An lawyer for the Boston Water and Sewer Fee’s suspended HR Director Marie Theodat has demanded the Herald “cease and desist” all reporting on her consumer on grounds that this paper’s lawyer has deemed frivolous and missing authorized standing.
Lana Sullivan, an lawyer who represents Theodat in no less than considered one of a number of civil lawsuits filed in Suffolk Superior Court docket, despatched a cease-and-desist letter to the Herald. The letter seeks to forestall additional reporting on her consumer on the grounds that she is a “private” slightly than a “public” determine.
Sullivan additionally wrote that the Herald, in its prior reporting, makes statements that tie non-public civil litigation Theodat is embroiled in to her job efficiency on the Boston Water and Sewer Fee — which the lawyer takes problem with in her letter.
“As you know, the Boston Herald has published a number of false and defamatory statements purporting to connect the involvement of Ms. Theodat, a private citizen who is not a public figure, in personal civil litigation that is of no legitimate public concern, with her job performance at Boston Water and Sewer Commission,” Sullivan wrote.
“You are hereby notified to cease and desist from publishing any and all further defamatory statements regarding Ms. Theodat, a private citizen, concerning or relating to her job at the Boston Water and Sewer Commission,” Sullivan added.
The Herald’s reporting on Theodat has been based mostly on public data from and offered by the Boston Water and Sewer Fee, and court docket paperwork from two of three civil lawsuits which have been filed in opposition to Theodat in Suffolk Superior Court docket and are publicly accessible by the state trial court docket web site.
The Water and Sewer Fee, a quasi-public company, was ordered to offer public data to the Herald earlier this month, after this paper appealed to the Secretary of State’s workplace following ignored requests.
These data present Theodat is at the moment suspended on paid administrative go away from the Fee. Payroll data from the company present Theodat was paid $202,873 for her place as chief human useful resource officer final yr.
Jeffrey Robbins, an lawyer for the Herald, dismissed Sullivan’s claims in a response to her letter, saying that the paper’s reporting is “encompassed by the Fair Report Privilege,” which protects the media from defamation lawsuits when reporting on public proceedings.
Such privilege relies, partly, on the general public’s proper to find out about essential occasions.
“First, notwithstanding the fact that the sine qua non of any defamation action is a false and defamatory statement of fact, your email identifies no such statement made by the Herald,” Robbins wrote. “Second, you assert, twice, that your client is a private figure. It does not appear that way to me.
“Third, you appear to complain, although you do not identify what it is that you claim is actionable in any way, about the Herald’s reporting on public proceedings. You do not identify any statement that it made which was false, but as you also know, any such reporting is encompassed by the Fair Report Privilege,” he wrote.
Robbins added, “You demand that the Herald ‘cease and desist’ fair and accurate reporting. We respectfully decline to accede to your demand.”
Public data present Theodat, previously the Fee’s human sources director, was promoted to chief human useful resource officer final September and noticed wage hikes — amounting to a 61% elevate since 2019 — whereas embroiled in a number of civil lawsuits that embrace allegations of fraud.
The fraud allegations leveled in opposition to Theodat in a Suffolk Superior Court docket lawsuit grew to become public after they had been first reported by the Herald final October.
The lawsuit, filed final August, alleges Theodat labored with family members to swindle her aged and dementia-ridden uncle out of his $1.1 million Dorchester dwelling. It alleges she “fraudulently induced” him to signal over the deed to his longtime dwelling for “less than $100” beneath the “guise” he was signing paperwork associated to his medical care.
On the finish of this previous November, a Suffolk Superior Court docket jury issued a verdict in favor of a lady who alleged Theodat stiffed her on a $75,000 mortgage mortgage. The ruling was made after a weeklong trial associated to a separate civil lawsuit filed in opposition to Theodat in 2020.
A trio of unions representing Boston Water and Sewer Fee staff despatched a letter to Henry Vitale, the fee’s government director, final October urgent for an inside investigation and for Theodat to be suspended pending the outcomes.
The unions, of their letter, had additionally requested that Theodat be stripped of her skill to deal with delicate worker info like Social Safety and banking numbers, and that the knowledge be transferred to the authorized division.
“The allegations filed against the senior HR director are concerning to the unions and its members that we represent,” the unions’ letter said, in reference to the civil litigation.
The Fee had responded to these calls by saying that it noticed the civil lawsuits as having no bearing on Theodat’s employment in an announcement that described her as a “valued employee.”
The data offered this month by the Fee cite a privateness exemption whereas declining to substantiate whether or not an inside investigation was launched.
Theodat has denied all claims within the civil litigation, both by court docket filings or in a short cellphone name with the Herald final October, when she referred to as the grievance filed in August 2024 “fraudulent.”
