In 2009 and 2010, plaintiff Kathleen Carroll, an attorney for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, disclosed a three-year backlog in teacher misconduct complaints. Although many complaints against school employees with credentials are routine, others could involve more serious issues, such as allegations of child molestation, child pornography, or drug addiction. In November 2010, Carroll was terminated from her position. She claimed she was fired in retaliation for disclosing the backlog in teacher misconduct complaints. Carroll sued the state of California, which was acting by and through the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing; the former general counsel who headed the division that oversaw teacher sanctions, Mary Armstrong; the assistant chief counsel, Lee Pope; the head of the agency, Dale Janssen; the human resources director, Christa Hill; and a peer, Ani Kindall. Carroll claimed that she was retaliated against for being a whistleblower and exposing the backlog. Janssen, Hill, and Kindall were ultimately dismissed from the case. Carroll claimed that after she exposed the backlog in teacher misconduct complaints, she was shunned by her colleagues. Specifically, plaintiff’s counsel contended that in August 2009, Armstrong told commissioners at a public meeting that there were only “little backlogs” from time to time and that when Carroll raised the issue, executives at the commission ignored her. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that, in mid-December 2009, Carroll turned to the Bureau of State Audits’ whistleblower hotline and then later spoke to a member of the then-senate president pro tem Darrell Steinberg’s staff. As a result, Steinberg requested the audit, which began in mid-2010. However, Carroll claimed that in the months before she was terminated, some of the commission’s executive leadership tried to lay her off, proposing her elimination as a cost-cutting measure, but it was tied to just one employee. Ultimately, the commission fired her. According to plaintiff’s counsel, the audit found major flaws in nearly every aspect of the commission’s regulatory process, including lapses in launching investigations, gathering facts, tracking cases, and revoking or suspending teacher credentials for misconduct. The backlog reached 12,600 cases at one point. Counsel contended that surveys tied to the audit showed that 40 percent of employees said hiring and promotion at the agency were compromised by family relationships or favoritism and that 43 percent of the respondents at the commission said that they feared retaliation if they filed a grievance or formal complaints. Defense counsel contended that Carroll was dismissed from her employment for legitimate, non-retaliatory reasons, including insubordination, dishonesty, and violation of her duties as an attorney by, in part, pursuing a romantic relationship with a client., In 2012, Carroll lost her appeal to the state personnel board for reinstatement due to its finding that Carroll failed to prove she was dismissed because of whistleblowing. Carroll claimed that the years of dealing with the case in court have been emotionally and financially draining. She alleged that she is a heart transplant recipient, so she has to deal with high medical bills, and that as a result of her termination, she had to spend all of her personal and retirement savings. Carroll also alleged that was not been able to buy tickets to visit her mother in Connecticut, who was 87 years old and in ill health. Thus, Carroll sought recovery of emotional distress damages, and past and future loss of income and pension benefits. Carroll also sought recovery of punitive damages. Defense counsel noted that Carroll never saw a therapist for her alleged emotional distress and that Carroll did not contend that she would require counseling. In response, Carroll admitted that any emotional distress that she suffered as a result of the defendants ended on or before Jan. 1, 2014. Thus, she refused an independent medical examination.