A judge has refused Activision Blizzard's request to have the lawsuit brought against it by California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH).

As reported by Law360, Judge Timothy Patrick Dillon of LA County's Superior Court denied the demand, which saw the US publishing giant asking for the case to be paused for a period so that it could investigate alleged ethical violations.

This stems from another lawsuit between Activision Blizzard and US government body the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which the duo is settling for $18 million. DFEH opposed this, saying that it was not enough, with the EEOC saying that two of DFEH attorneys previously worked on EEOC's own investigation. If true, this could potentially be an ethics violation.

Judge Dillon refused Activision Blizzard's request within a week and provided no further reasoning. DFEH said the US publishing giant's request was "baseless."

DFEH filed its lawsuit against Activision Blizzard alleging a widespread toxic working culture at the games firm. The company is also being investigated by the SEC, while the CWA union has filed a complaint against the publisher with the National Labor Relations Board.

Activision Blizzard says that it has fired 20 employees in the wake of the harassment allegations.