Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits

Plan to close L.A. jail in 5 years not feasible at ‘scale or pace’ needed, Superior Court says

The Los Angeles County Superior Court is dumping cold water on the county’s $2.8 billion plan to reduce its jail population by enough to close decrepit Men’s Central Jail without a replacement in the next five years. David Slayton, the court’s executive officer, warned county officials that the courts cannot implement significant portions of the proposal - developed without the court’s input - at the “scale or pace assumed” unless the state gives it more money and judges.

Los Angeles Daily News

US judges leery of California ban on workplace 'captive audience' meetings

A U.S. appeals court panel on Tuesday appeared unlikely to allow a California law to take effect that bars employers from disciplining workers who refuse to attend mandatory meetings about religion, politics or union organizing. Two of the three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said during oral arguments ‌in San Francisco that the law, which took effect in early 2025 and was blocked by a judge in September, would chill employers' exercise of their free-speech rights.

Reuters

Judge rejects plea deal in case of allegedly illegal poker games at Gilbert Arenas’ Encino home

A Los Angeles federal judge rejected a plea deal Monday as too lenient for a suspected organized crime figure from Israel accused of helping to run high-stakes illegal poker games at former NBA star Gilbert Arenas’ mansion in Encino. Yevgeni Gershman, 50, of Woodland Hills, pleaded guilty in April to charges of conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, making false statements in immigration documents, money laundering and weapons possession. 

City News Service

Detective’s testimony about race war did not violate RJA

Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has rejected as meritless a defendant’s claim that his rights under a law aimed at eliminating racism from the criminal justice system were violated based on a detective’s testimony that “if you investigate a crime in the east side Riverside neighborhood, and the victim is Mexican, you assume you’re looking for a black suspect and vice versa.”

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Mental health diversion wrongly denied to man who fired at gate near dwelling

A man who fired 10 rounds of bullets at a wood gate in front of a residential parking structure in the early hours of a morning did not display such dangerousness as to justify the denial of a mental health diversion, Div. Eight of this district’s Court of Appeal has declared. 

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Judge dismisses attempted murder charges against Pasadena doctor accused of driving family off cliff

More than three years after a Pasadena radiologist was accused of intentionally driving his family off a cliff in the Northern California, a judge dismissed the criminal charges against him, according to the Bay Area News Group. A San Mateo County judge on Monday dismissed the three attempted murder charges against Dharmesh Patel, 45, after reports from his doctors suggested he was doing well in the mental health program he was placed in.

ABC7

Judge rejects California tribes’ latest attempt to kill blackjack at cardrooms

California’s dozens of private gambling halls can continue offering blackjack and other table games after a San Francisco judge ruled last week that Attorney General Rob Bonta overstepped when he tried to ban them. San Francisco Superior Court Judge Richard Darwin ruled that Bonta’s Bureau of Gambling Control didn’t have the legal authority to issue statewide rules severely restricting the games at cardrooms.

CalMatters

California judge says Airbnb must face Los Angeles wildfire price-gouging lawsuit

Airbnb must continue defending itself against a lawsuit alleging the company profited from soaring rental prices during one of Southern California's most devastating disasters. A California judge ruled that Los Angeles can continue pursuing claims that the short-term rental platform facilitated unlawful price increases after January's deadly wildfires.

The Cool Down

California court says employers can't waive workplace violence orders

A California appeals court said employers can't bargain away their power to seek a workplace violence restraining order, even inside a separation agreement. The ruling, issued July 6, 2026, by the Fourth District Court of Appeal, gives HR leaders and employment lawyers a clear signal about the reach - and the limits - of a release in a departure deal. The core holding: some protections simply aren't yours to sign away. 

Human Resources Director

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith L. Meyer dies

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Judith Meyer has died, after a years-long battle with cancer. She was elected to the Superior Court in the June 6, 2006 primary, in a field of three candidates. On Aug. 11 of that year, then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed her to fill out an unexpired term.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Judge shoots down Trump’s homeless funding shift: ‘The hallmark of unreasoned decision making’

California scored another win against the Trump administration in their battle over how to address the homelessness crisis here and nationwide. A federal judge this week shot down the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 2025 attempt to divert money away from permanent housing and instead fund temporary shelters and programs that require sobriety.

CalMatters

Man charged in suspected road rage hit-and-run that killed toddler, uncle: LA County DA

A Canyon Country man is due in court later this month on murder and other charges stemming from an alleged hit-and-run crash in Playa del Rey that killed a year-old boy and his uncle in May. Moises Santiago Rodriguezleiva, 28, is charged with two felony counts each of murder and attempted murder and one felony count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death or serious injury to another person, along with one misdemeanor count each of driving when privilege suspended or revoked for failing a blood-alcohol test and driving when privilege suspended or revoked, according to the criminal complaint.

