Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits

Ninth Circuit upholds California's switchblade ban

A Ninth Circuit panel of judges upheld a lower court decision Friday, siding with California in a Second Amendment challenge brought by a knife advocacy organization to carry concealed switchblades in public. Knife Rights Inc. and two retailers argued on appeal that California’s ban on switchblades is unconstitutional, urging the court to reverse two lower court rulings that switchblades are not protected “arms” under the Second Amendment and are “not in common use for lawful purposes” because they are “dangerous and unusual.”

Courthouse News Service

$1.5 million fee award against L.A. archbishop is upheld

Div. Five of this district’s Court of Appeal has upheld a public-interest attorney-fee award of $1.5 million against the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Los Angeles, which runs 11 cemeteries throughout the county, relating to claims that the office deceptively categorized a fee in burial contracts as one dedicated to the “care” of the properties when in fact $80 million of the funds were allegedly used to resolve sexual abuse claims in 2007.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Judge may disregard arbitration agreements in class action

A federal law that vests District Court judges with broad authority to exercise control over putative class actions includes the ability to decline to enforce an arbitration contract under which potential class members purportedly agreed to not participate in pending collective litigation, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday. The question arose after a group of California plaintiffs filed a putative class action against an employer alleging that the company violated state labor laws. 

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Ninth Circuit lets far-right activists refile claims against Oregon prosecutor

Two far-right activists have another shot at pleading that a Portland-area deputy district attorney submitted false testimony to secure an arrest warrant, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Thursday. The second chance is largely due to the right-wing provocateurs submitting a deficient complaint that left the court to speculate about what, exactly, they were accusing various Oregon prosecutors of violating.

Courthouse News Service

California’s top court rejects Huntington Beach voter ID appeal

The California Supreme Court declined to hear a city’s appeal to keep its voter ID requirements in place, leading state leaders like Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and Democratic Secretary of State Shirley Weber to celebrate. Following a 2024 special election, Huntington Beach residents passed a city charter amendment permitting the city to check voter’s identification for municipal elections.

The National News Desk

Appeals court overturns former UCLA gynecologist's sex abuse conviction

A California appeals court on Monday overturned a sex abuse conviction against a former University of California, Los Angeles, gynecologist and ordered the case to be retried. A three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled Dr. James Heaps was denied a fair trial because the judge did not share with his defense counsel a note by the court's foreman pointing out concerns that one juror lacked sufficient English to carry out their duties.

Associated Press

State Supreme Court to hear oral arguments in former Alabama basketball walk-on Kai Spears’ defamation lawsuit against New York Times

Members of the Alabama Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Wednesday in Montgomery in a defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit brought by former Alabama basketball walk-on Kai Spears against the New York Times. According to court documents, the lawsuit was filed by Spears in May 2023 after Billy Witz, a New York Times reporter, falsely identified Spears at the scene of the murder of Jamea Harris in January 2023 in Tuscaloosa.

1819 News

Comparing defendant to fictional dog cited in voir dire is not RJA violation

Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a defendant had not established that his rights under a California law aimed at eliminating racial bias in the criminal justice system were violated based on the trial attorneys having likened him to a fictional dog that had served as the centerpiece of an illustration of circumstantial evidence during voir dire, saying the comparison was not problematic because the animal was “not…threatening.”

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

California drivers whose licenses were recorded by parking garages may be owed $2,500

Parking garages that record drivers' license plate numbers and store them in a "searchable database" without the driver's consent can be sued for at least $2,500 in damages, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. California law "grants individuals the right to know which entities are collecting their ALPR (automated license plate reader) data and how it is being used and maintained," said the 1st District Court of Appeal in a case from San Francisco.

San Francisco Chronicle

Mistrial declared in case of man charged in off-duty police officer's killing

A judge declared a mistrial Thursday in the case of a man charged with an off-duty Monterey Park police officer's shooting death in what authorities called a botched daytime robbery attempt in a Downey parking lot. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Porras cited concerns that jurors - who were not told that Gardiel Solorio was an off-duty police officer - might have figured it out while hearing evidence during the trial of the alleged gunman, Carlos Daniel Delcid.

City News Service

Humble’ city councilman accused of steering $950k in public cash to wife’s firm - and putting her health insurance on taxpayer dime

A long-standing Los Angeles councilman is the latest member of the scandal-prone City Council to face trial, accused of corruptly directing nearly $1 million in public funds to his wife’s consulting firm. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Shelly Torrealba has ordered Curren Price, 75, to stand trial on 12 felony public-corruption charges, including voting on matters in which he allegedly had conflicts of interest, embezzlement, and three counts of perjury.

