Digital Realty Trust, Inc. fired one of its employees, Paul Somers, shortly after he reported to senior management suspected securities-law violations by the company. Somers, however, did not report the suspected securities-law violations to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), so instead of applying for a bounty, he filed a lawsuit alleging a claim of “whistleblower retaliation” under Dodd-Frank. In reply, Digital Realty moved to dismiss the lawsuit on the ground that Somers was not a “whistleblower” under Dodd-Frank, since he did not report the misconduct to the SEC.

CASE QUESTIONS

1. How does Dodd-Frank define who a whistleblower is?

2. Why did this case go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court?