Opinion ID: 1198956
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Alleged procedural deficiencies

Text: As defendant observes, in wrongful termination cases we have rejected public policy claims that were largely unaccompanied by citations to specific statutory or constitutional provisions. ( Turner, supra, 7 Cal.4th at p. 1257, 32 Cal.Rptr.2d 223, 876 P.2d 1022.) We observed that the omission puts [the defendant] and the court in the position of having to guess at the nature of the public policies involved, if any. This kind of showing is plainly insufficient to create an issue of material fact justifying a trial on the merits of [the plaintiffs] claims. ( Ibid., fn. omitted.) Defendant contends that under Turner, the Court of Appeal erred in reversing its summary judgment motion because plaintiff failed to identify a specific statute supporting his wrongful termination claim until he filed his opposition to defendant's motion. Even then, defendant asserts, plaintiff did not identify the statutes on which he relied, instead citing to the entire Federal Aviation Act and the Code of Federal Regulations without explaining their application to his case. Defendant contends that the Court of Appeal should have required plaintiff to specify his claim's statutory basis in his original complaint, or, at the very least, in his responses to discovery. Defendant claims that, without a specific statute or constitutional provision upon which to base his claim, plaintiffs case was deficient as a matter of law and warranted summary judgment. (See Union Bank v. Superior Court (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 573, 580-581, 37 Cal.Rptr.2d 653.) [7] After engaging in independent research, the Court of Appeal identified the regulations on which plaintiff now relies and requested supplemental briefing on whether those regulations could form the basis for plaintiffs public policy claim. Defendant did not argue in the Court of Appeal that plaintiff should have specified the statutory basis for his claim in his complaint, and the court did not address that issue. The court considered defendant's claim that plaintiff failed to produce the appropriate statutes or regulations to support his action at the summary judgment stage, but concluded that plaintiff had adequately identified several relevant FAA regulations as part of his opposition to summary judgment. Thus, the Court of Appeal properly held that plaintiff had met his burden to provide the specific statutes and regulations on which he based his claim.