Litigation
School District Sued Over Controversial Letter
By Marty Graham
SAN DIEGO - Anti-tax activists filed suit in Superior Court on Monday against the San Diego Unified School District and its s...
Constitutional Law
Nixon Defender Is Concerned With Impeachment's Vagaries
By Pamela Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - Judge Charles E. Wiggins, who 24 years ago was a staunch and eloquent defender of President Richard Nixon dur...
Personal Injury & Torts
Prop. 213 Bars Recovery of Man Hurt Exiting Car
By Anna Marie Stolley
In a broad interpretation of Proposition 213, a state appeal court ruled Wednesday that an uninsured motorist who was injured...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Arbitrators Won't Decide Federal Employment Suits
By Tom Orewyler
Bowing to a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision as well as pressure from the plaintiffs' bar, the nation's largest for-...
Judges and Judiciary
Judges Consider Whether to Make Their Finances More Accessible
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - At its biannual meeting that ended here Tuesday, the Judicial Conference of the United States took steps to impro...
Criminal
Counsel, Despite Vacation Plans, Held Effective in Plea-Bargain
By Anna Marie Stolley
A state appeal panel has held that a murder defendant, who claimed his vacation-bound lawyer was pushing him to agree to a pl...
Criminal
Boy, 9, Charged in Brother's Stabbing Death
By Michael D. Harris
A 9-year-old boy was charged Tuesday with the second-degree stabbing murder of his 11-year-old brother, becoming one of the y...
Litigation
L.A. County Pays $1.2 Million to Settle Claims
By Lauren Blau
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve two lawsuit settlements - including a nearly $1 million ...
Litigation
Too Old to Rock'n' Roll? Well, Not Too Old to Sue
By Garry Abrams
Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, Freddy Fender and some 30 other pop and rock performers from decades gone by have finally made a r...
Large Firms
Women Lawyers' Chief Knows Value Of Contacts, Funds
By Stephanie Francis Cahill
When Linda S. Peterson joined the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles 12 years ago, the bar group did little fund-raising...
Appellate Practice
High Court Is Asked to Clarify Speech Limits
By Pamela Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - For the first time, a federal appeals court invoked a 1997 California Supreme Court rule change Tuesday and as...
Criminal
Casino Fracas Results in an Immunity Scuffle
By Mathew Heller
HEMET - Normally, a fracas between security guards and a patron at a gaming casino might attract about as much attention as a...
State Bar & Bar Associations
Ray Marshall Elected to Lead the State Bar
By Don De Benedictis
SAN FRANCISCO - With rumors of political intrigue swirling in the background, the State Bar Board of Governors has elected Sa...
Criminal
Defense Team Questions Prosecutors' Methods
By John Roemer
SAN FRANCISCO - On April 16, 1981, Deputy Attorney General Charles R.B. Kirk - a controversial prosecutor known widely as "Ma...
Environmental
Ad Campaign Takes Home Depot to Woodshed
By Marty Graham
SAN DIEGO - Home Depot, a nationwide chain of do-it-yourself supply stores, settled a government complaint over a hazardous w...
Government
Attorney General Urges Agencies to Embrace ADR
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno on Monday urged top officials from all major federal agencies to avoid litigation an...
International
Cartel Prosecutions Up, Conference Is Told
By Jill Boekenoogen
BRUSSELS, Belgium - At Baker & McKenzie's third European Law Conference, Howard Adler Jr., from the firm's Washington, D.C...
State Bar & Bar Associations
Consumer Attorneys Heading for Vegas
By Denise Levin
More than a thousand attorneys are expected to seek the jackpot of the annual Consumer Attorneys Association of Los Angeles c...
Government
Fishing Expedition
By Peter Blumberg
SACRAMENTO - Say you're the district attorney in small, rural Plumas County and you're trying to prosecute three state wildli...
Media
Court Broadens Public Access to Court Hearings
By Pamela Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - In a strong assertion of public access rights to court proceedings, a federal appeals court ruled Monday that...
Criminal
Dismissal Likely In Suit Against Stun Belt Judge
By Michael Harris
A federal judge Monday indicated he plans to dismiss a $50 million civil rights lawsuit filed against a state judge who had a...
Judges and Judiciary
Task Force Recommends Pilot Project for Appellate Commissioners
By Philip Carizosa
SAN FRANCISCO - A special Judicial Council task force studying possible reforms in the state's appellate process is preparing...
Judges and Judiciary
Standing Firm
By Jean Guccione
It's been more than a decade since the California Judges Association was last led by an appellate justice. And Justice Willia...
Government
County May Bail on Paying Verdict with Bond
By Martin Bergn
County officials appear ready to abandon an unusual proposal to pay off a huge police misconduct verdict through a bond sale,...
Litigation
Lawyer Sues Stepmother for Malicious Prosecution
By Denise Levin
A Southern California family - whose financial feuds led to a series of secretly taped conversations and accusations of attem...
Government
A Slimed Drudge Mists Up Speaking of Starr, Tripp
By Garry Abrams
In a moment that was jokingly interpreted as a right-wing conspiracy , "cybergossip" Matt Drudge, who in January divulged the...
Criminal
Nurse Pleads Guilty to Robbery, Murder
By Mathew Heller
RIVERSIDE - A former nurse alleged to be Riverside County's first female serial killer has avoided a possible death penalty b...
Corporate
Groups Want AG to Dissolve Unocal Over Alleged Abuses
By Vivien Lou Chen
SAN FRANCISCO - Relying on a seldom-used section of the California Corporations Code, a coalition of nearly 30 activists - ra...
Litigation
Justices Seem Inclined to Exempt Church Hospitals From Bias Suits
By Philip Carrizosa
SAN FRANCISCO - To the relief of church-owned hospitals, the California Supreme Court strongly indicated on Thursday that it ...
Criminal
Prosecutors Will Seek to Reinstate Death Sentence
By Michael Harris
Los Angeles County prosecutors have made what is believed to be a rare decision to again seek capital punishment for a murder...