The Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower protection provision shields in-house attorneys, even if they haven't proved fraud occurred–and even if bringing the claim will violate attorney-client privilege, the 9th Circuit ruled.

Two former in-house attorneys, husband and wife Shawn and Lena Van Asdale, filed suit against Nevada-based gaming machine company International Game Technology (IGT), claiming it fired them in retaliation for calling out a possible shareholder fraud that occurred during a 2001 merger with Anchor Gaming.

IGT pursued the merger largely because Anchor professed to have a valuable patent for a slot machine wheel. But after Shawn discovered another company's slot machine invalidated the patent–which Anchor may have known–he told IGT's general counsel he believed shareholders were misled about the merger's value. Soon after, the company terminated both him and his wife.