The subpoena requires Fulmer to testify in former Alabama booster Wendell Smith’s lawsuit against the NCAA and others. Fulmer is supposed to appear on Sept. 25, at the Birmingham law firm of Blankenship, Harrelson & Wollitz, LLC. It’s likely Fulmer’s attorneys will fight the appearance, since it is two days before Tennessee’s game at Auburn.
Fulmer was preparing to walk down radio row, starting a line of appearances on talk shows, when several witnesses saw him being handed the subpoena. Chris Linton, who represented the circuit court of Jackson County which issued the subpoena on Wednesday, used a woman named Meredith Phillips (representing the law firm) to serve the subpoena.
She was dressed in a Tennessee outfit to get Fulmer’s attention and the woman handed him the subpoena over the ropes separating the hotel lobby and radio row. Linton told The Tuscaloosa News that the law firm videotaped the exchange.
“I have not seen a subpoena,” Fulmer said of the subpoena addressing the print media shortly after 12 noon. “This is not the place for that kind of thing. There are great fans thatg have a great passion in the Southeastern Conference not interested in that kind if B.S. And I would have some other choice words if there weren’t so many cameras in here.”
The Tuscaloosa News reported that Linton said Fulmer didn’t seem pleased when the Phillips handed him the subpoena.
“He wasn’t too happy,” Linton said of Fulmer’s reaction to receiving the subpoena.
Four years ago in order to dodge a subpoena from former Alabama coaches Ronnie Cottrell and Ivy Williams involved in another lawsuit stemming from the NCAA investigation of the Alabama program, Fulmer, on the advice of his attorneys, didn’t appear at the ’04 SEC media days. He conducted a teleconference instead, but the SEC office fined Fulmer $10,000 anyway for failing to appear.
Fulmer has always avoided testifying under oath about his involvement in the NCAA investigation of Alabama, a probe that led to led to a two-year bowl ban and the loss of 21 scholarships over a three-year period. The probation ended February, 2007.
Fulmer’s role in the NCAA investigation – sending confidential memos to former SEC commissioner Roy Kramer that included allegations and help from the conference office -- is a matter of public record. He also guided the NCAA investigators to recruiting analyst Tom Culpepper, who was a key witness.