Matt was the agency manager at Bobs Insurance's Los Angeles office. He was employed as an at-will employee, and his contract did not specify any fixed duration of guaranteed employment. Matt was discharged by the company after eight years because of his alleged negative attitude, the company's increasing expense ratio, and the agency's decreasing recruiting. Matt provided evidence that he had been successful. Matt demonstrated that, even though the company a decrease in recruitment during his employment, he himself had a net increase of contracted agents of 1,100 percent. Matt claims that he was discharged because he was asked to write a letter of recommendation about his supervisor, Canfield, whose termination was being considered. Johnson, Canfield's supervisor, was disappointed with the positive recommendations that Matt wrote because it made Canfield's termination difficult to execute. Johnson is alleged to have transferred Matt to expedite Canfield's termination, and he eventually discharged Matt in retailiation for the positive letter of recommendation.