In White v. City of Pasadena, published January 17, 2012, the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of a former police officer's suit against her former employer for termination that was allegedly in retaliation for her disability-discrimination litigation against the employer. The plaintiff initially filed a FEHA suit alleging that her employer discriminated against her based on perceived disability. The jury found against her disability-discrimination claim, and that decision was affirmed on appeal. Later, the plaintiff was terminated for allegedly lying about a purported suicide attempt. She engaged in mandatory administrative arbitration concerning the termination. The arbitrator rendered an opinion that the termination was improper, but the city manager -- the final decision maker -- rejected this opinion and upheld the termination. The plaintiff filed an administrative mandamus writ petition in state court challenging that decision. The court upheld it. The plaintiff also filed a lawsuit alleging that she was terminated in retaliation for her discrimination lawsuit, in violation of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. She sought damages from the employer under 42 USC section 1983 and under various state law causes of action. The employer removed the case to federal court, where it was dismissed.
The court held that state court decisions have the same claim-preclusive and issue-preclusive effect on federal litigation as they would have on state court litigation. The decision on the state court FEHA claim precluded her allegations in the federal lawsuit that the employer discriminated against her based on her perceived disability. And the administrative decision on her termination, which met the California standards for claim preclusion, barred her claim that the employer had an insufficient or pretextual reason for her termination.
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