Summary Judgment in State Employment Case Brought by Executive
September 30, 2017Plaintiff sought damages for violation of his rights under the FEHA while working as an executive of a public entity. Plaintiff alleged that he was demoted without a legitimate reason, transferred to a less desirable assignment, and passed over for promotion. Plaintiff also claimed the defendant failed to conduct a proper investigation or take corrective action after plaintiff complained about the purportedly discriminatory or retaliatory conduct against him.
On behalf of the defendant, we moved for summary judgment as to each of the three causes of action for discrimination based on race, retaliation, and failure to take corrective action. The Court sustained the majority of defendant’s evidentiary objections and granted defendant’s motion in its entirety, determining that defendant’s evidence was sufficient to meet its burden of showing that there were no triable issues of fact as to plaintiff’s discrimination and retaliation claims and that plaintiff failed to carry his burden to create a triable issue of fact despite filing over 1000 pages of evidence in opposition. As to the third cause of action, the Court found that plaintiff’s claim for failure to take corrective action is derivative of the first two causes of action, and as such, failed as a matter of law.