Courts /Rulings & Lawsuits | |
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California school district pays $17.5 million to end coach’s sexual abuse cases
In an unexpected legal twist, a school district in Marin County, California, has paid $17.5 million to four former high school students who accused a predatory tennis coach of sexually abusing them in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The resolution of the cases culminates a lengthy personal and legal odyssey for the first student to make the accusations, Alex Harrison, who was subsequently blackballed by the insular sporting community there.
New York Times
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‘Conscious disregard,’ ‘reckless indifference’ are distinctive concepts, C.A.’s majority declares
Three justices in Div. Eight of the Court of Appeal for this district were in agreement, in opinions filed yesterday, that resentencing was properly denied to a man who participated in the fatal beating of a member of a rival gang, but Justice John Shepard Wiley Jr., in a concurring opinion, maintained that his colleagues used two phrases as if they had discrete meanings when, as a practical matter, there’s no difference between them.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Judge denies Jay-Z’s efforts to dismiss case accusing him of raping girl, 13
Jay-Z’s legal efforts to dismiss a case accusing him of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 have been denied by a judge in New York, with the judge in the case condemning a lawyer for the hip-hop mogul for aggressive tactics. Jay-Z, whose given name is Shawn Carter, has denied the allegations, but the judge in the case used strong language in attacking his legal team’s actions.
The Guardian
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LA files lawsuit against Metro stemming from 2023 deadly stabbing
The city of Los Angeles has filed a cross-complaint against Metro stemming from the killing of a 23-year-old passenger who was stalked and stabbed without provocation aboard a Metro B (Red) Line train in downtown Los Angeles in 2023. The attack occurred at 5:20 p.m. Sept. 7, 2023, when Randy Lamale Nash allegedly approached Jesse Michael Rodriguez, pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest, the Los Angeles Police Department previously stated.
City News Service
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Ex-NFL player has California rape conviction overturned due to racial bias
Former NFL defensive tackle Dana Stubblefield’s rape conviction was overturned by an appellate court on Thursday, court documents show. The 54-year-old played in the NFL from 1993-2003, spending seven of those seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, three with Washington, and one with the Oakland Raiders. His impressive list of accolades includes an NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year award, an NFL Defensive Player of the Year award, and a Super Bowl title.
KRON
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NCAA not liable for death of player from head trauma
A man who played football for USC from 1988-92 and, like four of the other linebackers during that period, died before reaching the age of 50 in part because of head trauma, assumed the risks inherent in the sport, Div. Eight of the Court of Appeal for this district has held, declaring that his widow has no viable cause of action for wrongful death against the organization that regulates college athletics programs based on an alleged failure to protect.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Enforcement of anti-money-laundering law blocked after court reversal
Millions of corporate entities will not have to share information about their owners with the Treasury Department after an appeals court reversed a decision that would have required them to do so by Jan. 1. Under the Corporate Transparency Act, an anti-money-laundering law that passed in 2020, companies would have had to turn over the identities of their “beneficial owners,” the people who own 25 percent or more of the company, or exercise significant control over it, by next year. But the law has been challenged in the courts.
New York Times
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Appeals court upholds verdict finding Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll
A federal appeals court panel on Monday upheld a jury’s verdict finding President-elect Trump liable for sexually abusing advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and ordering him to pay $5 million. A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit concluded Trump did not sufficiently show any claimed errors affected his rights or warranted a new trial.
The Hill
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Amazon faces class action over misuse of $350M in 401(k) funds
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is facing a proposed class action lawsuit, alleging that the company violated federal law by misusing nearly $350 million in forfeited 401(k) funds. The suit claims that Amazon used these funds to offset its own contributions, rather than to reduce administrative fees for over 20,000 participants. The lawsuit was filed in a Seattle federal court on Monday by Amazon employee Cory Curtis.
Investing.com
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US judge partially blocks California law restricting social media notifications to minors
A technology trade group appealed a Tuesday ruling by a San Jose federal judge allowing the bulk of a state law that would bar social media companies from sending unsolicited notifications to minors without the consent of a parent or guardian to go into effect Wednesday. Senior U.S. District Judge Edward J. Davila blocked portions of the law but denied a facial challenge to the rest.
