Thomas v. State, Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Environmental Health, Food Safety & Sanitation

OPINION

MAASSEN, Justice,

I. INTRODUCTION

A state agency terminated the employment of a seafood inspector following a contentious airport inspection that resulted in complaints by a seafood processor and an airline. The inspector contends that his termination was actually in retaliation for an ethics complaint he had filed over a year earlier against the agency's director, The superior court decided most of the inspector's claims against him on summary judgment but allowed one claim, alleging a violation of his free speech rights, to go to trial, The jury found that the ethics complaint was not…