United States Ninth Circuit

The district court's denial of defendants' motion for judgment as a matter of law, in a 42 U.S.C. section 1983 action in which plaintiff alleged that defendants violated his First Amendment rights when they removed him from his position with the police department in retaliation for his repeatedly airing concerns about work-related safety issues to his supervisors, is reversed and remanded, where: 1) the evidence presented to the jury did not reasonably permit the conclusion that plaintiff established a First Amendment retaliation claim; 2) when, as in this case, a public employee reports departmental-safety concerns to his or her supervisors pursuant to a duty to do so, that employee does not speak as a private citizen and is not entitled to First Amendment protection.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/03/2013
• Published 12/03/2013

Judges

• ALARCÓN

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel