Beginning in 2009, plaintiff Cecelia Carter, a black foreclosure specialist for Fannie Mae, began reporting to internal investigators about managers receiving kickbacks. Carter began working for Fannie Mae on Sept. 22, 2008. Over the next 20 months or so, she worked in the real estate-owned foreclosure section of Fannie Mae’s Irvine office. Her main duties included working with outside real estate brokers to help sell real estate-owned properties acquired by Fannie Mae from foreclosure. In 2009, she began to report to internal investigators at Fannie Mae that managers within its Irvine office were soliciting and receiving kickbacks from various real estate brokers who were the recipients of Fannie Mae’s business. On May 4, 2011, Carter was fired. Carter claimed she was terminated in retaliation of her reporting the Irvine office kickback scandal. Carter sued the operator of Fannie Mae, National Mortgage Association. She alleged that the defendant’s actions constituted race discrimination, race retaliation, whistleblower retaliation in violation of public policy, and wrongful termination. Carter alleged that she was the only black employee and that Fannie Mae targeted her because its supervisors were racist. She also claimed that she was retaliated for reporting on the managers receiving kickbacks. Defense counsel contended that Fannie Mae did not discriminate or retaliate against Carter, and that Fannie Mae terminated Carter’s employment because she broke the law when she recorded a conversation during a performance review without the consent of all parties, as the California Penal Code requires. Defense counsel also noted that Carter was not the only black employee., Carter sought recovery of lost wages and damages for her emotional distress as a result of her termination. She also sought recovery of punitive damages.