A state judge dismissed a lawsuit yesterday by John A. Fallon III against Eastern Michigan University, which he said had violated his rights under a whistle-blowers’ protection act by firing him as president last year.
The Washtenaw County Circuit Court did not agree, The Ann Arbor News reported. Earlier this month the court dropped one of the defendants from the lawsuit: Thomas W. Sidlik, chairman of Eastern Michigan’s Board of Regents. Mr. Fallon did not prove that Mr. Sidlik had intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him, a judge said, according to the Ann Arbor News.
Mr. Fallon and his lawyer could not be reached for comment, the local newspaper said.
In the lawsuit, the former president had argued that the regents fired him the day before a public meeting in July 2007 to prevent him from making comments they feared would be unfavorable. At the time the university was steeped in controversy over its mishandling of a student’s murder on the campus, which the U.S. Department of Education had found to be a violation of federal crime-reporting law.
Mr. Fallon currently is one of four finalists for the presidency of North Country Community College, in upstate New York. —Sara Lipka
