Opinion ID: 169697
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Larry Palmer's Statement

Text: Mr. Jarvis asserts that he engaged in protected action in May 2003 when he requested an accommodation for his PTSD from Ms. Bishop, and that her failure to forward Larry Palmer's statement to the investigator less than two months later was retaliatory. He contends that the statement would have exonerated him because it supports his contention that Mr. Nielsen had startled him intentionally, not inadvertently. But Mr. Jarvis has failed to produce evidence that the failure to forward the statement was in retaliation for his request for accommodation. Ms. Bishop had no reason to believe that forwarding the statement would have helped him. By the time Ms. Bishop received Mr. Palmer's statement, written after the investigator had left the Spanish Fork office, the decision to place Mr. Jarvis on unpaid leave had already been made. And forwarding the letter after that time would have served no purpose: There is no evidence that the investigator played a role in the due-process meeting; and in any event, Ms. Bishop herself participated in the meeting and could have referred to Mr. Palmer's statement if it had appeared relevant. As it turned out, she would have had no reason to believe that the statement would have helped him at the meeting because he admitted that he was dangerous, drawing no distinction between his reactions to intentional and inadvertent startling. We affirm the summary judgment as to this retaliation claim.