Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits | | |
Ninth Circuit judges differ over what is life-periling injury
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday held, in a 2-1 decision, that a hitman, who was strangled and thrown off a cliff in Mexico by other members of his gang over a botched MacArthur Park-area shooting, and survived, suffered “life-threatening injuries” for purposes of an enhancement applied to his attacker’s sentence even though there was no evidence that he faced mortal danger from the attack.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Ex-deputy accused of punching Palmdale mother holding baby sues county for firing him
Nearly two years after a Black mother sued the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department because, she said, a Palmdale deputy punched her in the face during a wrongful arrest, the deputy has filed suit as well. Timothy Gardner - who was fired over the 2022 incident - lodged his complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Los Angeles Times
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Appeals court rules family of school volunteer killed on duty can’t sue
The California Court of Appeal Wednesday affirmed a trial court’s ruling that a school volunteer killed while helping load food into vehicles during a food drive was by law considered an employee of the district and therefore the family cannot sue for negligence. The Dublin Unified School District held a food distribution event March 24, 2021, for families affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Business Insurance
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A CHP officer thought a stroke victim was on drugs. Years later, his family gets permission to sue
Six years ago, a federal judge decided that a California Highway Patrol officer was protected from a civil lawsuit filed by the estate of a man involved in a one-car accident on a Costa Mesa freeway on-ramp. The Highway Patrol officer, Samantha Diaz-Durazo, did not call an ambulance. Instead, she observed the man for 45 minutes after she arrived on the scene, then arrested him on suspicion that he was on drugs - he had actually suffered a stroke.
CalMatters
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No qualified immunity for sergeant who shot man with bat
The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday affirmed the denial of qualified immunity to a peace officer who - after responding to a call indicating that someone was knocking down mailboxes and smashing car windows - shot and killed a man approaching him with a bat, saying the fact that there was a distance of 10 to 15 feet between the parties and that the fatal wounds were on the victim’s back showed that the officer was not in immediate danger.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Transgender woman sues LACo over alleged housing with male inmates
A transgender woman sued Los Angeles County, the Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Robert Luna today, alleging her civil rights were violated when she was housed with male inmates in the Twin Towers jail after her 2023 arrest despite having fully developed breasts and other feminine attributes. Coretta Simo Love Monk's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
City News Service
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Judge tosses negligence claims against US government over combat veteran killing four people at treatment home
A federal judge tossed claims against the federal government from the family members of two therapists who were killed in 2018 at a Yountville, California, treatment program by a combat veteran suffering from severe mental health issues. Albert Wong shot and killed four people before killing himself at The Pathway House in Yountville in March 2018.
Courthouse News Service
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Judge jails recycling plant owners accused of exposing Watts students to toxic waste
The owners of a recycling plant accused of exposing South L.A. high school students to toxic waste and metal projectiles for decades will spend several days in jail after a judge determined they violated a court order. Matthew Weisenberg and Gary Weisenberg, the owners of S&W Atlas Iron & Metal, were handcuffed and led away from a downtown L.A. courtroom Thursday morning after Superior Court Judge Terry Bork found they have continued to pose a risk to the community by accepting canisters that held explosive materials onto their site.
Los Angeles Times
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Man four minutes late to court lost speedy-trial right
Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has denied a writ of prohibition/mandate sought by a man charged with misdemeanor drunk driving offenses who maintains that a dismissal is required because he was denied his speedy-trial right under Penal Code §1382, contesting the reasonableness of a judge’s ruling that the 45-day period started anew because he was four minutes late in showing up for trial.
Metropolitan News-Enterprise
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Terrorist watchlist member’s Fourth Amendment challenge to cellphone searches moves forward
A claim that the government's searching of cellphones belonging to those on the terrorist watchlist violates their Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizure can proceed, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Michael Nachmanoff said a Muslim American can continue arguing that his status on the terrorism screening database fails to give the government a reasonable suspicion to search their electronic devices at the airport.
Courthouse News Service
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3 charged with fraudulently seeking FEMA disaster relief funds after Palisades and Eaton wildfires
Two Los Angeles County residents and one from Texas are facing federal charges for allegedly seeking disaster relief funds by falsely claiming their properties were damaged in the Eaton and Palisades wildfires, despite having no residences affected by the disasters, officials announced Wednesday.
City News Service
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Suspects in LA murder of good Samaritan who tried to stop catalytic converter theft were in country illegally
Two murder suspects who allegedly killed a good Samaritan in Los Angeles County while he was attempting to stop them from stealing his neighbor’s catalytic converter were in the country illegally and have lengthy criminal records, Fox News has learned. Wilber Alberto Rabanales and Jose Christian Saravia Sanchez were arrested by police in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood Thursday for the Feb. 25 murder of Juan Miguel Sanchez.
