Frye v. Anadarko Petroleum Corp., No. 18-20543 (5th Cir. 2019)
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Plaintiff appealed the district court's dismissal of her claims against her former employer, Anadarko, alleging that the company retaliated against her in violation of the Dodd-Frank Act's whistleblower protections. Plaintiff also sought a declaratory judgment stating that her non-disclosure agreement with Anadarko does not cover a letter she wrote to the SEC detailing Anadarko's alleged misconduct.
The Fifth Circuit held that plaintiff failed to present her whistleblower retaliation claim as a continuing violation to the district court, and thus she waived her argument. In this case, the retaliation that plaintiff alleged in the short time between plaintiff's SEC report and her decision to resign was insufficient to state a claim for constructive discharge. Therefore, the court affirmed the district court's judgment in part. However, the court reversed the district court's determination that plaintiff's claim under the Declaratory Judgment Act was nonjusticiable. The court explained that plaintiff's only options were to stay silent or to disclose the SEC letter and risk liability under the Proprietary Information and Inventions Agreement. Consequently, plaintiff presented a justiciable declaratory-judgment claim. Accordingly, the court remanded for further proceedings on that claim.
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