Snoeyenbos v. Curtis

Plaintiff criticized officer no. 1 on social media for issuing her a parking violation; several years later officer no. 2 stopped plaintiff for reckless driving, officer no. 1 heard it on the radio and offered to buy officer no. 2 lunch if he issued a citation, which he did; plaintiff then sued officer no. 1 for First Amendment retaliation; at trial, court barred plaintiff from calling expert to testify about her feelings of anxiety and trauma when she heard about lunch offer and court excluded that testimony; appeals court affirms on grounds the issue is “whether a person of ordinary firmness in the plaintiff’s position would likely be deterred by the defendant’s retaliatory conduct,” an objective test, and expert’s testimony could have confused jury into thinking it was a subjective test.