Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits | |
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Ninth Circuit rejects attempt to add Jim McDonnell to suit
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held Friday that a trial judge properly denied a request for leave to file a fourth amended complaint to add former Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell, who is now the City of Los Angeles’s chief of police, as a defendant in a lawsuit seeking damages for the death of the plaintiffs’ son while in county jail.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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California courts sued over failure to ensure transcripts in millions of hearings
A new lawsuit alleges that courts across California routinely deny people due process by failing to maintain transcripts of many types of proceedings. The suit, filed last week by two San Francisco Bay Area legal advocacy groups against the superior courts of Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Clara counties, alleges that more than a million litigants are affected statewide each year by a shortage of certified court reporters.
Los Angeles Times
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No immunity for officer in controversial fatal shootings
A Los Angeles police officer who was involved in a controversial shooting that left two persons dead failed to persuade the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that a judge erred in denying him summary judgment in a wrongful death action, with a three-judge panel declaring yesterday that triable issues of fact exist as to the reasonableness of the defendant’s actions.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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California judges say they’re underpaid, and their new lawsuit could cost taxpayers millions
California judges make a good living. They earn at least $240,000 and can count on a raise just about every year, a requirement that’s written into state law. So why do they feel shortchanged by the state? A coalition of them argues the state has been stiffing them for years by mishandling the formula it uses to calculate their wage increases.
CalMatters
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County owed no duty to notify relative of murdered boy of custody-removal order
Div. Four of the Court of Appeal for this district held, in an opinion certified for publication yesterday, that a statute providing for the preferential treatment of certain family members in custody matters after a child has been removed from parental care does not create a mandatory duty to notify relatives in the event the minor’s removal has been “authorized” by a court but never executed.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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UCLA student sues California doctors, says she was 'fast-tracked' into transgender surgery
A UCLA student is suing multiple California health care providers and hospitals for medical negligence, alleging she was wrongly diagnosed with gender dysphoria and then “fast-tracked onto the conveyor belt of irreversibly damaging” puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery, according to her lawsuit.
NBC News
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US Supreme Court to weigh bid to sue Palestinian authorities over attacks
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to decide the legality of a 2019 federal statute meant to facilitate lawsuits against Palestinian authorities by Americans killed or injured in attacks in Israel and elsewhere. The justices took up appeals by President Joe Biden's administration and a group of American victims and their families of a lower court's ruling that this law violated the rights of the Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization to due process under the U.S. Constitution.
Reuters
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5 hospitals sue health insurer over alleged underpayment
Five hospitals in Southern California accused Molina Healthcare Inc. of underpaying them tens of millions of dollars for emergency department care they furnished to the insurer’s clients. The lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court asserts breach of implied-in-law contract and seeks declaratory relief.
Daily Journal
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Pre-trial detention of almost six years was unlawful
Div. Three of the First District Court of Appeal held yesterday that there had been a due-process violation in the case of a man charged with assault with a semiautomatic firearm who had been subjected to pretrial incarceration of nearly six years - a period longer than the prison term to which he could have been sentenced, in light of custody credits.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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DA’s claws come out after Boyer allegedly tries to register four felines to vote
Filing fictitious feline voter registration forms has landed a perennial political candidate in trouble with the law. Bruce Boyer, 63, of the Ventura County portion of Chatsworth, is being charged with four felony counts of perjury after reportedly filing paperwork in the names of Felix T. Kat, Estrea D. Tigre, Sylvester T. Cat and Cool T. Cat. It appears Boyer was trying to test voter registration integrity in advance of the Nov. 5 election.
Simi Valley Acorn
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Menendez Brothers: Los Angeles DA transfers 2 deputies who petitioned for resentencing off case
Newly sworn-in Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman has transferred two deputies who petitioned a judge to grant parole to Erik and Lyle Menendez, who became a cause célèbre following the dramatization of their decades-old conviction in Netflix’s “Monsters.” Hochman took over the DA’s office last week from the more progressive George Gascón, who was vocally in favor of resentencing or clemency for the brothers.
The Wrap
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California man charged with breaking out of federal prison 8 years ago
A 55-year-old fugitive who had been on the run for eight years after escaping from a federal prison in California has been caught and indicted, the U.S. attorney’s office said last week. A federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment on Thursday against Eric Pree of San Francisco, charging him with escape from custody, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert of the Eastern District of California said in a news release Thursday.
