Fred Parker, the former Carleton Ravens men’s hockey coach who sued the university following his dismissal, is reworking his lawsuit to include allegations against the university’s president, Parker’s lawyer said Dec. 13.
After four seasons behind the Ravens’ bench, Parker was fired April 30, 2010 when talks to renew his contract broke down. His contract was set to expire May 31, 2010.
At the time of his dismissal, Parker told the Charlatan the university let him go when he turned down a four-year offer and asked for a one-year deal instead.
Jennifer Brenning, Carleton’s director of recreation and athletics, said in an October 2010 examination for discovery she thought Parker would have used the one year to look for another job because he was so unhappy with the university’s offer and with the athletics department.
Parker has long maintained he would have accepted the four-year deal if he knew it was the university’s final offer.
In June 2010, Parker filed a lawsuit against the university for breach of contract and defamation.
This came one month after Parker’s lawyer, Bruce Sevigny, requested the production of information and documentation from the university that Parker felt he was entitled to receive, Sevigny said in an email.
Specifically, Sevigny requested the university preserve all electronic communication sent by any involved university officials, including Carleton president Roseann Runte, Parker said in a sworn affidavit submitted to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice Nov. 23, 2011.
The university searched and preserved relevant documents from the email accounts of Brenning and Carleton vice-president (finance and administration) Duncan Watt, but said there was no purpose to do so for Runte’s emails, according to Parker’s affidavit.
Runte’s emails had already been manually searched and reviewed and were not found to be relevant, the university’s counsel said, according to the affidavit.
The university eventually complied, however, after Parker sent the “university’s solicitors” an unsworn copy of a supplementary affidavit Oct. 7, which outlined the purpose of the requested search, he said in the affidavit.
On Nov. 16, Sevigny received 36 pages of additional documents discovered by the university following the search of Runte’s email account.
This document included an email Runte sent to Jacques Shore, then chair of the university’s Board of Governors, within hours of Parker’s April 30, 2010 termination, according to the affidavit.
In the email, Runte warned Shore that Parker may speak out about the issue in the public.
“His performance was apparently less than stellar and he is the highest paid coach in Ontario. He wanted more money. The [athletics director] refused and he quit. There are other good coaches available,” Runte said in the email shown in the affidavit.
In his four years as head coach, Parker said no one ever expressed any issues with his performance. In an email he received from Brenning April 6, 2010, Brenning said Parker had “done an exceptional job building the men’s hockey program,” according to the affidavit.
Parker made a salary of $75,000 per year and a survey conducted by Carleton’s senior compensation analyst Tim Taylor showed he wasn’t the highest paid university hockey coach in Ontario, according to the affidavit.
Taylor could not be reached for comment.
Finally, Parker questioned why Runte claimed he “quit,” only two hours after he was dismissed by Brenning.
Parker said he believes all this supports the conclusion that there was a “willful mischaracterization surrounding the renegotiation, and ultimate termination, of [his] employment with the university.”
Parker is “currently taking steps to amend his lawsuit to include additional claims and allegations related to the actions of the [university president],” Sevigny said in an email.
Parker is seeking $400,000 in damages for breach of contract, $100,000 for defamation and $100,000 in punitive damages, Sevigny said.
The university intends to pursue a summary judgment motion, which would dismiss the case before it goes to trial, Sevigny said. A case conference, where both parties meet with a court official to discuss the issues and finalize the timing and process for the motion, is scheduled for Dec. 21, Sevigny said.
Runte, Brenning, and Carleton’s lawyer Lynn Harnden refused to comment since the case is in litigation.
“This case is in front of the court, so we won’t be arguing our case through the media,” Carleton’s media relations co-ordinator Chris Cline said in an email.
— with files from Erika Stark
