Personal Injury Law

Workplace Discrimination Action Filed Against Roseville Healthcare Provider, Part 6 of 8

By Moseley Collins, Esq.

(Please note: the names and locations of all parties have been changed to protect the confidentiality of the proceedings.)

Foundation argues that Smith was terminated for legitimate reasons, cannot prove otherwise by showing that the reasons were pretext for retaliatory animus, and therefore it should prevail on summary judgment. As Smith?s claim is a state law claim for retaliation, the California Court of Appeal decision in Mamou v. Trendwest Resorts Inc. (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 686, is directly on point. As clarified by the Mamou court, while pretext is certainly a relevant issue...the central issue...whether the evidence as a whole supports a reasoned inference that the challenged action was the product of retaliatory animus. (Id. at 715.) At the summary judgment stage, the court's duty is to determine whether the employee's evidence is too weak to sustain a reasoned inference in the employee's favor. (Id. at 718.) If reasonable competing inferences may be drawn from the facts, summary judgment should be denied. Adickes v. S.H. Kress & Co., supra, 398 US at 157; Lake Nacimiento Ranch Co. v. San Luis Obispo County (9th Cir. 1987) 841 F2d 872, 875.

In this case, while a jury could draw a reasoned inference that the very close proximity in time between Plaintiff's complaints and her termination was coincidental, the jury could also draw a reasoned inference that the proximity between the two acts was evidence enough of retaliatory animus. Fisher v. San Pedro (1989) 214 Cal.App. 3d 590, 615 (one may infer retaliation by the proximity in time between protected activity and the allegedly retaliatory employment decision.)

Full post as published by Sacramento Injury Lawyer Blog on June 24, 2009 (boomark / email).