City News Service

LA taco stand empire owner, employees charged in car trunk murder

The co-owner of a popular local street food chain and two of her employees have been jailed in connection with the sophisticated, premeditated killing of a worker whose body was found in a South Los Angeles tow yard. The investigation centers on Ricos Tacos Naomi co-owner Mariana Yeli Yepes Cigarroa, who is accused of orchestrating the murder of her employee, 47-year-old Soledad Lopez, alongside two other workers, Sandra Romo Diaz and Oscar Oswaldo Funes Villafranca.

Fox11

Three ordered to stand trial in deadly follow-home robbery attempt

Three young men from Oakland were ordered Tuesday to stand trial on murder and other charges stemming from an alleged follow-home robbery attempt in Bel-Air that left an alleged accomplice dead and one of the victims with a gunshot wound that caused his death a few months later. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Curtis B. Rappe found sufficient evidence to allow the case against Mahki Taylor, Daymonee Johnson and Jason Melara, all now 20, to proceed to trial.

MyNewsLA

‘I was totally taken advantage of.' Unlicensed contractor targets Eaton Fire survivor

As Los Angeles authorities crack down on unlicensed contractors who are accused of leaving wildfire victims with shoddy work, an Altadena woman who survived the Eaton Fire said an illegal builder preyed on her when she was at her most vulnerable. When Pamelia Lawson's home became one of the 1,073 properties that were damaged by the Eaton Fire in January 2025, a person who later turned out to be a bad actor approached the woman, offering to fix her house for a reasonable price.

NBC4

LASD: Case in fatal DUI could be presented this month  

L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials said this week they’ve been in contact with the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office and a case could be filed by the end of the month regarding the Feb. 6 three-vehicle crash on Bouquet Canyon Road that left two people dead and one injured. For detectives from the Traffic Services Detail of the Major Crimes Bureau leading the investigation, a recent focus has been on the disciplinary record of the 17-year-old driver they believe to be responsible for the crash.  

The Signal

How manslaughter fireworks charges filed in Orange County link to Esparto blast

Orange County prosecutors have filed involuntary manslaughter charges in the death of an 8-year-old girl killed by illegal fireworks at a Fourth of July party - a death Yolo County prosecutors had previously connected to the black-market explosives operation behind the deadly Esparto warehouse blast.

Sacramento Bee

Prosecutive Sex Crimes: 7 arrested for sex trafficking along Figueroa Corridor

Six members and associates of the South Los Angeles-based Hoover Criminal Gang, and the manager of a South LA motel, were among nine defendants arrested last week, and 10 defendants arrested total, on federal indictments charging them with a series of crimes, including sex trafficking children and adults along the Figueroa Corridor.

LA Downtown News

Bill Essayli and the new ‘Untouchables’ score another bust for law and order

We are watching a remake of the “Untouchables” in Los Angeles, with Bill Essayli as Eliot Ness. Every week, it seems, the leading federal prosector scores another major bust - fraudsters stealing millions from state and local coffers; Iranian regime sympathizers allegedly making arms deals from their homes; and, now, dangerous Mexican gangsters, living openly in Southern California.

California Post

Dozens charged with murder, extortion and more in crackdown on India-based organized crime groups

Dozens of people linked to three prominent gangs, including the leader of the Bishnoi gang, have been criminally charged in a cross-border crackdown on organized crime. Newly unsealed indictments show 37 people have been charged in the United States with crimes ranging from murder-for-hire, extortion, drug trafficking and kidnapping.

CBC

Policy/Legal/Politics

California's $2.5 billion fire fund frees $300M more for Palisades and Eaton fire recovery

The latest summary of spending from Gov. Gavin Newsom's massive emergency fire relief fund shows the state is now sending more than $300 million in additional payments to LA City and County, both to reimburse local governments for the cost of fighting and cleaning up from the January 2025 wildfires and to help pay for critical recovery projects.

NBC4

Proposition 36 and the California state budget

The Chief Probation Officers of California (CPOC), California State Sheriffs' Association (CSSA), and California District Attorneys Association (CDAA) issued the following statement in response to the California Legislature's state budget agreement: "Despite voters in every single one of California's 58 counties approving Proposition 36 by nearly 70%, state leaders have failed to listen. Voters rejected the revolving door and chose a balanced system that gets people into treatment while holding them accountable when they don't follow through.”

