Litigation
Judge Refuses to Expand Online Broker Suit
By Craiq Anderson
SAN JOSE - In a potentially important legal victory for online brokerages, a Santa Clara County judge has denied a request by...
Criminal
Man Gets 90 Days for Assisting Suicide
By Matthew Heller
VICTORVILLE - A man who claimed to have unwittingly assisted a suicide by handing a neighbor a loaded rifle was sentenced Mon...
Family
Family Prosecutors Honor Embattled Leader
By Michael Harris
Wayne Doss, the head of Los Angeles County's child support agency, was selected that department's 1998 prosecutor of the year...
Technology & Science
Deadheads Can Download Without Hassle
By Dennis Pfaff
SAN FRANCISCO - For decades, the seminal Bay Area rock band, the Grateful Dead, had perhaps the music industry's most lenient...
Litigation
Judge: Lawyers Comments Are Protected Speech
By Denise Levin
An attorney's statement on a news program that a financial services company cheated the elderly out of money was protected sp...
Large Firms
Unlicensed Associate to Face Charges
By Leslie Gordon
SAN FRANCISCO - The Santa Clara district attorney has filed felony charges against Steven Y. Lee, a former associate at Wilso...
Criminal
An Apologetic DA Appears Before Judge
By Dennis Pfaff
SAN FRANCISCO - A San Francisco organization that helps women find their way out of prostitution received a $1,000 "Mother's ...
Criminal
Dreams of Desert Development Died With Dumpster Diving
By Matthew Heller
REDLANDS - The subpoena itself was unusual enough, a request by defendants in a major real estate fraud case for correspondenc...
Media
Fantasia Had Nothing on Eisner, According to Katzenbergs Lawyer
By Garry Abrams
Delivering a slashing attack on Walt Disney Co. chairman Michael Eisner, attorney Bert Fields on Monday accused the head of t...
Criminal
Orange County Counselors Said To Have Conflict
By Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
LAGUNA NIGUEL - When Costa Mesa resident Bethany Peca entered a drug counseling class at the Center for Creative Alternatives...
Insurance
Insurer Cant Be Forced to Pay Punitive Award
By Anna Marie Stolley
A closely divided state Supreme Court held Monday that an insurance company, sued for bad-faith failure to settle a policyhol...
Native Americans
Kantor to Represent Tribes In Gambling Negotiations
By Pearl Piatt
Negotiations between Gov. Gray Davis and California Indian tribes over the regulation of Indian casinos are heating up, if th...
Law Practice
Stock Check
By Leslie Gordon
With the advent of companies like E*trade and Charles Schwab online, even an unsophisticated investor can buy and sell shares...
Discipline
Judge Sends Dispute to Jewish Court
By Denise Levin
In a ruling that may quell a controversy that pitted state court against religious law, a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge...
Discipline
CEOs Bid to Crush Securities Lawyers Fails
By Craiq Anderson
SAN JOSE - Two class action attorneys who specialize in shareholder lawsuits scored a major victory last week in their bitter...
Media
San Diego Child Care Death Draws British Interest
By Leonard Navarro
SAN DIEGO - Jury selection is scheduled to begin here today in a trial that has aroused widespread interest in Great Britain ...
Government
Widow Claims Deputies Wrongly Killed Husband
By Lauren Blau
The estate of a man who was fatally shot by sheriff's deputies has filed a $2 million claim against Los Angeles County. The c...
Law Practice
Fullness of Time
By Anne La Jeunesse
Joe Ball listened with growing impatience as an appellate attorney struggled to convince the state's highest court that a con...
Judges and Judiciary
PD Is Outspoken On Death Penalty And Rehabilitation
By Erik Cummins
SANTA ROSA - Like many of his colleagues representing indigent clients, Louis Haffner staunchly defends the rights of the acc...
Entertainment & Sports
Actors Quietly Wrap Up Decades-Long Legal Feud
By Garry Abrams
A notorious, long-running Hollywood legal feud between two tough guy actors who probably would have felt more at ease on moto...
Criminal
Riverside Wont Prosecute Cops
By Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
RIVERSIDE - Riverside County District Attorney Grover Trask announced Thursday that no criminal charges will be filed against...
Juvenile
Riverside Grabs Grant San Bernardino Passes On
By Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
SAN BERNARDINO - San Bernardino's Board of Supervisors have decided not to approve a $5 million state Board of Corrections gra...
Criminal
Judge Pleads Not Guilty to Misdemeanors
By Laura Impellizzeri
San Francisco Superior Court Judge James J. McBride was arraigned Thursday morning by a visiting judge in Domestic Violence C...
Technology & Science
Proposed Rules Target Cybersquatters
By Craiq Anderson
SAN JOSE - The authors of a report outlining new rules to protect famous trademarks in the online world ducked a lot of contr...
Personal Injury & Torts
Mysterious Fumes Lawsuit Settled by County
By Matthew Heller
RIVERSIDE - After nearly five years of litigation, relatives of the woman at the center of the so-called Riverside mystery fu...
Solo and Small Firms
Patent Practice Named Fastest-Growing Firm
By Susan Kostal
SAN FRANCISCO - Since 1996, the Dow Jones industrial average has climbed by an impressive 55 percent to reach its recent 10,0...
Military Law
Sailors Sentenced in Beating Death in Ecuador
By Leonard Navarro
SAN DIEGO - The case against two servicemen accused of beating to death an Ecuadorian hotel clerk came to a close Thursday wh...
Law Practice
DA Responds to Commissions Criticism
By Michael Harris
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office Thursday all but dismissed a recommendation by the U.S. Commission on Civil...
Media
Justices Inclined to Recognize Right of Access to Civil Trials
By Philip Carrizosa
The California Supreme Court strongly hinted Thursday that it will grant the news media and the public a right to gain access...
Personal Injury & Torts
Cop Wounded in Bank Shootout Cannot Sue Gun Manufacturers
By Denise Levin
A judge has ruled that a Los Angeles police officer critically wounded in the North Hollywood shootout cannot sue the makers ...