Daily Journal
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Menendez brothers' attorney to petition for case to be transferred to California AG's office
According to ABC News, Bryan Freedman, the lawyer representing 24 relatives who support the immediate release of Erik and Lyle Menendez, intends to petition the Los Angeles Superior Court to transfer the case to the California Attorney General's Office. Freedman claims there's a conflict of interest between Nathan Hochman, L.A. County's new district attorney, and Kathleen Cady, a close ally and prominent booster of Hochman who was recently named the DA's director of the Bureau of Victims Services.
ABC 7
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Los Angeles County DA Hochman announces opportunity to join LA County District Attorney’s Office Advisory Board
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office is excited to announce an opportunity to join its Advisory Boards. Advisory Boards will play a critical role in helping ensure that the District Attorney’s Office remains informed and responsive to issues of concern to various communities and interest groups in Los Angeles County. The application process is open to all interested residents.
Sierra Sun Times
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'Gone Girl' kidnapper charged in home invasions from years earlier
The man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping and sexually assaulting a Northern California woman in a case that became known nationwide as the "Gone Girl" kidnapping has now been charged with other break-ins and assaults from years earlier, prosecutors announced Monday. Matthew Muller - who pleaded guilty in the 2015 kidnapping and sexual assault of Denise Huskins - was charged in connection with two other home invasions from 2009, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office said.
ABC News
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Doctor accused of drugging, sexually assaulting woman in West Los Angeles
Authorities sought possible additional victims and witnesses Monday in an ongoing investigation into a doctor accused of drugging and assaulting a woman at his home in West Los Angeles. Babak Hajhosseini, 42, a doctor and visiting specialist at Wound and Burn Centers of America in Los Angeles and Catalina Island Health, was arrested Nov. 26 on suspicion of sexual assault of an unconscious person, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
City News Service
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Man accused of killing woman in North Hollywood by driving off with her holding onto the car is charged
A 34-year-old man got into the driver’s seat of a car while a woman he had dated stood outside of his door and drove away with her holding onto the vehicle, police said, in the North Hollywood area. He is accused of accelerating in an attempt to shake loose the 27-year-old woman from the car who was ultimately thrown off and struck the pavement as he continued driving off, police said. He was booked at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley jail on suspicion of attempted murder.
Los Angeles Daily News
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Baldwin Park man charged with killing mother, 2 younger siblings
A 23-year-old man was charged with the murders of his mother, brother and sister who were found stabbed to death at their Baldwin Park home a day after Christmas, authorities said on Tuesday, Dec. 31. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office also charged Kyle Chester De Los Reyes with the special-circumstance allegation of committing multiple murders and the special allegation that he personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon in the commission of the murders.
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
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Pair released after convictions are overturned
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced on Dec. 23 that a judge has overturned the convictions of two individuals who were convicted of committing a 2007 murder in Hollywood. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan vacated the convictions of Charlotte Pleytez and Lombardo Palacios, who were released from custody. Pleytez and Palacios spent more than 17 years in prison.
Beverly Press
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Erik and Lyle Menendez family meeting with L.A. D.A. Nathan Hochman to ask for reduced sentence
Twenty family members of Jose and Kitty Menendez - who were shot-gunned to death by their children in 1989 - will sit down today with Hochman to ask the DA for a reduced sentence for Erik and Lyle. During today's meeting, the family members will speak in support of "a resentencing process that reflects Erik and Lyle's abuse, trauma, and demonstrated rehabilitation over the last 35 years."
TMZ
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California cities get letters from Trump advisor warning about interfering with immigration enforcement
California officials, along with dozens of others across the country, received letters this week from Stephen Miller's nonprofit, America First Legal, warning them of the consequences for interfering with or impeding illegal immigration enforcement. Miller has been named President-elect Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy. In a written statement, the nonprofit said it had sent 249 letters to elected officials in states and cities with sanctuary policies.
Los Angeles Times
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Abuse allegations at LA County men’s jail prompt request for federal probe into video
Two federal lawmakers want outgoing U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to launch an investigation into a video that purportedly shows Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies slamming a handcuffed jail inmate head-first into a concrete wall. In letters sent this month, Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, both Democrats, requested the U.S. Department of Justice investigate the incident on July 4, 2022, at the Men’s Central Jail.
