Frank Miller, whose gritty take on Batman was the inspiration for the current wave of successful Dark Knight films, is being sued by a former employee, though it is the actions of Miller’s girl friend Kimberly Cox, not those of the creator of The Dark Knight Returns, that are the subject of the suit brought by Joanna Gallardo-Mills, who joined Miller’s staff as an "executive coordinator" in 2008.

The New York Post reports that Gallardo’s complaint alleges that she was fired for complaining about the way that Cox treated her. According to Gallardo-Mills, who has been in the U.S. for over 20 years, Cox was constantly criticizing her accented English.  The disputes with Cox reached escalated in July of 2010 when Cox allegedly threw a phone and a chair at Gallardo-Mills and then smeared feces on a countertop in the employee’s workspace.  A year later Gallardo-Mills contends that Cox destroyed a printer with a hammer and flung files around the room before decorating the workplace with a used menstrual pad.  After that flareup, Miller agreed to allow Gallardo-Mills to work from home to avoid confrontations with Cox.

Cox contends that she was “shocked” by the suit, saying that she surprised that the suit was going forward "because she (Gallardo-Mills) was offered a very heavy settlement."  A spokesman for Frank Miller had no comment.