Supreme Court of California

In plaintiff's suit against the California State University, claiming that he was removed from his position as departmental chair and subjected to other adverse actions in retaliation for having reported improper conduct by the dean of the College of Business Administration, summary judgment in favor of the defendants is reversed as, when an employee of the CSU claims he or she suffered retaliation for making a protected disclosure under California's Whistleblower Protection Act, and after an internal investigation, CSU rejects employee's claim of retaliation, the employee need not obtain a writ of mandate overturning CSU's decision before he or she may bring an action for damages under section 8547.12 as CSU employees, like employees of state boards and agencies, need not exhaust the judicial remedy of a mandate petition before pursuing the judicial remedy for which the Act expressly provides, an action for damages.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/03/2010
• Published 05/03/2010

Judges

• WERDEGAR, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Ganz & Gorsline, Philip J. Ganz, Jr., and Laurie Susan Gorsline for Plaintiff and Appellant., Schoville & Arnell, Dennis A. Schoville, Louis G. Arnell; Boudreau Williams and Jon R. Williams for David Ohton as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant., Law Office of David J. Duchrow; David J. Duchrow; Law Offices of Marc Coleman and Marc Coleman for California Employment Lawyers Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Horvitz & Levy, Jeremy B. Rosen, James A. Sonne; Goldman, Magdalin & Krikes and Robert W. Conti for Defendants and Respondents.