Professor Sanney subpoenaed in Levitt v. Felton lawsuit
Another Central Michigan University faculty member is being pulled into lawyer Todd Levitt's parody Twitter account case.
Kenneth Sanney, a faculty member in the Finance and Law Department, was served a subpoena Sunday afternoon to be deposed in the "Todd Levitt 2.0" lawsuit.
Sanney filed an emergency motion hearing Monday morning claiming harassment by Levitt and was seeking a personal protection order. Sanney was ultimately denied the protection order.
Sanney, who maintains he is not a party to the lawsuit, also said the deposition would impede upon his teaching schedule.
Isabella County Trial Court Judge Paul H. Chamberlain heard Sanney's testimony Monday afternoon.
William Shirley, a fixed-term faculty member in the Finance and Law Department, represented Sanney in Monday's hearing. Levitt, a former fixed-term faculty member, also appeared with lawyer Ghazey Aleck, a Midland attorney.
Levitt is currently suing Zachary Felton, a 21-year-old Mount Pleasant senior, over a parody Twitter account, "Todd Levitt 2.0," that started sending tweets in April.
James Felton, department chair for Finance and Law and father of Zachary Felton, sat in the gallery during the motion hearing. Gordon Bloem, Zachary's lawyer and a faculty member in the finance and law department, was not present.
Aleck said he wanted to depose Sanney to see if there are any connections between the leaking of an audio file featuring Sanney, James Felton and Levitt onto social media sites reddit.com and SoundCloud.com. The two-minute clip contained audio of a confrontation outside Levitt’s Bellows Street office.
Sanney filed a police report on June 12, the same day of the confrontation. Sanney did so alleging harassment by Levitt. Central Michigan Life received a copy of the report on Aug. 5 from the Mount Pleasant Police Department through the Freedom of Information Act, a state law that allows citizens access to public records. No charges were filed.
James Felton and Sanney go to lunch every day at Kaya Coffee House, he said, and sometimes the two take a route that goes in front of Levitt's office.
The confrontation was recorded by James Felton, Sanney said, and three copies were given to Mount Pleasant public information officer Jeff Browne, Joe Finney, assistant director of Student Conduct, and the Isabella County Trial Court as evidence.
"I did not post that recording online," Sanney said. "I was very angry (when it was leaked.) It didn't make either one of us look very good."
After hearing the examination and cross examination of Sanney, Chamberlain said Shirley and Aleck must come up with a time and date by noon Tuesday for the deposition.
"It doesn't seem like anyone is very well behaved (in this case,)" Chamberlain said. "You're airing dirty laundry in public view. All of you will follow the rules of civility or face severe sanctions from this court."
Chamberlain added it is up to the person being deposed whether or not they show up to the deposition time.
A time and date for Sanney's deposition has not yet been set.
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