Looks like he, Rita Rodriguez (his wife?) and the University of Arizona were named in a suit by a former administrative assistant who alleged violations of due process, assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED).
Due process violations and IIED always make me take note because they're pretty wishy-washy claims in the first place; nuisance suit stuff. Alarm bells ringing. So I dug further.
Huh. Looks like this was the plaintiff's second suit after her first was dismissed for failing to follow proper procedures. Some additional fun facts:
- The Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed her second suit, with no settlement paid by RichRod or Arizona
- The Plaintiff refused to cooperate with Arizona's investigation
- Arizona's investigation was unable to substantiate the Plaintiff's allegations
- Even with all this going on behind the scenes, Arizona didn't feel like they could terminate RichRod for cause; so when the fired him, they paid his buyout!
Yeah, sounds like a baseless nuisance suit to me.
Maybe do an ounce of research before dragging someone's name and reputation through the mud...