Boston Globe dismisses lawsuit against former editor over texts

BOSTON — On Monday, the Boston Globe reported they have filed to dismiss a lawsuit against a former Boston.com editor.

The lawsuit, filed in May, came after Hilary Sargent, a former writer and editor for the Globe-owner website Boston.com, alleged the paper's editor, Brian McGrory, sent her an inappropriate text. The Globe filed for an injunction against Sargent in an attempt to compel her to provide more information into her allegations against McGrory.

In a letter to the court, the Globe said on Monday that “a preliminary injunction is no longer necessary," and expressed hope that the former employee would come forward and voluntarily cooperate with the investigation into her claims.

According to the Globe, the newspaper argued that "reasonable" cooperation from Sargent with any investigation arising from her employment was required based on her 2016 separation agreement from the company.

On Monday, in light of the suit being withdrawn, Sargent suggested she would cooperate, saying in a statement: “I look forward to speaking openly without the threat of litigation, and in a manner that takes into account the sensitivity of the subject matter.”

The complaint was filed days after Sargent posted a screenshot of a text message conversation to her Twitter account, where one of the parties asks the question, "What do you generally wear when you write?" Sargent has attributed the question to McGrory.

In a letter to Judge Christine M. Roach dated last Friday, the newspaper said it only filed the lawsuit in an effort to get Sargent's cooperation in the investigation into the allegations after she hadn't responded to the paper's repeated requests for answers.

The Globe wrote the lawsuit "has largely succeeded in achieving its purpose," after Sargent revealed information regarding the allegations in court documents. Sargent's filings showed she did not have the original text message exchange, nor could she recall the date of the exchange and that it might have happened after she left Boston.com. In those documents she also confirmed she and McGrory used to date.

“The Globe remains hopeful for its outside investigator to interview Ms. Sargent so as to hear directly from her concerning her allegations regarding Mr. McGrory and to review all pertinent information she may possess,” the newspaper’s lawyer, Mark Batten, wrote to Roach. “But the Globe is also confident that it has now taken all steps reasonably available to it, and has learned significant new information as a result that will assist the Globe in reaching sound conclusions about Ms. Sargent’s allegation.”

In a filing, Sargent's lawyer Jack Seigal, claimed his client "never refused to provide [cooperation]," but that "she simply refused to discuss the matter prior to obtaining counsel."

In a statement issued on Monday, the paper reiterated the same points mentioned in the letter to Judge Roach:

"The action's purpose was to ascertain the truth about a serious allegation Ms. Sargent publicly leveled on social media regarding an inappropriate text exchange between her and Boston Globe Editor Brian McGrory. In her tweet, she implied that it was sent while she was an employee at Boston.com, although there was no date visible. Faced with Ms. Sargent's refusal to provide the date of the exchange, the Globe brought legal action to expeditiously learn all relevant information from Ms. Sargent. That legal action succeeded in achieving its purpose: Ms. Sargent has finally provided the information the Globe has requested from the start. Crucially, Ms. Sargent has now admitted that she does 'not recall' when the messages were sent and it is 'more likely' that they were sent after she worked at the Globe."

Sargent has defended in court filings that the screenshot she posted to Twitter indicated "inappropriate and sexually suggestive" messages she received from McGrory while she was employed by Boston.com. The filing did not provide additional text messages.

Sargent was a writer and editor at Boston.com from 2014 to 2016.

On Monday, Sargent posted a statement to social media saying she had approached the Boston Globe management last fall concerning sexual harassment at the company, but that her requests were ignored.

“It wasn’t until I went public last month with an accusation that the Globe contacted me, and immediately threatened litigation,” she said. “I have never refused to cooperate in the Globe’s ‘investigation.’ No media institution that expects to be taken seriously on the issue of sexual harassment should ignore concerns of one of its former employees, not should they resort to litigation as a first option. I am disappointed that the Globe’s leadership chose that route, and I’m pleased they chose to drop this lawsuit.”

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