California governor Gavin Newsom accused of interfering in Activision Blizzard lawsuit
A former lawyer for the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing is resigning in protest, saying that governor Gavin Newsom is interfering in its ongoing lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.
The story comes via Bloomberg News, which obtained a copy of an e-mail sent on Tuesday night by DFEH assistant chief counsel Melanie Proctor. In her e-mail, Proctor told staff that she was resigning to protest the firing of chief counsel Janette Wipper, who had been directly fired by governor Newsom.
Both Wipper and Proctor had stepped down from the Activision Blizzard lawsuit earlier this month.
Proctor's e-mail apparently detailed a long pattern of interference by Newsom's office that led up to Wipper's firing. "The Office of the Governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation," she told her colleagues. "As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision's counsel."
She claimed that Wipper was fired for attempting to protect the agency's independence. Wipper's spokesperson told Bloomberg News that she is evaluating "all legal avenues of legal recourse," which might include a claim under the California Whistleblower Protection Act.
It's unclear why Newsom's office was paying such close attention to the Activision Blizzard case. The DFEH had successfully negotiated a $100 million settlement out of Riot Games for its alleged culture of sexual discrimination and harassment. But high-level interference like this suggests some desire for the case to wrap up.
It is worth noting that the DFEH has been exceptionally aggressive in its prosecution, going so far as to try and throw a wrench in Activision Blizzard's $18 million
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