On June 27, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California granted Snap Inc.’s motion to compel arbitration of a Dodd-Frank whistleblower retaliation claim. Pompliano v. Snap Inc., No. 17-cv-3664 (2018 WL 3198454).
Background. Plaintiff signed an employment agreement (the “Agreement”) with Snap Inc. (the “Company”)
A California federal court—in Erhart v. BofI Holding, Inc., 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14755, Case No. 15-cv-02287 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 11, 2017)—recently denied BofI Federal Bank’s (“BofI’s”) motion to dismiss the Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower claims plead in their former internal auditor Charles Erhart’s amended complaint. The court also denied BofI’s motion as to Erhart’s defamation claim, allowing it to proceed, but dismissed Erhart’s claims for (i) violation of the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (“CMIA”); (ii) intentional infliction of emotional distress; and (iii) breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.
On February 12, 2016, the Ninth Circuit rejected a former maintenance manger’s whistleblower retaliation claims under the Energy Reorganization Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5851 (“ERA”), concluding that he failed to engage in in a protected activity. Sanders v. Energy Northwest, No. 14-cv-35368.
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California largely denied a motion to dismiss a whistleblower retaliation claim brought by a company’s former general counsel, ruling that: (I) the SOX and Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation provisions provide for individual liability against board members; and (ii) the Dodd-Frank anti-retaliation provision protects internal whistleblowers. Wadler v. Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144468 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 23, 2015).