NBC News
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Justice Department agrees to $215 million settlement agreement related to assets of internet prostitution ad service Backpage.com
The Justice Department today filed a settlement agreement reached between the parties in the civil forfeiture case involving Backpage.com, a now-shuttered internet forum for prostitution ads that included ads depicting sex work of children, in which $215 million in assets traceable to Backpage’s profits, and previously seized by the government from Backpage and its agents, will be forfeited to the United States.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release
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U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada announces expansion of CASA Program for federal defendants eligible for rehabilitation
United States Attorney Martin Estrada announced today the expansion of the Conviction and Sentence Alternatives (CASA) program, which is being made available to a wider group of defendants by an expansion of admission criteria to include defendants facing federal charges who have demonstrated an ability and willingness to make significant and meaningful changes to their lives.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release
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L.A. County objects to Solis, McDonnell, Luna as witnesses in ‘Banditos' trial
Los Angeles County attorneys want to bar the testimony of four top public officials in the upcoming trial of a long-running civil suit by multiple sheriff's deputies who say they were pressured to quit or leave the East Los Angeles station by an internal clique known as the Banditos.
City News Service
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UCLA police chief, blasted for security lapses that led to protest violence, is out
UCLA Police Chief John Thomas, who was blasted for serious security lapses and failing to protect students during a melee at a pro-Palestinian encampment last spring, has left his job at the university, the campus police department said Wednesday night. In a post on the social media platform X, the UCLA Police Department said that Thomas’ last day with UCLA was Tuesday.
Los Angeles Times
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Jake Tapper and CNN lose major motions in defamation case by Navy veteran
We previously discussed the defamation lawsuit brought by Navy veteran Zachary Young against CNN and anchor Jake Tapper. Young has been doing well in court and last week he won on additional major issues against CNN. In a pair of orders, the jury will be allowed to award punitive damages and his experts would be allowed to be heard by the jury on the damages in the case.
Jonathan Turley
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Netflix must pay $385K to woman exposed as fertility doctor’s secret child: court
A federal court in Indianapolis has ordered Netflix to pay $385,000 to an Indiana woman it outed as the daughter of Donald Cline, a former fertility doctor who secretly used his own sperm to inseminate patients. The woman filed a complaint against the streaming giant in Marion County Superior Court back in 2022, alleging she was exposed without her consent as one of Cline’s secret children in the Netflix documentary, “Our Father.”
KTLA
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Ex-Tesla engineer fights arbitration award at Ninth Circuit
A former Tesla engineer who claims she was fired after raising safety concerns asked a Ninth Circuit panel to vacate an arbitration award in Tesla's favor, arguing state court is the proper place to hash out the validity of the award. Before becoming Tesla’s legal rival, Cristina Balan was a rising star at the company - so much so that her initials were found on the batteries of every Tesla the company built.
Courthouse News Service
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U.S. Navy veteran suing CNN lands key legal victories ahead of high-stakes defamation trial
A Florida judge on Friday sided with U.S. Navy veteran Zachary Young, who is suing CNN for defamation, on several critical issues as the high-stakes trial is set to begin next month. Young alleges that CNN smeared him by implying he illegally profited via a "black market" when helping people flee Afghanistan during the Biden administration's military withdrawal from the country in 2021.
Fox News
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Former Commerce City manager and former Baldwin Park city attorney plea guilty to bribery
Two former top city officials in Commerce and Baldwin Park have pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme involving bribes in exchange for a corrupt Baldwin Park politician’s votes and influence over his city’s cannabis permitting process, the Justice Department announced today. Edgar Pascual Cisneros, 42, of Montebello, who served as Commerce’s city manager from November 2017 to December 2023, pleaded guilty on November 6, 2023, to federal bribery.
Los Cerritos News
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On L.A.’s Eastside, a new City Council member eyes a lobbyist to run her office
While tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado was running for a seat on the Los Angeles City Council, she uttered a frequent refrain: Voters in her Eastside district are sick of career politicians. That message gave the distinct impression that Jurado, who ousted City Councilmember Kevin de León in the Nov. 5 election, was looking to offer a departure from the usual City Hall politics.
Los Angeles Times
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Audit reveals $218 million wasted on unused shelter beds amid LA homeless crisis
A new audit by City Controller Kenneth Mejia has revealed startling inefficiencies in Los Angeles' homelessness programs, with one in five city-funded shelter beds going unused between 2019 and 2023. The audit estimates that this underutilization cost taxpayers a staggering $218 million, raising serious questions about resource allocation and management.
Westside Current
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LA has overspent by $300 million so far, cuts to city services likely
Four months into the fiscal year, the city of Los Angeles has already overspent its budget by nearly $300 million, according to a report released this week by the City Administrative Officer. The city is in “a particularly challenging financial position,” the report states, noting increased legal liability and labor costs across a number of departments. L.A.'s reserve fund has dropped to 4% of revenues, according to the report. The city has a policy of keeping the fund at a minimum of 5%.
