By Filings on
Church & Ministry
Liberty University
Jerry Falwell Jr.
Lawsuits

“The lawsuit says Falwell was due $7.6M back in 2020 in his retirement account.” - WSET

Discussion

Tue, 03/14/23

Looks like the lawyers are going to get the lion's share of Falwell's retirement, sad to say. $8.5 million plus $10 million sounds big until you start bleeding it away by the billable hour and then pay taxes on what's left.

My thought for Liberty is that they need to weigh the cost of trying to "take back" Falwell's money vs the cost of the money itself. I'm no fan of giving multimillion dollar payouts to louts, but there is a point where you might have to say "the contract is worded so that unless you fire him for cause before he resigns, he gets the money. No number of New York lawyers can change that."

One might also figure that Falwell might have a bit of humility and say "ya know, I made out like a bandit on this one already, maybe I'd better let this one slide." But obviously I do not know the mind of Mr. Falwell.

Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.

Tue, 03/14/23

I don’t claim to know much about the case, but if the news article is accurate, he’s arguing he resigned and wasn’t fired and that, therefore, the contract holds. If LU is going to see it through, it will be interesting to see what sort of case they make for voiding the contract.

Is there any case law on “Yeah, he resigned but under pressure and that’s the same as termination with cause”? Doesn’t seem likely, but LU’s lawyers think they can pull it off? Maybe it’s different if there’s official communication saying “Do x or you’re fired,” followed by employee decision to not do x and a quick resignation?

But the article sounded like other litigation is already in progress from LU’s side… so, even more complicated. It just looks like a no-win mess to me. I supposed from JF’s point of view, if you walk away with net=something vs. net=nothing, it’s a win.

He’s not going to starve, I’m pretty sure. He can always work for Trump (or is he already?)

Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.