The former employer of a doctor found dead in a Missouri firefighter's home is seeking a subpoena in a federal lawsuit, court filings show.
A memorandum of understanding filed in the lawsuit and counterclaim between Dr. Sarah Sweeney and Best Foot Forward Podiatry Clinic also alleges that she described her boyfriend as “abusive.” The complaint was filed in September, just months before police launched an investigation into her “sudden death”.
Sweeney, 39, a podiatrist from West Virginia, sued his employer for harassment and discrimination at the St. Louis clinic where he worked before moving to Missouri and opening his own practice. filed a lawsuit alleging negligence. She will be compensated for her work.
The 2020 suicide of Grace Holland, 35, has received renewed attention after her sudden death on January 13th, which remains under investigation. The two women died at the home of local fire chief Robert Daus.
Two Missouri women found dead years apart in the same firefighter's home
Dr. Sarah Sweeney (left) and Grace Holland (right). The two women were found dead in Robert Dowse's home. (The Sweeney Family, Grace Holland/Facebook)
Lawyers for her former employer are seeking to subpoena Daus in the case, saying any communications between them could be “directly related” to her physical or mental health. insisted.
“While Sweeney worked for BFF, she had an affair with Rob Daubs (sic), the person BFF and Harry are subpoenaing and prosecuting. According to Sweeney, this person “He was abusive and was suspected of killing his former girlfriend,” wrote Mark Murphy, an attorney representing the defendant.
In fact, Daus was not named as a suspect in Holland's death, which was not considered a homicide.
Although the death was ruled a suicide by the county coroner and two separate police investigations, her family has sued the man for wrongful death and also accused him of abuse.
Please read the submission:
Murphy was looking for text messages between Sweeney and a former colleague that could relate to her physical and mental health, including conversations that specifically mentioned Dauss.
He had also filed a subpoena seeking “all electronically stored communications.” [Daus] and Plaintiff Sarah Sweeney. ”
Sweeney claims in her lawsuit that the clinic denied her health benefits and saddled her with medical debts and business loans when she left to start her own practice. As recently as Dec. 21, she told the court that her personal assets were only $212 and that she was receiving palliative care because she had no health insurance.
Grace Holland and Robert Daus' 2020 photo posted on her Facebook. Her death in July 2020 was ruled a suicide after multiple investigations, despite skepticism from her family. (Grace Holland/Facebook)
“I moved from Texas to St. Louis, Missouri to work for the defendant. The financial strain caused by that employment meant that I did not receive a steady, full salary or have health insurance. “I became homeless and moved several times, many times since I arrived,” she told the court. “I'm currently living with my boyfriend. Most of my things are in boxes.”
Both the clinic and its owner countersued her, accusing her of breach of employment contract, violation of non-compete clauses and defamation.
Autopsy of Missouri firefighter's fiance reveals 'suspicious' scenario, experts say
Mr. Daus' attorney did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
Dr. Sweeney's family told Fox News Digital earlier this week that they lost contact with Dr. Sweeney after her mother and stepfather sent her a news article about Holland's death.
Holland's family claims that the firefighter, who is the fire chief for the Maryland Heights Fire District, controlled Holland's finances and that there may have been domestic violence in the months before Holland's death. There is.
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Creve Coeur Police Chief Jeffrey Hartman on Wednesday stood by his department's investigation into Holland's death, saying county police reviewed the incident and came to the same conclusion: suicide.
He also cautioned against speculation about Sweeney's case, as autopsy and toxicology results are still pending.