Culver City Observer

Gov. Gavin Newsom says crime is down after ordering parole agents to ignore violations by dangerous felons

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) Division of Adult Parole Operations (DAPO) is tasked with public safety, primarily via supervision of parolees and also by helping reintegrate them back into society. According to several longtime San Francisco parole agents, however, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s direct policy orders have allowed dangerous repeat felons to remain on the streets despite numerous parole violations. 

Voice of San Francisco

Justice Department sues California over handgun restrictions

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday, July 1, that it has filed a lawsuit against the state of California challenging a newly enacted law that restricts the sale of certain handguns and the state's long-standing handgun roster requirements. According to a Justice Department Office of Public Affairs news release, the lawsuit seeks to block enforcement of California's new law, which the department refers to as the "Glock Ban," as well as the state's Handgun Roster, which limits the handguns that may be legally sold in California.

Department of Justice Press Release

Los Angeles County Deputy D.A. John McKinney challenging Marissa Roy for L.A. City Attorney

The California primary now in the rearview mirror, the march towards November is on. After Los Angeles voters ousted incumbent City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto last month, the first incumbent City Attorney to be ousted in nearly 100 years, the race is now set between Deputy California Attorney General Marissa Roy and Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney John McKinney.

KTLA

Villanueva wants preview of exhibits before testifying before COC

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva is declining to testify before the Civilian Oversight Commission Monday unless the commission meets certain conditions, namely the presence of a neutral hearing officer, the ability to cross-examine witnesses and deliver an opening statement, and a preview of all exhibits. 

City News Service

Attorneys defend LACo mental health clinician’s actions prior to LAPD shooting

Attorneys for Los Angeles County argue in new court papers that the county should be dismissed as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 40-year-old mentally ill man who was allegedly armed with a knife when he was fatally shot by a Los Angeles police officer near Koreatown in 2024, arguing that a county mental health clinician acted properly. 

MyNewsLA

California’s winery shakedown tests limits of free speech, association

A California county is trying to force businesses to pay dues to a trade association they may not support - just like unions that once forced workers to join and to pay dues. And the precedent could hurt businesses across the Golden State. Most Californians have never heard of Flying Goat Cellars, a family winery in Lompoc. They should.

California Post

Judge orders East West Bank to turn over records to insurer

Over the plaintiff’s objections, a judge has ordered East West Bank to turn over portions of a businessman’s financial records to Travelers Casualty Insurance Co. of America in its defense of the real estate owner’s allegations the insurer unjustly denied his claims after two 2024 thefts of copper wire and other items from his South Los Angeles building.

MyNewsLA

C.A. sanctions, then forgives, pro per for phony citations

Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has almost penalized a pro per appellant for filing a brief containing phony citations, apparently the product of artificial intelligence “hallucinations,” but, after ordering payment of $500 by her, declared that “[e]xecution of the sanction is suspended.” Justice Frank J. Menetrez authored the unpublished opinion, filed Thursday.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

StubHub's World Cup reckoning: How deep is the legal exposure?

Three weeks into the biggest ticketing event in company history, StubHub is fighting a war on four fronts - a state attorney general investigation, a proposed federal class action, a prior FTC settlement that now reads as a warning shot, and a wave of foreign regulatory action that suggests the company's pricing and inventory practices are a pattern, not an incident. None of it has produced a verdict, a fine, or a consent decree…yet. 

Decibel News

Southern California

Southern California will need 24,000 officers for the 2028 Olympics

Security planners for the 2028 Olympics have estimated at least 24,000 police officers will be needed over the 66 days of the events to protect venues across Southern California, and plans are in motion to bring in extra help from around California and the rest of the country. The LAPD will be responsible for security and traffic control around eight venues within Los Angeles City limits, as well as some road events, creating a need for as many as 6,700 officers on single days with multiple, simultaneous events.

NBC4

LAPD weighs canceling academy classes to get more cops on streets for Olympics

The LAPD is considering whether to shut down its police academy for part of 2028 in order to put hundreds of officers back to work on the streets in time for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, according to four department sources. The sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss internal matters, said the proposal was floated at a senior staff meeting last week. 

Los Angeles Times

Workers at LA Medical Examiner's office under investigation following leaks in D4vd case

More than a dozen employees at the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, including investigators and office staff, have been ordered to answer questions about whether they viewed law enforcement investigation files without specific authorization after some media reports included graphic details on the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager allegedly killed by the pop singer known as D4vd, before the autopsy file was officially made public.

NBC4

Beverly Hills cops get huge new pay raise - spiking salaries to staggering new highs

The new raises for Beverly Hills cops are no joke. The Beverly Hills Police Department on Friday took to social media to boast about the new salaries for its officers with the tony police department - and they’re some of the highest in the nation. Starting base salaries for the BHPD now begin at $118,118 per year, rising to a base of $146,749 for senior officers.