Orange County Register
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California leaders push back against immigration crackdown threats
Los Angeles stands at the forefront of a new immigration battle as city and state leaders face mounting pressure over their sanctuary policies. Mayor Karen Bass and other California officials received stark warnings about their stance on federal immigration enforcement. In L.A., Bass's team met the threats with firm resistance. Her spokesperson, Zachary Seidl, dismissed the letter as "wrong on public safety and wrong on the law," standing behind the city's newly enacted sanctuary ordinance.
Los Angeles Magazine
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Guns are the leading cause of youth deaths in Oakland. These young people believe change is possible
By the time Aaliyah Bobina turned 18 she had already seen two people die from gunshot wounds. One was a neighbor who was shot in the apartment complex she lived in. The other was a teenage girl who was shot at a party last summer. She didn’t know the girl, but held her hand as she bled from her chest. “[The police] came hecka late and she passed away right in front of of us. It was so sad and traumatizing,” Bobina said. “I told her she would be OK and I feel so bad because I couldn’t keep my word.”
The Guardian
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Roberts warns against ignoring Supreme Court rulings as tension with Trump looms
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts slammed what he described as “dangerous” talk by some officials about ignoring federal court rulings, using an annual report weeks before President-elect Donald Trump takes office to stress the importance of an independent judiciary. Officials “from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts wrote in the report, released by the Supreme Court on Tuesday. “These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected.”
CNN
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Homelessness falls in Los Angeles for first time in years
While homelessness across the United States increased by a dramatic 18% in 2024 compared to a year earlier, Los Angeles was among a handful of cities bucking the national trend - with a 5% drop in unsheltered homelessness over the same period, the first such drop in seven years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reported Friday.
City News Service
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Maps of support for L.A. County Dist. Atty. Hochman and Proposition 36 show shifts in opinion on criminal justice
California and Los Angeles County are getting tougher on crime. The stiffer penalties on some drug and theft crimes that voters recently approved with Proposition 36 took effect this month. Weeks earlier, in L.A. County, former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman was sworn in as the new district attorney and kicked off his administration by reversing several policies his progressive predecessor George Gascón put in place.
Today Headline
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Troubled Chiquita Canyon landfill to cease operations
The Chiquita Canyon Landfill, which has generated thousands of odor complaints over the past year and has been targeted in lawsuits by Castaic-area residents and Los Angeles County, will halt its solid waste operations on Jan. 1, the operators announced. Tuesday, Dec. 31, will be the final day the landfill will accept any waste. The landfill's owners will continue to operate the property as they work to control noxious odors that have been emanating from the facility due to what has been described as an underground chemical reaction.
City News Service
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Los Angeles: A city wrestling with sprawl, seeking solutions
Los Angeles, a city synonymous with sunshine and celebrity, is facing a harsh reality: its sprawling urban landscape is creating a perfect storm of challenges. Record-high housing costs, crippling traffic congestion, and a recent population decline paint a concerning picture. But amidst the difficulties, a glimmer of hope emerges as the city embarks on an aspiring plan to reinvent itself and potentially offer a model for other struggling American metropolises.
World Today News
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County secures more funding for homeless housing
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 17 unanimously approved a motion introduced by Board Chair Kathryn Barger, 5th District, to prepare Los Angeles County so it can successfully draw down millions of funds from the state’s Homekey+ program once its application portal opens in January. Los Angeles County will be allocated $599 million, with $277 million earmarked for veterans and $321 million for general population homeless housing projects.
Beverly Press
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‘Our own little Y2K’: L.A. County sheriff’s computer dispatch system still down
A few hours before the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, the computer dispatch system for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department crashed, rendering all patrol car computers nearly useless and forcing deputies to handle all calls by radio, according to officials and sources in the department. Department leaders first learned of the problem around 8 p.m. Tuesday, when deputies at several sheriff’s stations began having trouble logging onto their patrol car computers, officials told The Times in a statement.