LAist
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Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall fails inspection, will be operating illegally by week’s end
Los Angeles County’s largest juvenile detention center has failed a critical inspection, leaving the county in the unprecedented position of having roughly 260 youth locked up in a facility legally required to close by Thursday, Dec. 12, and nowhere else to put them.
Pasadena Star News
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In apparent reversal, LA County probation chief says he isn’t stepping down
Los Angeles County’s chief probation officer will remain in his job after initially communicating to the Board of Supervisors last week that he intended to step down in the coming weeks, a Probation Department spokesperson said Wednesday. It is unclear why Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa changed course. The department announced his decision to stay late Tuesday, after the supervisors met with the probation chief in closed session.
LAist
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Strong winds causes LAPD helicopter to hit the ground during training exercise
Santa winds on Tuesday caused a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter to hit the ground during a training drill in Orange County. The crash happened at around noon while the pilots conducted low-altitude maneuvers during a hydraulic exercise at the Joint Forces Training Base in the 4000 block of Doolittle Avenue on the runway closest to the Navy Golf Course in Los Alamitos, according to the Los Alamitos Police Department.
KCAL News
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Los Angeles County plans to raze historic headquarters building
With the ink dry on the County of Los Angeles’ $200-million purchase of the Gas Company Tower office building downtown, a fight is brewing over what to do with the 1960s-vintage headquarters it plans to leave behind. Supervisor Janice Hahn and preservationists are pushing back against a plan to move workers into the newly purchased skyscraper on Bunker Hill and raze the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which was renamed after Hahn’s father and is a centerpiece of the government-oriented Civic Center neighborhood.
Los Angeles Times
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“A Safer 11 for a Better 11” initiative targets crime reduction, infrastructure upgrades
Councilmember Traci Park, alongside LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, and CD 11 residents, announced an ambitious public safety initiative designed to make Council District 11 (CD11) a model of safety and innovation on Monday morning. The initiative, called “A Safer 11 for a Better 11,” focuses on crime prevention, infrastructure improvements, and creating safer, brighter neighborhoods for all residents.
Westside Today
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Arrests made in ambush-style murder of beloved Southern California doctor
Two arrests have been made in the targeted killing of a beloved Woodland Hills doctor earlier this year outside of the clinic where he practiced medicine, officials announced Tuesday. The victim, Dr. Hamid Mirshojae, 61, was ambushed by a single gunman outside the Warner Plaza Medical Center at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Oxnard Street at around 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 24 as he was walking to his car.
KTLA
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Hate crimes in Los Angeles County jumped 45% last year, hitting highest level since 1980
Reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County rose to their highest level in 43 years in 2023, jumping 45% from the previous year, according to a survey released Wednesday by the county Commission on Human Relations. The report found 1,350 reported hate crimes in the county last year, up from 930 the prior year. That number is the highest it's been since the annual analysis began in 1980.
City News Service
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Investigators haul away more than 45 tons of marijuana from San Bernardino County property
Authorities seized some 90,000 pounds of processed marijuana, valued at more than $100 million, from a property in San Bernardino County. County investigators served a search warrant around 7 a.m. Monday at a five-acre property on Honeyhill Road in Oak Hills. Inside a newly-built metal structure on the property they say they found a massive stash.
ABC7
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Chinese citizen allegedly photographed Vandenberg base with drone, says it was ‘probably not a good idea’
Nearly a mile above Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County, a hacked drone soared through restricted airspace for roughly an hour. The lightweight drone photographed sensitive areas of the military facility on Nov. 30, including a complex used by SpaceX, according to federal investigators. The drone then descended back to the ground, where the pilot and another man waited at a nearby park.
Los Angeles Times
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ICE is looking for a new detention center in Blue California. The state probably can’t stop it
Federal immigration authorities are looking for a potential new detention center in Northern California, an effort that alarms advocates and some Democratic state lawmakers as President-elect Donald Trump gears up to unleash his mass deportation plan. In August, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a request for information to identify additional detention bed space in the state as other federal agencies intensified border enforcement.
CalMatters
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Disappearing Bills: More than 2,300 bills died without a vote in the last two years
We know how legislatures work: lawmakers introduce bills, debate on them and vote yes or no. Right? Not exactly. Of the 2,403 bills that died in the recent two-year session, CalMatters’ Digital Democracy data found just 25 failed because a majority of lawmakers voted “no.” Most of the remaining bills disappeared through procedural tactics that leave little trace of responsibility for the policy decisions.
CalMatters
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Trump’s DOJ secretly obtained records of his FBI pick Kash Patel, lawmakers, staffers and media in leak investigations
The Justice Department secretly obtained phone records from two members of Congress and 43 staffers - including Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the FBI - during sweeping leak investigations during Trump’s first term, according to a watchdog report released Tuesday.
