Gene Troutman, the former executive secretary of the Clemson University board of trustees, has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit seeking $15 million in damages, his attorney said Thursday.
Former Clemson University President Jim Barker, university spokeswoman Cathy Sams, former university Senior Associate General Counsel Erin Swann and the estate of former Clemson General Counsel Clay Steadman are named as defendants in the suit, which was filed Monday in Greenville County, court records show.
The suit is the latest chapter in a long-running legal dispute between Troutman and university officials. Clemson officials have spent more than $900,000 in legal fees on the dispute.
Troutman began working for Clemson's board of trustees in May 2005 after a 30-year career with Flour Corp. He was dismissed in August 2007.
According to previous court filings, university officials said Troutman failed to maintain an effective working relationship with board members and improperly reorganized the university's internal auditing division.
Troutman contends that he was fired for questioning excessive pay raises for administrators and suggesting that the university use cash reserves to lessen tuition increases. He sued the university in federal court in 2008 but the case was later dismissed.
In 2010, Troutman was indicted on charges of grand larceny and computer crime. The felony charges were based on allegations that he removed documents and electronic files belonging to the university. The charges were dropped in 2012.
The suit filed this week alleges that the defendants took part in "a conspiracy to promote false charges of theft against Troutman," according to a statement issued by his attorney, Spartanburg lawyer Alan Lazenby.
Troutman also has filed a malicious prosecution lawsuit against the university, which is pending in Pickens County. Troutman decided to sue specific individuals because the damages that he can receive from the university are capped at $300,000, Lazenby said in an interview.
Sams is represented by Greenville attorney Amy Snyder in the suit filed this week.
"We don't believe that Clemson University or any of the individual defendants have maliciously prosecuted Mr. Troutman," Snyder said Thursday.
Barker, the university's former president who is still a faculty member in Clemson's School of Architecture, and Swann could not be reached Thursday. Steadman died after suffering a heart attack in 2012.
Lazenby said this week's suit and Troutman's pending suit against the university will probably be consolidated into a single case that could be ready for trial in about nine months.
Follow Kirk Brown on Twitter KirkBrown--AIM
---
©2015 the Anderson Independent Mail (Anderson, S.C.)
Visit the Anderson Independent Mail (Anderson, S.C.) at www.independentmail.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
----------