Briscoe-King

MEMORANDUM **

Wanda Briseoe-King appeals the district court’s denial of her motion for a new trial in her section 1983 action alleging that she was fired from the California Department of Corrections (CDC) in retaliation for her *616 exercise of free speech rights. She contends the district court abused its discretion in admitting evidence of her prior bad acts and erred in its application of Mt. Healthy City School District Board of Education v. Doyle, 429 U.S. 274 , 97 S.Ct. 568 , 50 L.Ed.2d 471 (1977), and Pickering v. Board of Education, 391 U.S. 563 , 88 S.Ct. 1731 , 20 L.Ed.2d 811 (1968). We affirm.

The district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting evidence of BriscoeKing’s prior bad acts. Evidence of those acts was relevant to Peralta and Montes’s defense that they did not seek to have Briscoe-King terminated in retaliation for her allegedly protected speech, but rather because of her inability to work with others and the disruptions she caused in the workplace. Under Mt. Healthy, this is a valid explanation for Peralta’s and Montes’s motives, regardless of whether California law permitted CDC to terminate Briscoe-King for her prior bad acts. The district court…