that "there isn't evidence that Ms. Blake, who gave [Cornwell] the bad [review] score,
knew that there was a complaint under WLAD." Report of Proceedings at 40. As a
result, the judge believed that Cornwell had failed to show a causal link between the
adverse employment action taken against her and her prior lawsuit against Microsoft.
Cornwell appealed the trial court's ruling to the Court of Appeals. The Court of
Appeals affirmed the grant of summary judgment in an unpublished opinion. Cornwell
V. Microsoft Corp., No. 74919-6-1, slip op. at 1-2 (Wash. Ct. App. June 5, 2017)
(unpublished), https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/749196.pdf. The court agreed
that Cornwell had failed to present evidence to prove causation between her prior
lawsuit and the adverse employment actions taken against her. Id. at 9. But it declined
to address whether Cornwell's prior lawsuit was "protected activity" under WLAD. Id.
The court also declined to adopt Cornwell's proposed standards of review for the
claim. Id. at 13.
2 After she was terminated, Cornwell applied for 170 different positions at Microsoft.
For the current opinion, go to https://www.lexisnexis.com/clients/wareports/.
Corn well(Dawn) v. Microsoft Corp.
No. 94846-1
Cornwell appealed the Court of Appeals' adverse decision to this court, and we
accepted review of all issues.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
"We review a trial court's grant of summary judgment de novo." Scrivener v.
Clark Coll., 181 Wn.2d 439, 444, 334 P.3d 541 (2014). "Summary judgment is
appropriate only when there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and the moving
party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Id. "[Bjecause of the difficulty of
proving a discriminatory motivation," id. at 445, "[sjummary judgment for an employer