A federal appellate court has unanimously reinstated a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit filed against Navigators Group Inc. levied by Jennifer Yang, a former chief risk officer, who says she was wrongly terminated when she spoke up against Navigator's investment risk models that allegedly could constitute shareholder fraud.The reinstatement overturns an earlier summary judgment ruling in favor of Navigators Group.
Yang began working as the company's chief risk officer four years ago. She claimed she was discharged in November of that year after she told company officials about concerns over the insurer's risk models for its municipal bonds and structured financial products. She filed the lawsuit charging violations of the federal anti-retaliation provision, which protects against whistleblower retaliatory discharge.
The district court held her warnings did not rise to the level of whistleblower activity.
At best plaintiff has shown that she believed defendant's risk models were not wholly adequate to monitor its investment portfolio, according to Nelson. But such a belief on its own is insufficient to establish that plaintiff engaged in protected activity and that defendant knew she engaged in such activity.
The appeals court disagreed.
Yang and her supervisors here offered substantially different accounts of her Oct. 26, 2012, presentation to Navigator's executive team, found the appellate court. On such a record of conflicting accounts by interested parties, a court must assume that the fact-finder will assess credibility and draw inferences in favor of Yang.
While Navigators now cites generalized performance concerns to justify her termination, the appeals court said, Yang was never told of such concerns while employed at Navigators, and was informed she was fired only because she did not fit into corporate culture and failed to take a hands-on approach to her job.