Claudio

Plaintiff Michael Claudio appeals from a summary judgment entered in favor of the Regents of the University of California in Claudio’s suit for wrongful termination of employment.

Plaintiff was employed by the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis (the University) when he contracted leptospirosis, a disease that left him disabled because he could not work in any area where he might become infected. He went on medical leave and moved to Florida. An employment specialist with the University began to communicate with plaintiff about the possibility of finding him another job at the University that did not require him to work around animals. Because plaintiff had been informed on four different occasions by the University that he had been fired, he requested the University’s employment specialist to communicate further directly with his attorney.

The University’s employment specialist phoned the law firm of plaintiff’s attorney and, without talking to the attorney, learned the firm specialized in workers’ compensation law. The specialist reasoned that because plaintiff’s employment situation with the University was not a workers’…