California Post

Santa Barbara County District Attorney issues impersonation scam alert

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office is warning residents about scammers impersonating District Attorney John Savrnoch through emails and text messages. “These messages are designed to create urgency and gain your trust in order to obtain money or personal information,” the office said in a public service announcement.

KSBY

U-Haul driver who entered Westwood protest charged with reckless driving

The driver of a U-Haul box truck that drove through a crowd of protesters in the city of Westwood last month has been charged with reckless driving, the Los Angeles City Attorney's office announced Tuesday. Calor Madanescht was arrested after his rental truck entered the protest area near the Federal Building in Westwood, home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran.

NBC4

L.A. public defenders are on a remarkable win streak as Trump DOJ charges activists

As they waited for jurors to return a verdict, the lawyers were on edge. Rebecca Abel and Kyra Nickell, both deputy federal public defenders, had spent days in trial defending their client, whom the government accused of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a camera and later with a shove to the chest during an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles last August.

Los Angeles Times

Policy/Legal/Politics

Law firm's contract hiked to nearly $7.5 million in L.A. homelessness case

The Los Angeles City Council has again increased what it will pay Gibson Dunn to represent it in a contentious homelessness case, bringing the law firm's contract to nearly $7.5 million. In mid-May, the council approved a three-year contract capped at $900,000. The law firm then billed the city $1.8 million for two weeks of legal work, with 15 of its attorneys charging nearly $1,300 per hour.

Los Angeles Times

LAPD officer investigated for using photo of disgraced detective as phone lock screen

The LAPD has opened an internal investigation into a San Fernando Valley gang unit officer who used a photo of Rafael Perez - the face of the Rampart police scandal of the late 1990s - as the lock screen on his cellphone, according to four sources familiar with the case. Perez went to prison in 2000 after confessing that he and fellow LAPD officers shot and beat suspects without provocation, planted and stole evidence, gave false testimony and framed innocent people for crimes.

Los Angeles Times

L.A. County supervisor calls for Casey Wasserman to resign from Olympic committee

LA28 Olympics committee Chair Casey Wasserman faced calls from L.A. officials Tuesday to resign following revelations about racy emails he exchanged with convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell. "I think Casey Wasserman needs to step down," said L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who along with other L.A. politicians is working with the LA28 Olympics organizing committee on planning the Games.

Los Angeles Times

LA Council OKs communication position for LAPD amid messaging concerns

The City Council Tuesday authorized the Los Angeles Police Department to hire a police administrator II, a position intended to unify and shape internal messaging. Deputy Chief Jonathan Pinto of LAPD's Human Resources Bureau said the position, which pays an annual salary of $191,000, will involve developing and executing communications plans, and will report directly to Police Chief Jim McDonnell.

City News Service

Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire after-action report, sources say

For nearly two months, Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in altering an after-action report on the Palisades fire to downplay failures by the city and the Los Angeles Fire Department in combating the catastrophic blaze. But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving an early draft, the mayor told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could expose the city to legal liabilities for those failures.

Los Angeles Times

Calif. lawmakers: LE mask ban can be enforced through civil court

While police chiefs say they won’t enforce the state’s new ban on masks for law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, California lawmakers say there’s another way to penalize officers who conceal their identities. Senate Bill 627, known as the No Secret Police Act, can be enforced through the court system, creating a civil penalty for officers who violate the law, the bill’s authors say.

Los Angeles Daily News

LA school can’t escape liability in sex assault lawsuit against ex-Laker Byron Scott

An LA private school is set to stand as a defendant in a civil trial next month over its role in a purported sexual assault by former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard and head coach Byron Scott. In 2022, a woman named Hayley Dylan accused Scott of assaulting her in a janitor’s closet during the summer of 1987, when she was 15 years old. 

Courthouse News Service

Gavin Newsom, Fox News face off over defamation lawsuit in Delaware

Attorneys representing California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Fox News Network argued in front of a Delaware judge on Jan. 30 over whether a defamation suit centered on Newsom's summer spat with President Donald Trump over the timing of a phone call should continue. Newsom sued the news organization last year, arguing that the network's television personalities defamed him by falsely branding him as a liar during a news broadcast centered on his interaction with Trump as June immigration protests roiled in Los Angeles. 

