The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently clarified the rights that public employees have to not be retaliated against by a supervisor for testifying in a deposition in the context of a civil rights lawsuit. In the case of Karl v. City of Mountlake Terrace, Martha Karl filed suit against the City of Mountlake Terrace and Assistant Chief of Police Pete Caw. Karl was the Confidential Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police. In 2008, she was subpoenaed to give deposition testimony in a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by former department Sgt.
