Olympia, Washington A former employee of Washington’s Department of Natural Resources is suing the organization and former state lands commissioner Hilary Franz, alleging that they let a senior lawyer to engage in a campaign of abuse, harassment, and intimidation against her.
Franz is charged with shielding former General Counsel Daniel Teimouri of the Department of Natural Resources by not acting when Bailey Boyd, the deputy director of external relations at the time, claimed that Teimouri was mistreating her. At the time, Teimouri and Boyd were in a relationship.
After Boyd reported the abuse, Franz is also charged with retaliating against her by significantly cutting back on her employment duties.
On July 24, Boyd, who was represented by HKM Employment Attorneys LLP, filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court against Franz and the Department of Natural Resources.
In addition to appropriate legal fees and costs, Boyd is requesting specific compensation for economic damages, pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, and humiliation.
The date of the trial is July 27, 2026.
Regarding ongoing litigation, the Department of Natural Resources chose not to comment.
In a statement sent by email last week, Franz refuted the accusations.
These allegations are false, as anyone familiar with my work with victims of domestic abuse can attest. Franz declared, “I have no doubt that the truth will win out.”
From January 2017 to January 2025, Franz was the commissioner of public lands for Washington. She started running for governor in 2023, but she later withdrew from the race and made an unsuccessful attempt for an open seat in the 6th Congressional District of the U.S. House last year.
According to the lawsuit, Teimouri was the general counsel for the Department of Natural Resources from October 2022 until May 2024, when he resigned willingly to take a position elsewhere.
Although his lawyer was unable to get in touch with Teimouri for comment, his lawyer has said that the case is full of baseless accusations.
The lawsuit claims that between September 2023 and July 2024, Boyd and Teimouri were romantically involved.
Boyd said that Teimouri had abused her physically, sexually, and mentally, and that he had threatened to terminate her from her employment if she did not comply with his demands.
During a dinner event on February 2, 2024, Boyd allegedly told Franz about the abuse and showed him some of the threatening texts she had received from Teimouri, according to the complaint.
In response, Franz allegedly told Boyd that Teimouri had acted similarly against his ex-girlfriend, who was also a colleague of Franz’s at the Department of Natural Resources.
Boyd claimed that after Teimouri allegedly struck her several times, she informed Franz about the abuse once more on March 9, 2024.
According to the lawsuit, Boyd called Franz rather than the police right away after the event because she was afraid of losing her job. In revenge, Teimouri allegedly shoved Boyd down the stairs and stole her phone as she was speaking with Franz.
Boyd claims that Franz decreased her duties at the department and failed to take any action to stop it.
However, the lawsuit claims that after Boyd reported the abuse, Teimouri’s work responsibilities remained unchanged.
According to Boyd’s lawsuit, Teimouri persisted in threatening to dismiss Boyd through his connection to Franz’s chief of staff even after he departed the Department of Natural Resources.
Franz called the claims untrue and wholly unsupported, denying that Boyd ever told her about the assault.
Boyd claimed she was able to leave the relationship after Teimouri was arrested on July 13, 2024, for trying to strangle her.
Officers noted that Boyd had a black eye from Teimouri’s alleged July 3 assault when they arrested her.
According to police documents, Boyd told authorities that she was concerned Teimouri’s career would be ruined if she reported the July 3 attack to the police.
Teimouri had a history of violence and aggressiveness toward her, according to Boyd, who told detectives that his abuse escalated around December 2023 after he allegedly quit smoking marijuana.
Officers noted that Teimouri’s behavior may have been influenced by his claimed intoxication at the time of the July 13 incident.
According to reports, Teimouri told authorities that his connection with Boyd was both positive and turbulent at times.
According to Boyd, the majority of the Department of Natural Resources’ executive management staff sympathized with her with Teimouri’s mistreatment after his detention. However, Boyd claimed that after Teimouri was arrested, Franz never discussed the matter with her and persisted in punishing her by preventing her from attending meetings or traveling.
Boyd alleges in the lawsuit that Franz’s retaliatory actions persisted until the conclusion of her tenure as lands commissioner in January.
At about the same time, Boyd quit her job at the Department of Natural Resources.
Her lawyer was unable to get in touch with her to comment on this matter.
On April 14, Teimouri entered a guilty plea to one count of fourth-degree assault and domestic violence in Olympia Municipal Court.
In addition to 302 days of jail time suspended for five years, he was sentenced to 60 days of electronic home monitoring.
In addition, he was mandated to finish a domestic violence treatment program and pay a $1,358 fine.
For the next five years, Teimouri is prohibited from contacting Boyd in any way by a no-contact order.
The Washington State Standard was the first to publish this news.
