Liberty University has filed a restraining order against a former employee to prevent him from disclosing any more confidential information and documents that he’s been sharing with the public, an act the employee said he had permission to do.
Scott Lamb, the school’s former Senior Vice President of Communications, was terminated earlier this year. He says it’s because he expressed concerns over the way Liberty was handling sex abuse cases and the fact that they were covering them up and not taking them seriously. The school says he was given the ax for poor performance, insubordination and mismanaging his expenses, and that his concerns about handling sexual abuse had nothing to do with it.
Furthermore, they say Lamb signed a confidentiality agreement in 2018, one which he has shown a willful disregard for.
The motion is demanding that Lamb give up ‘all documents or other information, including all privileged, confidential, and/or trade secret information” and to disclose everyone he’s sent this information to. A memorandum added to the suit explains:
“Although many of these materials were likely protected trade secrets, privileged communications or attorney work product protected information, Lamb has admitted that he disclosed them to the media, general public and commercial enemies of Liberty without privilege or prior permission as contractually required.
Perhaps most shockingly, Lamb has demonstrated no regard for the attorney-client privilege, freely discussing privileged advice regarding litigation strategy and other matters on national media.”
Lamb, for his part, has remained defiant. While he has not addressed discussing the privileged advice and litigation strategy, he says that he had permission to share the information he alleges got him fired. Chiefly, he says that when the firm Baker Tilly interviewed him in 2021 about the whole Jerry Falwell Jr. affair, he gave over 20 hours of testimony, explaining in a response on Twitter:
“Before my first minute of testimony, I was given a 2-page letter of ‘whistleblower protection,’ signed by interim president Jerry Prevo, instructing me to speak honestly, forthrightly, thoroughly, and without any regard to the reputation of the school, its leadership, or its board. And Prevo promised that there would be no retaliation for my honest testimony…
“I indicted the former president, the Board of Trustees for negligence and Jerry Prevo as the chairman of the trustees during the entire presidency of Jerry Falwell Jr. Baker Tilly presented their report to Jerry Prevo and the Board of Trustees on September 29. Seven days later, Jerry Prevo fired me.”
Liberty is currently under fire after 12 women launched a class-action against them, suing the University for the way they have failed to properly investigate sexual assault and sexual abuse claims on campus.
