounting was correct ahead of a meeting of the MTS Board of Directors later that month to discuss the litigation.

The complaint claims this investigation led Outlaw to believe Stumbo did open and read the email, as it was forwarded to MTS' outside legal counsel. According to the complaint, Outlaw told Cooney of this in a meeting on Apr. 20, allegedly prompting her to leave the room abruptly.

The exact contents of the letter were not disclosed in the complaint, although the report from the outside investigation into Figueroa's accusations described it as a notification to the agency that she was "investigating potential claims of harassment and sexual assault and instructing the defendants to preserve all relevant evidence in anticipation of litigation.”

The report goes on to say the letter "does not provide any facts about the alleged misconduct, but includes general categories of 'potential legal claims,'" including sexual harassment, sexual assault and retaliation for complaining about the alleged misconduct.

As of Thursday, Outlaw appears to remain employed as MTS' chief information officer, according to her public LinkedIn profile.

"The MTS leadership tried to crush Ms. Outlaw because she told the truth about emails her bosses wanted the public to believe had been lost," Outlaw's attorney, Dan Gilleon, said in a statement sent to FOX 5/KUSI on Thursday, adding they placed "a large target on her back."

"This lawsuit will not cause MTS to halt the use of finger-pointing, back-biting, and deception as its first line of defense," he continued. "Instead, MTS will pay hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to continue the dodge-and-weave."

The initial lawsuit filed by Figueroa against Fletcher and MTS appears it will continue to trial early next year, with discovery hearings scheduled to begin at the end of this month. At this time, it is unclear how Outlaw's suit may be impacted once the trial begins.

FOX 5's Zara Barker contributed to this report.