In March 2015, plaintiff Erik Jacoby, 49, a temporary administrative employee for the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District, initiated a sexual harassment investigation against his general manager, Wendell Wall, and reported an allegedly unlawful financial transaction. A month later, Wall terminated Jacoby’s position. Jacoby sued his employer, the Georgetown Divide Public Utility District, alleging that its actions constituted retaliation in violation of public policy. Jacoby, who was hired in January 2015, claimed that he was terminated in April 2015 in retaliation for initiating a sexual harassment investigation against Wall and for blowing the whistle on an allegedly unlawful financial transaction a month earlier. Wall and the utility district contended that Jacoby was an at-will, temporary employee that could be terminated at any time and that Jacoby was fired because he simply did not fit in with the rest of the staff. Numerous former co-employees testified that Jacoby had eavesdropped on conversations, that they did not trust Jacoby, and that they threatened to bring the union into the dispute. Wall also testified that he was unaware that he was the subject of a sexual harassment investigation, so he could not have retaliated on that basis. Wall further testified that he did not consider Jacoby to have “blown the whistle” on the financial transaction., Jacoby claimed he has been unable to secure employment since his termination in April 2015, as he resides in a very rural area. He also claimed emotional distress and humiliation as a result of his termination. Thus, Jacoby sought recovery of $110,000 in past lost wages, $70,000 in future lost wages, and up to $540,000 in non-economic damages for his emotional pain and suffering.