Los Angeles Times
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Why 2025 will be a pivotal year for Mayor Karen Bass - and Los Angeles
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has plenty to be proud of in her first two years as the chief executive of the largest city in the largest state in America. Violent crime is down. Public transit ridership has fought its way back up. She’s replaced the city’s police chief and outlasted an irksome district attorney. Most importantly, she has made inroads against the city’s tragically central issue, homelessness. Since taking office in 2022, Bass has concentrated on bringing the unhoused residents of this city inside, and she has made progress despite frustratingly severe obstacles.
CalMatters
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Most Americans blame insurance profits and denials alongside the killer in UHC CEO death, poll finds
Most Americans believe health insurance profits and coverage denials share responsibility for the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO - although not as much as the person who pulled the trigger, according to a new poll. In the survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, about 8 in 10 U.S. adults said the person who committed the killing has “a great deal” or “a moderate amount” of responsibility for the Dec. 4 shooting of Brian Thompson.
AP
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Election of Trump, defeat of progressive DAs proves defund the police movement was a failure
In the wake of George Floyd’s overdose death blamed on a Minneapolis police officer in 2020, cities across the country, in an effort to placate Black Lives Matter and its followers, engaged in the ill-advised policy of defunding the police. As the November election showed, that policy has been rejected - and loudly - by a majority of voters. In a piece published in The Daily Signal, Craig Floyd, the founding CEO of Citizens Behind the Badge, calls the movement “an abject failure.”
Law Enforcement Today
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California Supreme Court cases employers should watch in 2025
The California Supreme Court issued several important decisions in 2024 about issues such as the application of PAGA to public employees and the definition of “hours worked.” Several cases are pending before the state’s high court. Here are the highlights and what the cases could mean for employers in the Golden State.
JDSupra
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Pre-Christmas shoplifting extravaganza is derailed for 117 would-be thieves, police say
A statewide crackdown on retail crimes resulted in the arrest of at least 117 people in connection with the theft of nearly $40,000 in merchandise, according to authorities. The California Highway Patrol and several other police departments carried out the operation on Dec. 20, resulting in the arrests of 117 people and recovering $38,000 in stolen merchandise, according to a news release from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Los Angeles Times
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2 homeless men fatally shot near downtown LA's Skid Row
Two homeless men were fatally shot early Saturday morning on a downtown L.A. street near Skid Row, police said. The shooting occurred about 12:50 a.m. in the 500 block of South Los Angeles Street, said Los Angeles Police Department Officer Jeff Lee. Both men were shot multiple times and a third victim was "uncooperative" and refused medical treatment, Lee said. There are no suspects and it's unclear if the shooting was gang-related, Lee said.
Los Angeles Times
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Haughty Gov. Gavin Newsom takes credit for ‘recent crack down on retail theft’
Most people are celebrating that California is making crime illegal again and one of the biggest political revolutions since Proposition 13 – and a repudiation of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who openly campaigned against the anti-crime initiative. It’s been a long 10+ years under Assembly Bill 109, Assembly Bill 1050, Proposition 47, Proposition 57, Senate Bill 620, Senate Bill 1391, Senate Bill 1437, all of which undermined California’s “Three Strikes law” which successfully dealt with recidivist criminals (details here and here).
California Globe
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Police searching for suspects accused of robbing resident in Koreatown wearing fake police uniforms
Police are searching for a group of robbers who they say broke into an apartment building in Koreatown dressed in "police-style" uniforms. It happened Saturday around 2:40 a.m. at a complex on Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue. Police said one resident was assaulted, but was not seriously injured. The suspects, one of whom was armed with a semi-automatic handgun, took off with cash and jewelry, according to investigators.
ABC 7
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Suspected shoplifter in custody 1 day after shooting outside downtown LA Target leaves 2 wounded
A suspected shoplifter was taken into custody at the end of an hourslong standoff Tuesday afternoon, one day after he allegedly wounded two security guards in a shootout outside a Target store in downtown Los Angeles. The barricade situation unfolded at an apartment building in the 1200 block of Ingraham Street, less than half-a-mile from where the shooting occurred Monday night.
ABC 7
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Convictions/Pleas/Sentences | |
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Arthur Davies sentenced to 25 years to life for death of one year-old
Arthur Davies - the man found guilty on charges related to the death of one year-old Parker Schumacher has been sentenced to 25 years to life. Arthur Davies, 41, was found guilty on counts of involuntary manslaughter and assault on a child causing death on November 20. It was the second trial for Davies after a 2023 trial ended in a not-guilty verdict for the charge of murder, and a mistrial on the felony assault on a child causing death.
