NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) - A top lawyer for the state of California has resigned, accusing the governor's office of interfering with a discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.

Ms Melanie Proctor, the assistant chief counsel for California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH), said in an e-mail to staff on the night of April 12 that she was resigning to protest the fact that her boss at the agency, Chief Counsel Janette Wipper, had been abruptly fired by the governor.

Both lawyers had already stepped down from the Activision lawsuit earlier this month without explanation. A representative for the two attorneys confirmed that Ms Proctor had resigned and Ms Wipper was fired.

The allegation and loss of the top two lawyers on the case raises questions about the fate of the Activision lawsuit, which accuses the Santa Monica, California-based video game publisher of sexual discrimination and misconduct. The case is currently pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The lawsuit, which detailed Activision's "frat boy" culture, led to employee walkouts, calls for the chief executive officer to resign, condemnation from its business partners and a stock plunge that culminated in Microsoft's agreement earlier this year to purchase the company for US$69 billion (S$94 billion).

Ms Proctor said in the e-mail to staff that in recent weeks, California Governor Gavin Newsom and his office "began to interfere" with the Activision suit.

"The Office of the Governor repeatedly demanded advance notice of litigation strategy and of next steps in the litigation," Ms Proctor wrote in the e-mail, which was seen by Bloomberg. "As we continued to win in state court, this interference increased, mimicking the interests of Activision's counsel."

Ms Erin Mellon, communications director for Mr Newsom, said that "claims of interference by our office are categorically false" and the governor's office "will continue to support DFEH in their efforts to fight all forms of discrimination and protect Californians".

Ms Proctor wrote that Ms Wipper had "attempted to protect" the agency's independence and was "abruptly terminated" as a result. "I hereby resign, effective April 13, 2022, in protest of the interference and Janette's termination," Ms Proctor wrote.

Ms Wipper is "evaluating all avenues of legal recourse including a claim under the California Whistleblower Protection Act," said her spokesman Alexis Ronickher.

A spokesman for the governor's office referred a Bloomberg request for comment to a spokesman for the DFEH, who said they would not comment on personnel matters.

"DFEH will continue to vigorously enforce California's civil rights and fair housing laws," a spokesman said.

The shake-up comes just two weeks after Activision reached a settlement with the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for US$18 million over a similar lawsuit. In a series of court squabbles, California's lawyers had attempted to block that settlement but were ultimately rejected by a federal judge.

Critics pointed out that US$18 million was low for a company of Activision's scale, and that Ms Wipper's department had gotten Riot Games, a far smaller company, to pay US$100 million last year to settle its own discrimination lawsuit.

Ms Wipper started at the DFEH in 2018 and was reappointed to her position last November. She cultivated a reputation as a legal bulldog, pursuing splashy cases against tech companies such as Tencent Holdings' Riot and Tesla.

One member of the department, speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to the media, said that Ms Wipper was widely respected and that she had overhauled the agency for the better. Detractors accused her of being too aggressive at a public agency rather than deferring to civil rights plaintiff's lawyers.

Ms Jennifer Reisch, an attorney who has worked with Ms Wipper, praised the agency's transformation in recent years. "For the first time in its history, the Department of Fair Employment and Housing had a strong litigator who was actually flexing the significant muscles that statute and regulations provide to protect workers in its state," she said in an interview.

In her resignation e-mail, Ms Proctor slammed the governor's office, writing that "justice should be administered equally, not favouring those with political influence". She encouraged staff to continue working on the agency's ongoing litigation "to the best of your abilities".