Delaware News Journal

Los Angeles moves to destroy RVs used as homes under new state law

In October of last year, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 630 into law, giving a couple of California counties greater authority to dispose of more RVs. Under the old rules, Los Angeles was limited to destroying only abandoned or inoperable recreational vehicles with an estimated value of $500 or less. Beginning on the first of this year, that limit has been raised to a value of $4,000, so the county can confiscate more valuable cars without sending them to auction.

Invisible People

Inside the warped world of LA’s most vile protestor - hiding behind his kids as he bashes cops and hurls racist slurs

Professional protester Jason Reedy is always happy to hear a dissenting opinion - as long as it’s his own warped view of the world. Reedy, 38, is a regular pest at Los Angeles Police Commission and City Council meetings, where he loudly assails cops, elected officials and anybody else within earshot with his repugnant brand of expletive-laced ”activism.”

California Post

‘We’re basically pushers:’ Two California courtrooms hear how companies may have hooked kids on social media

The Meta researcher’s tone was alarmed. “oh my gosh yall IG is a drug,” the user experience specialist allegedly wrote to a colleague, referring to the social media platform Instagram. “We’re basically pushers… We are causing Reward Deficit Disorder bc people are binging on IG so much they can’t feel reward anymore.” The researcher concluded that users’ addiction was “biological and psychological” and that company management was keen to exploit the dynamic. 

CalMatters

Los Angeles manufacturer accuses law firm of filing fraudulent asbestos lawsuits

A Los Angeles pipe manufacturer that has been sued thousands of times for allegedly causing asbestos-related disease in workers handling its products is accusing a leading law firm of filing fraudulent cases. J-M Manufacturing, which does business as JM Eagle, filed a federal RICO lawsuit Wednesday in Illinois alleging the Gori Law Firm in Edwardsville, Ill., brought sham lawsuits against it as part of a strategy to reach costly mass settlements.

Los Angeles Times

Federal judge again blocks ICE ban on surprise lawmaker oversight visits

A federal judge on Monday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to halt its renewed effort to bar members of Congress from conducting surprise oversight visits to Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb granted an temporary restraining order requested by 12 Democratic lawmakers, led by Colorado Representative Joe Neguse, freezing a DHS policy mandating at least seven days’ notice before they can view an immigration facilities’ conditions and treatment of detained migrants.

Courthouse News Service

Southern California

Supervisors approve $843 million homeless budget with nearly $200 million in cuts

Pasadena’s $1.32 million allocation from Los Angeles County’s Measure A homeless services fund is headed towards a significant cut next fiscal year under a new $843 million County Board of Supervisors spending plan approved unanimously Tuesday, a plan that slashes nearly $200 million from county programs including outreach teams serving areas outside the City of Los Angeles.

Pasadena Now

Defending Sheriff's Department against lawsuits cost L.A. County more than $100 million

L.A. County spent more than $112 million defending the Sheriff's Department against lawsuits last fiscal year, more than five times the legal expenses of any other county agency. According to an annual tally of the county’s legal spending released this week, about $229 million went to legal payouts and lawyer bills from July 1, 2024, to the end of last June.

Los Angeles Times

LASD reports progress on federal policing settlement

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert G. Luna said Thursday the department has made significant progress in meeting the terms of a federal settlement agreement over the conduct of deputies policing the Antelope Valley. The settlement agreement was established in 2015 after a federal investigation found patterns of unconstitutional and racially biased policing by the department in the Antelope Valley. 

City News Service

LACo urges dismissal of retired asst. fire chief’s discrimination suit

A lawsuit filed by a now-retired member of the Los Angeles County Fire Department who alleges he was denied a promotion in 2023 because he was white and considered too old at 54 should be dismissed, county attorneys argue in new court papers. Former Assistant Chief Frank Forman’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges age and ethnic discrimination as well as failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and/or retaliation.

MyNewsLA

LA County considers plans to remove unhoused people and clear encampments around Olympic venues

L.A. County is considering plans to remove potentially thousands of unhoused people from areas around sports venues ahead of the Olympic Games in 2028. County officials issued a strategy report last week advising local governments on how to clear people from encampments near major events and move them into temporary housing. However, the same report notes that there are concerns there won't be enough beds and there's no new funding for such an effort.

LAist

San Bernardino Co. sheriff's sergeant, union president succumbs to cancer

A longtime San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department sergeant who also served as president of the labor union that represents deputies died Sunday, Feb. 1, following a two-year battle with pancreatic cancer, colleagues said. Grant Ward "was called home after a long and courageous battle with cancer," according to a statement from the Sheriff's Employees' Benefits Association, which Ward was first elected president of in 2017.

