The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a ruling in Hill v. Komatsu America Corp. that involved the dismissal of a Sarbanes-Oxley Act retaliation claim on summary judgment on multiple grounds.
The plaintiff in the case raised concerns to the CEO of the Komatsu America Corp. that the company’s repair and maintenance program it was offering to distributors and product end users was not sufficiently funded. Within about a month, the plaintiff was fired after an unrelated investigation over improper expense reporting and for bringing his wife along on company business without first getting approval to do so.
The plaintiff filed a wrongful termination lawsuit, but the court granted Komatsu America Corp’s motion to dismiss on four separate grounds:
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