California Post

LA County begins 'daylighting' law parking enforcement: What to know

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has officially begun active enforcement of California's "daylighting" law and a local nonconforming vehicle ordinance. What we know: The LASD announced that parking enforcement officers are actively writing tickets for two specific parking violations. The first is California's "daylighting" law, which has been active since January 1, 2025. 

Fox11

Eyewitness Newsmakers: Will Los Angeles be ready for the 2028 Olympics?

In just two short years, Southern California will welcome some of the world's best athletes as our area hosts the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. "We're exactly where we should be and where we want to be. We just had the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in town that talked through all of the different milestones where we should be at this stage," said John Harper, Chief Operating Officer of LA28.

ABC7

Shocking undercover raid reveals secret workings of California’s multi-million dollar welfare fraud

Federal agents busted an alleged SNAP fraud ring in LA in dramatic fashion, taking down a cashier accused of paying kickbacks to welfare recipients for bogus purchases. The California Post was on the scene as federal agents in armored vests, backed by uniformed LAPD officers, swarmed Escamex Party Supplies in Skid Row on Thursday. Squad cars shut down Towne Avenue as investigators moved in on the warehouse-style storefront.

California Post

Public Safety

Spectrum offers reward in ‘criminal attack’ 

A service outage at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station was part of a “criminal attack that happened this morning near Santa Clarita,” according to an email Tuesday from a Spectrum representative. The internet service provider offered a cash reward to entice someone to come forward with information about what happened.  

The Signal

Organized theft ring targets luxury cars worth $1.3M in SoCal, Ventura County officials say

Two men were behind bars on Monday in Ventura County after authorities arrested them for running an organized theft operation that targeted luxury cars across Southern California, the Ventura County Sheriff's Office said Monday. Brandon Taylor, 27, and John Ivy, 39, are accused of stealing several high value vehicles, including a 2026 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, estimated to be about $105,000, and a Lamborghini Aventador valued at $450,000.

NBC4

The untold story of how detectives exposed Rebecca and Jake Haro’s lies about their baby Emmanuel’s death

Rebecca Haro appeared hysterical. “Oh, God, Emmanuel!” she cried out. Haro’s answers were sometimes unintelligible amid her screams as she told San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies that her 7-month-old son, Emmanuel, was violently kidnapped out of her arms as she changed his diaper in the parking lot of the Big 5 Sporting Goods in Yucaipa.

Riverside Press-Enterprise

Over 400 people arrested during chaos at Newport Beach July 4th celebrations, police say

Police in Newport Beach say they arrested 402 people during Fourth of July celebrations, and about half of them were taken into custody in a single incident in the Balboa Peninsula on Saturday night. Police released photos of the chaos, showing fireworks exploding close to the ground in a large group of people.

ABC7

Chino police seize skimming devices, fraudulent EBT cards in organized fraud case

According to the department, investigators with the Criminal Investigations Bureau recovered fraudulent EBT cards, ATM skimming devices, computers, cell phones, cash and hundreds of cards believed to have been used to encode stolen EBT and ATM information. The investigation also determined that the suspect was an international fugitive from Eastern Europe who was wanted for organized crime and human and child trafficking offenses, police said.

NBC4

Four people shot in east Los Angeles following Mexico-England World Cup match: cops

Four people were shot in east Los Angeles near to where swarms of fans packed the streets for the England vs. Mexico World Cup clash, which England won 3-2. Cops received reports of three shootings - including at Whittier Boulevard - just after 9:40 p.m. Sunday, a LA Sheriff’s Department spokesperson told The Post. Four were hospitalized but the extent of their injuries remains unknown. 

California Post

17-year-old cancer patient says belongings stolen from UC San Diego hospital room

A 17-year-old San Diego cancer patient says that she was the victim of a theft while she was in surgery for pancreatic cancer. Kaleena Morquecho told FOX 5/KUSI Monday that her sister, Sahara, was diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 cancer several weeks ago and was undergoing surgery at UC San Diego Health in Hillcrest when her purse with her wallet, jewelry, ID, cash and sentimental photos of her late father inside was stolen.

Fox5/KUSI

Testing ‘irregularities’ force California drivers to retake DMV written exam or risk losing licenses

Thousands of Californians have received letters from the Department of Motor Vehicles informing them that “irregularities” were found in their written test results and that they must retake the exam within 30 days or risk losing their driver’s licenses. The unexpected notices have left many residents scrambling to book appointments and questioning what went wrong.