Victorville Daily Press

Can L.A.'s graffiti towers be cleaned up by the 2028 Olympics?

For nearly a decade, the unfinished Oceanwide Plaza complex in downtown Los Angeles has stood like a gargantuan, gleaming question mark: a three-tower, $1.2 billion project that stopped halfway to completion. Then it became something far worse. After construction halted in 2019 when the Beijing-based developer ran out of cash, the skeletal high-rises across from Crypto.com Arena became an open invitation to the streets. 

The Hollywood Reporter

LASD captain says tattoo on his ankle cost him a promotion

Captain Ben Torres of the LA County Sheriff’s Department says a tattoo on his ankle has cost him a promotion to Commander, despite 30 years of service and no disciplinary history. "I got the tattoo on my own time, I paid for the tattoo with my own money, nobody sees it on duty… nobody even sees it off duty. It's ugly and old," Captain Ben Torres told FOX 11. The tattoo he’s referring to has been associated in past reports to deputy cliques inside the Sheriff’s Department.

Fox11

Public Safety

Murder of ex-NFL player possibly connected to 3 other murders in Willowbrook area, sources say

Eyewitness News has learned the murder of former NFL player Kevin Johnson may be connected to three separate murders of homeless people living in encampments along the L.A. River near Willowbrook, sometimes called Compton Creek. All four homicides occurred in the same general location in the 1300 block of East 120th Street between October 2025 and January 2026.

ABC7

Authorities announce hundreds of arrests in California human trafficking investigation

Los Angeles County authorities announced hundreds of arrests Tuesday in connection with a weeklong statewide crackdown on human trafficking. Details about Operation Reclaim and Rebuild were delivered at a Tuesday morning news conference in downtown Los Angeles with representatives from law enforcement agencies. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said 12 adults and five children were rescued in local operations.

NBC4

Suspect accused of ramming LASD Deputy at Commerce gas station on the run

A manhunt is underway in Commerce after a driver allegedly used a pickup truck to strike a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy before leading authorities on a brief pursuit that ended in a foot chase. What we know: The incident began at 12:18 a.m. Wednesday near the intersection of East Washington Boulevard and Fidelia Avenue, according to authorities. A suspect reportedly slammed his pickup truck into a deputy's vehicle at a gas station and immediately fled the scene.

Fox11

LAPD arrests violent agitators after protests erupt outside federal detention center in Los Angeles

Los Angeles police arrested multiple violent agitators after issuing dispersal orders as protests erupted across the city Friday evening. Thousands of protesters met in front of City Hall in the afternoon, before many marched to the federal detention center, where a mob of violent agitators swarmed the area, pushing a large construction dumpster and blocking the entrance to the building's loading dock.

Fox News

Forged in violence, fueled by greed: Inside LA’s deadliest gangs

They say every man has his price, no matter how deep the hate. For the two biggest beasts of the Los Angeles underworld, MS-13 and the 18th Street Gang, that hatred has spanned decades, fueled by revenge killings and brutal blood feuds. That is why the Los Angeles Police Department is increasingly alarmed that the longtime rivals have stopped killing each other and started chasing pure profit instead.

California Post

High-speed chase ends near LAX Airport with Camarillo homicide suspect found dead

A homicide suspect wanted for a deadly shooting in Camarillo died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on the 405 Freeway near Los Angeles International Airport following a high-speed chase on Saturday, police said. Officers with the Camarillo Police Department were called for reports of a shooting in the 400 block of Walker Avenue at around 11:45 a.m., according to a news release from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office. 

CBS LA

Large cache of illicit items seized by federal officials in upscale SoCal community

Federal officials seized a large cache of illicit items, including identification documents, access devices and dozens of firearms, from a convicted felon in an upscale Southern California community. The Homeland Security Task Force Los Angeles Financial team conducted a search warrant in the Calabasas-Hidden Hills area on Jan. 28, federal officials said Saturday.  

KTLA

LAPD arrests man for allegedly vandalizing multiple Jewish businesses in San Fernando Valley

Los Angeles police have arrested a man who allegedly vandalized multiple Jewish businesses in the San Fernando Valley dating back to August last year. In a news release, LAPD officials said that their Major Crimes Division began investigating "a series of vandalism incidents targeting Jewish businesses along the Ventura Boulevard and Winnetka Avenue corridors."

