A federal court dismissed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Auburn University. The lawsuit was filed by a former employee of Auburn Athletics who said he told his boss about errors in ticket sales and was later fired for it.
W. Matthew Davis, the former Tigers Unlimited program sales director, filed the wrongful termination lawsuit in October 2015.
In a ruling dated July 15, U.S. District Judge Charles Coody dismissed Davis' lawsuit, according to reports.
Davis’s suit alleged the University fired him after he conducted an audit of tickets designated as part of the Tigers Unlimited program and found between 3,500 and 3,800 tickets that were meant to be sold through the Tigers Unlimited program were instead being sold at face value.
He told David Benedict, associate athletics director, about the discrepancy, and after Benedict met with Jay Jacobs, athletics director, Davis was told to “keep his head down and mouth shut" and "forget about those tickets,” according to Davis’s suit.
After Davis discovered the ticket discrepancy, Davis alleged he was put under investigation by the Athletics department and later fired in February 2015. The University said Davis was fired for inappropriately communicating with Mark Tilson, a consultant whose contract had been canceled unbeknownst to Davis, according to his complaint.
Davis sued the University for violating his First Amendment rights under the Alabama Whistleblower Act.
"Allegations about athletics tickets have been thoroughly reviewed by internal and external auditors and reviewers," said Mike Clardy, University communication director, in a statement last year. "We are confident that athletic tickets sales have been managed in a fair and transparent manner."
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