Whistleblower at JPL loses suit on unfair dismissal. (Law).

ELDON Dale Smith might be having second thoughts about now.

Smith, a former facilities manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, brought a whistleblower suit after he said he was fired for reporting theft and destruction of government property and diversion of public funds.

The problem was that his allegations prompted a five-month internal investigation that ended up alleging that Smith himself had stolen cement, tires, a refrigerator, camping equipment and a golf cart -- all paid for with government money -- and delivered them by a government truck to his Temecula ranch, according to a recent 2nd Appellate District ruling denying his claim.

He was fired in June 1999 following the investigation and sued the California Institute of Technology, which operates JPL under a NASA contract, the following year.

Though he was indicted on five counts of mall fraud and theft of government property, according to the ruling, Smith was acquitted of all charges in December 2000.

The recent ruling upholds an earlier judgment made by an L.A. Superior Court judge.

On May 16, Appellate Judge Paul Boland wrote: "The mere fact that an employee's termination follows protected activities does not suffice to establish causation, especially where 'a lot happened in addition to' the termination and protected activity."

Jeffrey Long, Smith's attorney, did not return calls. Edward Gregory, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson LLP representing Caltech, called the case "a textbook example of what an employer should do to investigate."