The former president of Truett-McConnell University has filed suit against the North Georgia school for breach of contract in his firing last year.
Emir Caner filed suit June 5 in the State Superior Court of White County, Ga. He seeks compensation for lost wages, lost speaking engagement income, attorney fees and interest accrued on all the above.
Trustees removed Caner from office on Sept. 25 last year after completing an investigation into his handling of sexual abuse claims on campus.
University photo of Bradley Reynolds with Emir Caner.
Caner had been under siege since early June when he became the focus of an alleged coverup of sexual abuse between a former vice president and a former student who later joined the staff. While Caner said there was no coverup in the years-long relationship and grooming and sexual assaults against Hayle Swinson by Brad Reynolds, both staff and students said the abusive relationship was an open secret on campus.
Former Vice President Chris Eppling told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he confronted Caner with evidence of the relationship, only to be told to stop investigating the matter.
Swinson’s Atlanta attorneys — Shein, Brandenburg and Schrope — had sent a graphic account of the charges, including 300 emails from Reynolds to Swinson, to trustees, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board with whom it is affiliated, Gov. Brian Kemp, and Swinson’s legislator, Gabriel Sanchez.
The timing of when that letter was sent and what actions resulted before and after it are at the heart of Caner’s case. BNG previously reported the 13-page document was distributed on Jan. 20, 2024. Reynolds was dismissed — not terminated — the following month (February 2024) after he acknowledged to administration that he was under investigation by the White County Sheriff’s Office for an inappropriate relationship charge initiated by Swinson.
Caner’s lawsuit claims that letter was distributed Feb. 6, 2025, after Caner had asked for Reynolds’ resignation. The letter, the suit says, damaged Caner’s “pristine record” as university president and presented the “first blemish” against his record.
That document from Swinson’s attorneys also made public allegations another Truett-McConnell professor, Jeremy Lyon, who also at some point was removed from the faculty. Lyon has filed suit against BNG for reporting on what the law firm’s letter said about him, claiming defamation. That lawsuit remains pending in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia. BNG has filed motions with the court seeking dismissal of the case based on lack of venue and lack of cause.
In his own legal filing, Caner acknowledges the law firm letter and its allegations against both Reynolds and Lyon.
Caner’s lawsuit says he “terminated Reynolds in 2024, immediately after Reynolds disclosed that he was under investigation for sexual misconduct: and that it was “well within Caner’s authority as president to both terminate Reynolds and to offer him severance.”
Caner’s suit says the president notified the board of trustees “within days of terminating Reynolds,” but does not say he notified the board immediately.
The lawsuit contends: “At no point prior to Reynolds alerting him of the investigation in 2024 did Caner have any knowledge of Reynolds’ alleged sexual misconduct.”
“At no point prior to Reynolds alerting him of the investigation in 2024 did Caner have any knowledge of Reynolds’ alleged sexual misconduct.”
Thus, the timing of all this is pivotal to Caner’s claims of wrongful treatment by the board.
The language of the lawsuit extols Caner as an extraordinary university president who brought growth and stability and prestige to the small Baptist school.
“Under Caner’s leadership, TMU transitioned from a small college into a thriving university,” it says. “Due to his successful track record, TMU extended Caner’s contract in 2021 for 10 years,” meaning through June 30, 2031. Removing him without cause before that date is a breach of contract, the suit contends.
Caner was being paid $272,639 annually as base salary, with scheduled increases included in the contract. The contract also included perks such as “an unlimited meal plan for Caner and his family, phones for him and his wife and any additional electronic devices needed to perform his duties, a university issued vehicle, and coverage for all his health care, life insurance and retirement benefits.”
The cost of these benefits exceeded $133,000, the suit states.
The contract allowed Caner to retain for personal use “any honorarium or stipend he received from any third party as a representative of the university and receive reimbursements for his mileage, meals and hotel stays if the third party provided no compensation.”
On average, that amounted to $30,000 annually in honoraria, the suit states.
The former president contends the board of trustees was swayed by reporting from The Roys Report in May 2025 that detailed the Reynolds saga.
The suit says the board “cited Caner’s handling of Reynolds’ investigation and termination as the cause of his termination” and then asserts, “None of the reasons cited by the board amounted to a breach of the contract by Caner.”
Caner is represented by Anther Ahdrew Y. Coffman and James Dean of the Atlanta law firm Parks, Chesin and Walbert.