In January 2009, plaintiff Jody Thulin, a chief business officer for the Gateway Unified School District brought concerns of improper bidding practices, unlawful spending of bond funds and other financial mismanagement by then-Superintendent John Strohmayer to the school board. In the summer of 2009, Strohmayer retired and was replaced by Robert Hubble, who reassigned Thulin to the classroom in a teaching position with a pay cut. Thulin sued the Gateway Unified School District and claimed her demotion was in retaliation for her complaints of financial mismanagement. The Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District, Sacramento reversed the Shasta County Superior Court’s trial judge’s ruling in 2010 that Thulin had not shown evidence that her reassignment was in retaliation. This was the retrial of the case. Defense counsel argued that Thulin, who had only been in her chief business officer position for nine months, was demoted because she was incompetent. Defense counsel contended that Hubble wanted someone in the position with more experience, so he requested that the board reassign her and promote someone, who had 40 years of experience, into the position instead., Thulin was demoted in 2009. She sought lost earnings of $200,000 and future lost earnings of more than $800,000. She sought recovery for emotional distress and lost wages of more than $1 million.