The City moved to strike these declarations as untimely under Code of Civil Procedure section 659a. The court overruled the City's objections.
The court denied the City's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The Court denied the City's motion for new trial, conditioned on the plaintiffs accepting a remittitur reducing the jury's verdict to $500,000. Regarding the City's allegations of juror misconduct, the court stated that it was "convinced ... based on all of the evidence that, in general, the jurors did not commit misconduct," and that, regarding Ms. Hirtle, "the subsequent inquiry of other jurors and the instructions of the Court alleviated any possible taint regarding her consultation with her husband." In setting the remittitur amount, the court stated that it "was persuaded by the moving papers thatthe verdict was excessive due to the facts of the case and some possible questionable activity by some jurors during deliberations."
Plaintiff accepted the remittitur, and judgment was entered in the amount of $500,000. The City filed a timely notice of appeal.

DISCUSSION

I
On appeal the City first argues that the evidence was insufficient to establish the elements of a claim for retaliation under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), Government Code section 12900 et seq. The City concedes that in considering this issue "the appellate court must read the record in the light most advantageous to the plaintiff, resolve all conflicts in his favor, and give him the benefit of all reasonable inferences in support of the original verdict." (Stubblefield Construction Co. v. City of San Bernardino (1995)