CBS LA

Some California high-speed rail records could remain secret under proposed law

The auditor of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority wants the power to keep certain records confidential, drawing concerns from transparency advocates that the agency could shield vital information about a controversial and costly public infrastructure project from the public. Assembly Bill 1608, authored by Assembly Transportation Committee Chair Lori Wilson, would allow the inspector general overseeing the high-speed rail authority to withhold records that the official believes would “reveal weaknesses” that could harm the state or benefit someone inappropriately. 

CalMatters

New California law requires deed notifications to combat property fraud

Why would someone want to steal your property title? The answer is simple: financial gain. Someone with a stolen title might attempt to take a loan out against your property or even sell the home and collect the cash. Or the thief might pose as a landlord, attempting to get unsuspecting renters to cough up rent and a month of security deposit. Title theft or fraud can threaten an owner’s actual ownership of property and their financial wellbeing.

MortgageGrader.com

Uber held liable, ordered to pay $8.5 million in driver rape suit

Uber on Thursday was ordered to pay $8.5 million to the plaintiff in an Arizona trial that is the first of thousands of lawsuits involving alleged sexual assault and misconduct by drivers on the ridesharing platform. In the lawsuit, Jaylynn Dean alleged that she was raped by her Uber driver in November 2023 while returning to her hotel.

CNBC

Fans sue SF Giants over 'junk fees' that inflated ticket prices

"For years … the Giants systemically cheated fans out of millions of dollars by falsely advertising their ticket prices for baseball games," the suit said. It seeks repayments to past ticket-buyers and additional damages for the alleged lawbreaking, in amounts that the suit did not specify.

San Francisco Chronicle

Newsom wrestles with his past

Gavin Newsom’s upcoming memoir is a self-interrogation - and an effort to get ahead of the oppo book. The throughline of “Young Man in a Hurry” is, as Newsom describes it, the “riddle” of his identity, the product of a “split personality” upbringing that the governor, well into adulthood, still struggles to reconcile.

Politico

The Minneapolis shootings are a test for police accountability

For years, well-publicized examples of police failing to hold officers accountable for misconduct have helped paint a harsh portrait of an institution that refuses to earn the public trust it relies on to operate. In the eyes of many, meaningful oversight of law enforcement exists only in theory, not in practice, and agencies that are meant to protect the people instead protect each other. 

Commentary/Los Angeles Daily News

Treasury asks Ninth Circuit to lift block on financial reporting order for border businesses

A financial crimes enforcement agency in the U.S. Treasury Department asked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to vacate a preliminary injunction that prevents it from enforcing a new order that requires money service businesses along the U.S.-Mexico border to report transactions over $200 to federal law enforcement.

Courthouse News Service

Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole

Lancaster parents sentenced to life in prison for decapitating their two children

The parents of a 12-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl who were found decapitated at the family's home in Lancaster more than five years ago have both been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In November, jurors found Maurice Jewel Taylor Sr., 39, and Natalie Sumiko Brothwell, 49, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the Nov. 29, 2020, stabbings and decapitations of their son, Maurice, and teen daughter, Maliaka, along with finding true the special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

ABC7

Man sentenced to 4 years in prison for throwing Molotov cocktail during anti-ICE protest

A 23-year-old man was sentenced to four years in prison for throwing a Molotov cocktail at law enforcement during protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement last year. Emiliano Garduño Gálvez, 23, initially pleaded not guilty to the charges but accepted a deal with federal prosecutors. In October, he pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered destructive device and one count of obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder. 

CBS LA

Studio City man sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison for scheme in which real estate and money were stolen via bogus trusts

A San Fernando Valley man was sentenced today to 200 months in federal prison for breaking into an elderly man’s home, later stealing his jewelry and mail, then providing the victim’s personal identifying information (PII) to fellow criminals, who then joined him in looting the victim’s estate via a forged trust and power-of-attorney forms.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

White nationalists claimed WA man doxxed them. How a judge responded

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that accused a Washington man of infiltrating a white nationalist group and using confidential information to harass and threaten people in the organization. Five members or affiliates of the group Patriot Front sued David Capito II, who apparently has ties to Tacoma, in July 2023.

The News Tribune

Nearly 40% of Stanford undergraduates claim they’re disabled. I’m one of them

In 2023, one month into my freshman year at Stanford University, an upperclassman was showing me her dorm room - a prized single in one of the nicest buildings on campus. As she took me around her space, which included a private bathroom, a walk-in shower and a great view of Hoover Tower, she casually mentioned that she had lived in a single all four years she had attended Stanford.

The Times