Black Santa Suffered No Bias, Jury Says
By Claude Walbert
SAN DIEGO - An oceanfront hotel did not discriminate against a black Santa Claus, a Superior Court jury decided Friday. On a 9...
'People's Court' in the Gold Country
By Xenia Kobylarz
SONORA - Tuolumne Superior Court Judge Douglas C. Boyack seems to fit perfectly the role of a small-town judge. Usually dresse...
Judge Rises as Community Grows, Changes
By Peter Blumberg
LAKEPORT - When Judge Arthur H. Mann first took the bench in 1979, he presided over a one-room Kelseyville Justice Court in a ...
Diocese Opposes Plan to Group Sex-Abuse Suits
By Leslie Simmons
LOS ANGELES - The Diocese of San Diego is petitioning to opt out of a proposed plan to bring up to 1,000 clergy sexual abuse l...
Circuit Rejects Porn Charge Against Mother
By Pam Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - Use of a camera and film made outside California to take a sexually explicit photo of a mother and her 10-year...
State High Court Expands Definition of Disability
By Sandra Corrales
Employment Column - By Mark A. Romeo - While federal courts continue to narrow the coverage of federal equal-opportunity and w...
Cruel Punishment
Forum Column - By Erwin Chemerinsky - For a century, the U.S. Supreme Court has held that grossly disproportionate sentences a...
'Gardner' Discusses Issues Of Pre-1893 Subdivision Maps
By Columnist
Focus Column - Land Use - By Daniel J. Curtin Jr. - As the population grows and urban boundaries expand in California, propert...
Smoking Verdict Survives Immunity
By Tyler Cunningham
SAN FRANCISCO - In the first test of the state's new tobacco liability laws, a San Francisco appeal court has affirmed a $26.5...
Brobeck Partners Confront Liability
By Erik Cummins
SAN FRANCISCO - When Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison's professional liability insurance runs out April 15, there's a good chan...
Juror Dismissal Doesn't Bar Retrial
By Peter Blumberg
SAN FRANCISCO - A judge's improper dismissal of a juror in the middle of a criminal trial does not bar the prosecution from re...
Business Was Not As Usual
By Pam Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - Dozens of anti-war protesters intermittently blocked entrances to the San Francisco federal building all day T...
Dog Handler Wins Bias Suit Against LAPD
By Leslie Simmons
LOS ANGELES - A jury Thursday awarded $3.6 million to a Los Angeles police-dog handler who claimed officers and supervisors di...
El Paso Tentatively Settles With State, Offers Free Gas
By Joan Osterwalder
LOS ANGELES - El Paso Corp., the nation's biggest natural gas pipeline company, tentatively agreed to a $1.7 billion settlemen...
Engineer Has Patent on Leadership of Bar Group
By Lawrence Kootnikoff
LOS ANGELES - Philip H. Lam may not be a rocket scientist, but he has designed nuclear power plants. Lam is not only an attorn...
Polanski Won't Make Appearance, Experts Say
By Anne La Jeunesse
LOS ANGELES - A quarter-century ago, then-44-year-old Polish film director Roman Polanski fled the United States before he cou...
Litigator Puts Career on Hold
By Tina Spee
LOS ANGELES - Litigator Brian Lawler has rejoined the ranks of the U.S. Marine Corps' few and proud. Four months after Lawler ...
Judge Gives, Receives Respect
By Anne La Jeunesse
LOS ANGELES - Alleged murderers, rapists, child molesters, armed robbers - they've all passed through Los Angeles Superior Cou...
Off the Docket
By Jeff Berg
By Jeff Berg Entertainment Editor Today JAZZ - The Jazz Bakery in Culver City presents crooner Freddy Cole at 8 p.m. and 9:30...
Anti-Gay Stance Is Scouts' Right; Marina Berth Is Not
By Columnist
Forum Column - By Miranda D. Junowicz - In his article on Berkeley's battle with the Sea Scouts, "The Blessings of Liberty: Ci...
Union 'Salting' Leaves Employers With Few Options
By Columnist
Focus Column - Employment Law - By Arthur F. Silbergeld and Adam C. Abrahms - The Bureau of Labor Statistics, in "Union Trends...
Contract Language Avoiding Liability For Interest May Not Protect Clients
By Columnist
Focus Column - Business Law - By Michaelbrent Collings - Interest is a big deal. It may not seem like much to someone getting ...
Robins Kaplan Nabs Unocal's Chief Legal Officer
By Liz Valsamis
LOS ANGELES - After three decades serving the law department of Unocal Corp., Dennis P.R. Codon has left the El Segundo-based ...
Grand Jury Transcripts to be Open
By Robert Selna
SAN FRANCISCO - Superior Court Judge Ksenia Tsenin ruled Wednesday in favor of unsealing the vast majority of the grand jury t...
Tree Sitting in Humboldt County: One Way to Pass Time Before War
By Garry Abrams
Column By Garry Abrams - From my perspective in downtown Los Angeles - where asphalt, concrete and contentiousness grow in lus...
Prosecutors: Moratorium On Executions Unnecessary
By Linda Rapattoni
SACRAMENTO - California prosecutors rejected the notion Wednesday that the state may have innocent inmates on death row and ba...
High Court To Review Attempted Rape Case
By Peter Blumberg
SAN FRANCISCO - The California Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether it's kidnapping when a badge-toting phony secu...
Picasso Judge Insists He Can Rule Objectively
By Christina Landers
LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles Superior Court judge on Wednesday denied charges that he cannot be fair in judging a lawsuit over ...
Personal Injury Attorney James Boccardo Dies at 91
By Craiq Anderson
SAN JOSE - James F. Boccardo, a legendary personal injury lawyer who was one of the first attorneys to win million-dollar jury...
War Games
By Columnist
Forum Column - By Mark T. Clark - Many people harbor doubts about the war with Iraq. These people don't fully understand that ...