Bonomi

MEMORANDUM *

Richard Bonomi appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant on his First Amendment employment retaliation claim. Bono-mi alleges that his supervisor, Marsha Gaddini, engaged in several acts of retaliation against him because of his speech regarding the poor work performance of his predecessor, Agent Roberto Levario. Gaddini was allegedly involved socially with Agent Levario, and Bonomi charges her with retaliating against him out of her loyalty to Levario. The precise nature of their relationship is unclear from the record and is in dispute. The alleged retaliation took the form of counseling letters, promotion denials, and meddling in Bono-mi’s work. The alleged retaliation is not before us on this appeal.

On May 3, 2002, the district court granted a motion for summary judgment in favor of Gaddini on the issue of whether Bonomi’s protected speech was causally related to the alleged retaliatory acts, concluding that the evidence presented was not sufficient to create a triable issue of material fact under any of the three categories of circumstantial evidence delineated by this court in Keyser v. Sacramento City Unified School…