County of Kern v. Jadwin

Opinion

YEGAN, J.

Post hoc, ergo propter hoc is a Latin phrase “used in logic to describe the fallacy of thinking that a happening which follows another must be its result . . . .” (Webster's New World Dict. (2d College ed. 1989) p. 1113, col. 1.) In other words, the propinquity of two events does not necessarily establish cause and effect. The key word here is “necessarily.” County of Kern (County) argues that its filing of a False Claim Act (FCA; Gov. Code, § 12650 et seq.) against its former employee was not, and is not, a result of the employee’s federal lawsuit against it.1 At oral…