KGET

ICE’s internal watchdog is now investigating online critics

Voting was already underway when the ICE agents arrived at a polling site in Syracuse, New York, during the state's primaries in June. The agents were there to see Paigelynne Gonyea, a poll worker who says they were concerned about an Instagram post she had supposedly made in January “doxing” an ICE agent.

Wired

California Politics 360 full episode | Major leadership shift for CA Education Dept.

A major shift when it comes to who is in charge of California’s nearly 10,000 public schools. As lawmakers and the governor passed the state’s spending plan for the year, they also approved a major change in who oversees the California Department of Education. On California Politics 360, Ashley Zavala sits down with the outgoing State Superintendent Tony Thurmond and the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, Assembly Member Dr. Darshana Patel.

KCRA

Environmental groups sue to stop BNSF's Barstow project

A coalition of environmental groups has filed suit to overturn the City of Barstow's approval of BNSF's Barstow International Gateway, citing what they say are deficiencies in the city's environmental assessment that understate the project's impact. "It's unconscionable that a city in this day and age would allow a giant industrial project that will result in so much increased diesel pollution, which is damaging to people and the environment," Seth Alston, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a press release.

Trains.com

The other tax fight on the ballot

There’s a tax on the November ballot making education advocates nervous - and it’s not the one you’re thinking of. Groups seeking to permanently extend a separate tax on high-income earners to fund schools worry sharing a ballot with the more controversial billionaire’s tax will muddy their campaign. California Teachers Association President David Goldberg played down the potential complications of the billionaire’s tax when his union took the extraordinary step of opposing it.

Politico

Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole

L.A. man who violently crashed into Border Patrol agents sentenced to 5 years in prison

A 20-year-old man from San Pedro has been sentenced to five years in prison for assaulting Border Patrol agents in Arizona on Jan. 14, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Arizona announced Monday. Joe Martin Cruz was transporting four illegal immigrants across the border near Arivaca, Ariz., when Border Patrol agents began tailing his vehicle, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Cruz stopped the vehicle and the people inside his vehicle ran away on foot.

KTLA

Malibu Creek State Park murder's conviction upheld by appeals court

A state appeals court panel Tuesday upheld a man's conviction for fatally shooting a research scientist as he slept inside a tent with his two young daughters in Malibu Creek State Park just over eight years ago. The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's claims that there were errors in a grand jury indictment and the ensuing trial of Anthony Rauda, who is serving a 119-years- to-life state prison sentence.

City News Service

Escaped California prisoner captured in Mexico

Miguel Banuelos, the 49-year-old inmate who escaped a California prison camp near Lake Tahoe on the Fourth of July, was captured in Mexico, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced. Banuelos was missing for two days after walking away from the Washington Ridge Conservation Camp in Nevada County. Working with U.S. officials, Mexican authorities found and arrested Banuelos at a home in Tijuana, Mexico at 11:20 a.m.

KTLA

Former SoCal sheriff’s deputy shoved detainee, whose spine fractured. He’s headed to prison

A San Diego County Sheriff’s Office then-deputy shoved a pretrial detainee from behind while his legs were shackled and his hands chained at the waist, causing the man to “fly across his holding cell, headfirst into the far wall and collapse to the ground,” according to prosecutors. The man’s spinal column was fractured. The deputy then attempted a cover-up.

Los Angeles Times

Long Beach man sentenced to 26½ years in federal prison for armed robbery spree that ended in fatal car crash during police pursuit

A Long Beach man was sentenced today to 318 months in federal prison for committing armed robberies of three Los Angeles County businesses in September 2023, a crime spree that ended in a high-speed police chase that resulted in the defendant hitting and killing an innocent bystander with a stolen car. Kaelenn Sinaukoko Maea, 29, was sentenced by United States District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Judge scraps Musk’s attempt to toss Twitter fraud verdict

A federal judge Monday rejected Elon Musk’s bid to sidestep a jury’s verdict finding the world’s first trillionaire defrauded Twitter investors in his $44 billion buyout of the social media platform in 2022. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer granted Musk’s motion for judgment as a matter of law as to statements he made on May 17, 2022, but denied the motion in all other respects.

Courthouse News Service

Florida Supreme Court ruling could mean new pressure to settle high-dollar lawsuits

A lawsuit brought by the former head of Marvel Entertainment made headlines around the country last November when it resulted in a $50 million jury verdict against Isaac Perlmutter’s wealthy Palm Beach neighbor and Federal Insurance Co. But it was a sidebar to that litigation that had some tort-reform advocates and Florida defense attorneys concerned. 

Florida Observer