A dispute between a current and former employee of a neighborhood management corporation in New Mexico has escalated into a bitter court battle.

Christine Robertson, who was fired as executive director of Santa Fe Railyard Community Corporation in February, is accusing board president Rosemary Romero of defamation for saying she stole company equipment.

For decades, the corporation has managed the Santa Fe Railyard - a neighborhood known for its arts and shopping scene - under an agreement with the city. The firm's mission is to make the area a 'sustainable and inviting public space'.

In her lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Robertson denies stealing any equipment and said that was not a stated reason for her dismissal. The board of directors has not released an official reason for her termination. 

The lawsuit states that Tom Aageson, an acquaintance of Robertson's, posted a comment in support of her on a Santa Fe New Mexican article dated February 18 that reported on her firing.

Aageson then received a call on February 25 from Romero, who allegedly said 'Christine has been naughty', adding that 'there is some equipment missing'. 

Aageson reported the conversation to Robertson's counsel and signed a sworn affidavit on March 31.

'At no point during Ms. Robertson’s employment, at the time of her termination, or in any post-termination communication to her did SFRCC raise any allegation that equipment or property was missing or that Ms. Robertson bore any responsibility for any such loss,' the complaint states. 

The Daily Mail reached out to the Railyard Community Corporation for comment. 

In a withdrawn March lawsuit, Robertson alleged that she was fired in retaliation for pointing out fraudulent financial documents. The Railyard Community Corporation has denied this.

That lawsuit claimed Robertson was 'repeatedly pressured' to approve what she believed were fraudulent or inaccurate bank documents that the firm needed to provide to the city.

Aageson referred to this situation in his comment on the Santa Fe New Mexican article.

'It took a lot of courage for Ms. Robertson to not sign the 990,' he wrote, referring to the type of federal return filed by tax-exempt organizations. 'I’ve signed a lot of those and you do it with great thought.'

Aageson is the former executive director of the New Mexico Museum Foundation, which is classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity.  

In her April suit, Robertson continues to claim that she noticed 'audit representation letters and board meeting minutes' that contained 'material inaccuracies'. She did not go as far as to say that she was fired over bringing this to the attention of leadership.

However, she still argues that Romero's alleged statements were made with 'actual malice, or at minimum with negligent disregard for their truth or falsity'.

Actual malice requires public figures, such as Robertson, to prove that a so-called defamatory statement about them was made by a person who knew it was false or had a reckless disregard for the truth.

This legal standard was established in the 1964 landmark case New York Times Co. v. Sullivan. It has subsequently made it incredibly difficult for people with a modicum of notoriety to win defamation cases.