Z107.7 News
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CDCR 2025 reorganization: Regional leadership
CDCR reorganization means the department is switching to a regional leadership structure beginning Jan. 1, 2025. This way, leaders will be closer to the prisons they manage, making it easier to oversee day-to-day operations. This new structure brings together key areas like the Division of Adult Institutions (DAI), California Correctional Health Care Services Regional Administrators, and the Division of Rehabilitative Programs. The goal is simple: to work more efficiently, improve communication, and provide better support for staff and the incarcerated population.
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
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California Department of Justice probes fatal Fresno shooting by corrections officer
The California Department of Justice is investigating a fatal shooting by a corrections officer in Fresno, the state Attorney General's Office announced Thursday. In a press release, Attorney General Rob Bonta said the shooting happened Tuesday at about 12:25 p.m. The release did not indicate where the shooting happened and neither the person who was shot nor the corrections officer was identified.
CBS News
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Women's prisons are rife with trauma. Can California set a new course at Chowchilla?
Gazing across the crowd of women, fresh from county jail in their orange prison jumpsuits, Lena Coleman wishes she could save them all. And it's her job to try. In July, after 20 years in prison for attempted murder and a gun enhancement, Coleman, 47, became one of three dozen prisoners at the Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla to graduate from a peer support specialist program. The program is a part of the California Model, an ambitious effort Gov. Gavin Newsom launched in March 2023 to overhaul a prison system built on fear and retribution and replace it with opportunities for more normalized social interaction.
Los Angeles Times
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Israel’s attorney general orders probe into Netanyahu’s wife on suspicion of witness harassment
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has ordered an investigation into Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after a report alleged that she had harassed opponents. “An investigation should be opened into suspicions of witness harassment and obstruction of justice regarding the findings of the Uvda show,” which aired on Israel-based Channel 12 television last week, Israel’s attorney general said in a statement on Thursday.
CNN
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TikTok, Biden, Trump present arguments over app ban to justices
The Biden administration on Friday afternoon urged the Supreme Court to leave in place a federal law that would require TikTok to shut down in the United States unless its parent company can sell off the U.S. company by Jan. 19. U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar told the justices that the social media giant “collects vast swaths of data about tens of millions of Americans, which” China “could use for espionage or blackmail.” Moreover, she added, China could “covertly manipulate the platform to advance its geopolitical interests and harm the United States - by, for example, sowing discord and disinformation during a crisis.”
SCOTUSblog
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5 major celebrity trials that dominated media in 2024
It’s been quite a year for celebrity trials around the country. From bombshell charges to new developments in decades-old cases, here are a few top headlines that had everyone talking in 2024. The death of beloved "Friends" actor Matthew Perry in 2023 led to an investigation into five defendants for charges connected with his fatal drug overdose, including San Diego-based doctor Mark Chavez who pled guilty to one count of conspiring to distribute ketamine.
Fox News
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'It Ends With Us' director Justin Baldoni sues New York Times for libel over Blake Lively story
"It Ends With Us" director Justin Baldoni sued The New York Times for libel on Tuesday over its story on allegations that he sexually harassed and sought to smear the reputation of the film's star, Blake Lively. The lawsuit seeking at least $250 million was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, the next major move in a growing story that has made major waves in Hollywood. It alleges the Times and Lively coordinated a smear campaign against Baldoni and his nine fellow plaintiffs.
AP
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Waymo explains how its driverless taxis handle carjackings after incident in downtown LA
Waymo, the ride-hailing app that features driverless robotaxis, explained what happens when someone tries to steal one of the fully autonomous, electric Jaguars - following in an incident in downtown Los Angeles Thursday. A man, who authorities say was possibly under the influence, was in the driver's seat of one of Waymo's fully electric Jaguar I-PACEs when officers arrived to the scene near South Hill Street and Fifth Street around 12:30 a.m., according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Footage shows officers pulling him out of the driver's seat, where no one is usually sitting in the self-driving cars.
KCAL News
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