Gee

BACKGROUND

I. The lawsuit

Although none of the pleadings in this case are in the record, the parties agree in their lower court and appellate court briefing on the following facts underlying the lawsuit. Gee has sued County for wrongful termination on a disability discrimination theory, contending the County fired him because of his cancer diagnosis. He alleges County hired him as a supervising appraiser in February 2022, and in May 2022 he received a stellar three-month review. In July 2022, he told the County that he had been diagnosed with cancer. He requested reasonable accommodations related to his illness and treatment, but County denied his request and fired him in December 2022. Before his employment with County, Gee worked for Stanislaus County for 16 years—14 years in the county assessor’s office as a senior appraiser and two in the county’s Department of Workforce Department as a Business Services Manager II. He began the latter position in January 2020 and worked in that role “for two years.” Nothing in the record explains why he left Stanislaus County.

II. The deposition subpoena for business records

During written discovery, the County asked Gee if he had…