Plaintiff Jeanie Larson, who served as Chief Information Security Officer at UC Davis Health System, sued The Regents claiming whistleblower retaliation and gender discrimination. During her employment, Larson exhibited multiple performance issues including poor communication, failure to deliver work on time, and inability to produce an adequate security plan and budget. Her reporting structure changed multiple times, ultimately placing her under an IT infrastructure manager who counseled her repeatedly before issuing a termination letter. Larson filed numerous complaints during her tenure, alleging HIPAA conflicts of interest by her manager, workplace violence, harassment, and gender discrimination. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of The Regents. Larson appealed and The Regents retained Horvitz & Levy to defend the judgment on appeal.
The Court of Appeal agreed with Horvitz & Levy’s arguments, holding that Larson failed to establish the necessary causal connection between her protected activities and the adverse employment actions she experienced. Additionally, her gender discrimination claim failed because she could not demonstrate that gender motivated the termination decision. The court found her evidence consisted mainly of uncorroborated declarations and she failed to show she was similarly situated to male employees who allegedly received better treatment. The court also noted that Larson failed to address The Regents’s legitimate business reasons for termination.
Larson v. Regents 
