After inaction by MD public defender on defamation suit, ex-staffer seeks court order

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A former part-time clerk is asking for a court order to compel the Maryland Public Defender Natasha Dartigue‘s office to take the corrective action called for by an independent mediator who found in November that Dartigue had spread “baseless” rumors after firing the clerk without cause.

A month after that former clerk, a law student now in her last semester at the University of Baltimore, sued for defamation in Montgomery County Circuit Court, Dartigue’s office hasn’t yet responded, her attorney said in a filing.

At the time of the complaint, a spokesperson for the OPD declined to comment, citing internal personnel issues.

Now, plaintiff Jane Doe is asking for a court order forcing Dartigue and her office to comply with the November opinion by retired Maryland Appellate Court Judge Patrick Woodward, who was serving as an independent mediator.

Woodward sided with Doe after a day-long name-clearing hearing in October at which multiple witnesses spoke.

Doe on Feb. 21 filed a motion asking for temporary and permanent injunctive relief, saying the OPD’s inaction jeopardizes her admission to the Maryland Bar and her nascent legal career.

“Three months have now passed since Judge Woodward’s detailed findings and explicit requisite measures with Defendants showing no action whatsoever towards compliance with any of the name-clearing measures to which Plaintiff is entitled,” the motion states.

“With that, Defendants have elected to leave in place and to circulate unabated the vicious falsehoods it generated about Plaintiff, compounding her great distress and her damages. After one year in total of Defendants’ illegal conduct, it is only a court order that will remedy the situation.”

Doe, who is represented by Towson lawyer Kathleen Cahill, argued she could suffer “irreparable harm,” but that “absolutely zero harm could result to Defendants if this Court were to grant the requested injunctive relief.”

Doe — known at the law school as “Miss OPD” due to what Woodward described as her “single-minded career goal” of working in public defense — worked part-time as an intern and then a clerk from May 2023 until she was fired in March 2024.

She received favorable performance reviews and was hoping for a promotion when she was fired on a virtual call.

“She was not told why, she was asked no questions, and she had no opportunity to defend against the secret claims,” her motion for an injunction states.

Doe learned why she was fired from a UBalt Law associate dean. According to Woodward, the OPD’s HR director testified that Dartigue broke the law when she told the dean the reasons for Doe’s firing.

Doe was accused of stalking a staff attorney and of being a violent threat. Three bullets were found in her desk, but they weren’t hers; Woodward found it “inconceivable” that she would keep bullets in her desk without the knowledge and direction of her boss.

She was fired and banned from OPD offices and courthouses; the office sent her photo to state agencies and law enforcement for a possible “be on the lookout,” or BOLO, designation.

Woodward found the accusations “lacked any credible evidentiary foundation.”

He ordered the OPD to issue a public statement saying “that (she) was a good and successful employee of the OPD, that she did not engage in any wrongdoing or misconduct, and that she did not ever and does not pose a danger, nor did she engage in stalking behavior, possess bullets, or engage in criminal behavior.”