CNN
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White House threatens to boot judgeships bill amid partisan scrap in Congress
President Joe Biden on Tuesday said he would veto bipartisan legislation that sponsors say is aimed at easing the burden of crushing caseloads on judges in federal district courts, placing a black cloud over the bill even as the House prepares to vote on it. The White House’s announcement comes as some congressional Democrats have backed away from the bill, suggesting that House Republicans intentionally waited until after President-elect Donald Trump was reelected to consider the measure.
Courthouse News Service
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Watchdog finds FBI intelligence missteps before Jan. 6 riot, but no undercover agents were present
The FBI should have done more to gather intelligence before the Capitol riot, according to a watchdog report Thursday that also said no undercover FBI employees were on the scene on Jan. 6, 2021, and none of the bureau’s informants was authorized to participate.
AP
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Convictions/Pleas/Sentences | |
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Ex-Northern California prison guard sentenced for taking bribes, smuggling cell phones
A former corrections officer received a sentence of more than two years in federal prison Monday for accepting bribes from inmates in exchange for smuggling cell phones into a prison facility in Vacaville, prosecutors said. Stephen Joseph Crittenden, 44, of Suisun City was sentenced to two years and one month in prison by U.S. District Judge Troy N. Nunley, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Victorville Daily Press
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Former priest gets Ventura County jail sentence for possession of child sexual abuse images
A former Roman Catholic priest who served in Ventura and Los Angeles County churches has been sentenced to 365 days in jail after he pled no contest to possession of child sexual abuse materials. Ventura County prosecutors say Rodolfo Martinez-Guevara had more than 600 images in his possession when he was arrested in 2023.
KCLU
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Another California fentanyl dealer heads to prison for murder after buyer’s overdose
A 23-year-old Placer County man will soon begin serving a decades-long prison sentence after he was convicted of murder for providing the fentanyl that killed a soon-to-be father struggling with addiction. Carson Schewe was sentenced to 20 years to life Thursday after a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder for his role in the 2021 death of Kade Webb, who prosecutors said ingested a pill he purchased from Schewe that contained a fatal dose of fentanyl.
Los Angeles Times
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Carson woman and South L.A. man found guilty of participating in armed robberies of local businesses last year
A Harbor-area woman and a South Los Angeles man were found guilty by a jury today of participating in armed robberies of businesses in which local businesses in Los Angeles County were targeted in August and September of last year. Diavion Deshawna Mouton, 23, of Carson, and Rodney Darrin Maxwell Evans, 23, of the Vermont Square neighborhood of Los Angeles, were each found guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), two counts of Hobbs Act robbery, and two counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release
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UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive was shot dead. Why did thousands react with glee?
The apparent assassination of UnitedHealthcare Chief Executive Brian Thompson on a Midtown Manhattan sidewalk Wednesday has unleashed an extraordinary outpouring of emotion. But it’s not all horror or sadness over a 50-year-old father of two being shot dead in public by a man in a mask. Thompson’s death has inspired a torrent of fury about the way his insurance company and others treat - or mistreat - people in their moments of greatest need.
Los Angeles Times
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Attorney for Sean 'Diddy' Combs accusers sues law firm Quinn Emanuel
A lawyer representing alleged victims of Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a lawsuit accusing U.S. law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan of harassing his colleagues, his clients and his family on behalf of an unidentified celebrity allegedly tied to the incarcerated media mogul. Tony Buzbee and his Houston-based law firm sued Quinn Emanuel in Harris County, Texas, district court on Thursday, accusing the firm of engaging in "outrageous litigation gamesmanship" on behalf of one of its clients to whom Buzbee sent a demand letter last month.
Reuters
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Supreme Court likely to side with reservists in pay dispute
The US Supreme Court seemed likely to side with reservists and say that the government must pay federal employees called up for active duty the same salary as they receive doing their civilian jobs. The pay for reservists can often be substantially less than the pay for their civilian jobs. Approximately 200,000 reservist - about 20% of all reservists - are also federal civilian employees.
Bloomberg Law
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How a pivot to plaintiffs’ side paid off in big win against Musk
Greg Varallo made his name defending corporations in Delaware shareholder lawsuits but he set a record after switching sides and going after Elon Musk‘s $56 billion pay package. Varallo won a share of a $345 million fee by leading a trial team for Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann that challenged the executive pay package at Tesla Inc.
Bloomberg Law
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How Wall Street billionaires avoid paying Medicare taxes
For most working Americans, paying their share of the taxes that fund Medicare is an unavoidable fact of life. It’s so automatic for many workers that they may not even realize it takes a bite out of every paycheck. In theory, everyone is required to contribute to the country’s health insurance program for seniors, no matter how poor or rich, from cashiers to CEOs. Not on Wall Street. There, some of the most powerful people in finance found a way to opt out.
ProPublica
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