United States Ninth Circuit

In a former public employee-engineer's 42 U.S.C. section 1983 and state law action against various defendants, summary judgment for defendants is reversed as to a First Amendment retaliation claim where the district court erred in holding that plaintiff's job duties foreclosed any of his proffered instances of protected speech from the First Amendment's protection, because his complaints concerning his superiors' allegedly corrupt overpayment schemes were not in any way a part of his official job duties.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/26/2007
• Published 12/26/2007

Judges

• GOULD, Circuit Judge:, Before:  B. FLETCHER, ANDREW J. KLEINFELD, and RONALD M. GOULD, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Shawn Hart, for the plaintiff-appellant (argued and on the brief).


• For Appellees:
  
• Catherine Hendricks, Senior Counsel, Seattle, Washington, for the defendants-appellees (argued and on the brief).  Robert M. McKenna, Attorney General, State of Washington, for the defendants-appellees (on the brief).