Judge tosses opera singer's lawsuit against the University of Michigan over firing

A judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday by an acclaimed opera singer who sued the University of Michigan over his firing for what the school deemed sexual misconduct.

David Daniels waited too long to sue the university, U.S. District Judge Sean Cox said.

Daniels, 58, was hired as a voice professor in 2015 and granted tenure three years later in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. He was fired in 2020 after an investigation found that he had solicited at least three students and shared a sexually explicit video with one, officials said.

Separately, Daniels and and his husband, Scott Walters, pleaded guilty in 2023 to sexual assault and were placed on probation in Texas. A Rice University graduate student said the couple drugged and sexually assaulted him years earlier after they met at a Houston Grand Opera reception.

Daniels claimed that his rights were violated during the process that led to his University of Michigan firing. The school denied it and noted that he had been represented by a lawyer.

In a court filing, the university said waiting more than three years to sue was “inexcusable neglect” by Daniels or a “strategic decision.”

Daniels' attorney, Francyne Stacey, said the criminal case in Texas presented “exceptional circumstances.”

Daniels also sued a student who had accused him of sexual misconduct. Cox, a federal judge, dismissed those claims, too, saying they were based on state law, not federal law.

Daniels has performed at the Metropolitan Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the San Francisco Opera.