Fox News
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Menendez brothers case: DA asks court to withdraw resentencing motion, calls self-defense claims ‘lies'
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Monday he's asking the court to withdraw the previous district attorney's motion for resentencing for Lyle and Erik Menendez, calling the brothers' claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies." "Our position is that they shouldn't get out of jail," Hochman said at a news conference Monday.
ABC News
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Brother, sister charged with killing man in Cerritos during attempted carjacking
A pair of siblings suspected of fatally shooting a man in Cerritos during an attempted carjacking last month have been charged with murder, prosecutors said Wednesday. On Feb. 25, Cuauhtemoc Garcia was getting out of his car to take a walk along the Coyote Creek Bike Path, near Don Knabe Park in Cerritos, when the two suspects allegedly approached him around 12:30 p.m., according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
KCAL News
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3 suspected fentanyl traffickers arrested, charged in $55 million drug bust in Downey
Authorities announced the arrests of three suspected fentanyl traffickers and the seizure of 14 million lethal doses of the drug with an estimated street value of about $55 million, along with heroin and methamphetamine. "To say that this investigation has saved thousands of lives is an understatement," Downey Police Chief Scott Lougher said at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday, where he was joined by State Attorney General Rob Bonta and Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
City News Service
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Prosecutors point finger at Iran in trial over foiled assassination plot
Two men charged in a failed plot to assassinate journalist and Iranian exile Masih Alinejad had planned to "gun her down at home, right here in New York City,” prosecutors told a Manhattan jury on Tuesday, until they were foiled by law enforcement the day of the attack. Rafat Amirov and Polad Omarov, purported members of the Russian gang “Thieves in Law,” are standing trial for setting the murder for hire in motion.
Courthouse News Service
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LADA Nathan Hochman urges the county supervisors to build modern custodial facility to serve mentally ill inmates
During LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s recent appearance before the Los Angeles County Board, Supervisor Hilda Solis asked if he had had any thoughts relating to the County’s Jail Closure Implementation Team (JCIT). In June of 2021, guided by the “Care First, Jail’s Last” vision, Solis co-authored a motion that created JCIT, the goal of which was to "close and demolish Men’s Central Jail (MCJ) without constructing any new jail facilities - including jail-like “treatment centers”.
Westside Current
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Beverly Hills for Choice calls on city to take accountability
Beverly Hills for Choice, a local pro-choice advocacy group, is reigniting a campaign calling on the city of Beverly Hills to take accountability for its alleged role in the 2023 recission of a lease for the DuPont Clinic - a women’s reproductive health facility that never opened as planned. The clinic would have offered reproductive health care during all trimesters of pregnancy, and was originally scheduled to open in fall 2023 at 8920 Wilshire Blvd.
Beverly Press
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Feds request meeting with Bass, other mayors over college antisemitism
Trump administration officials have requested a meeting with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to discuss the city's response to alleged incidents of antisemitism at schools and college campuses over the last two years, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday. The Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism informed Bass that it wants to engage with city leadership - district or city attorneys and law enforcement - over allegations that local universities failed to protect Jewish students from discrimination.
City News Service
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Marissa Roy launches challenge to City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto
Marissa Roy, an attorney in State Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office, has launched a challenge against Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto, filing paperwork this month to begin fundraising for the 2026 election. “In this moment, we need a city attorney who stands for the people,” said Roy, who currently prosecutes violations of housing law in Bonta’s office.
Los Angeles Public Press
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San Bernardino County sheriff’s message: Prop. 36 is bringing consequences back to crime
A pocketful of merchandise, a shopping cart full of lacquer, a few handfuls of lottery tickets and several bottles of liquor - all stolen. Ordinarily, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department wouldn’t have bothered to announce arrests for these petty crimes. But to the man whose name is printed at the bottom of the news releases, Sheriff Shannon Dicus, these are not ordinary times.
San Bernardino Sun
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ABA council reiterates access to legal education standard is suspended
The ABA Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, reiterated that Standard 206, the American Bar Association’s standard concerning access to legal education, has been suspended and is not being enforced. The letter from David A. Brennen, chair of the council, was sent in response to Bondi’s Feb. 28 letter that contended that the council subjected law professors and their students to “unlawful race and sex discrimination under the guise of ‘diversity’ mandates.”
American Bar Association
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Bill could redefine self-defense in California
A member of the California Assembly representing part of Los Angeles has proposed a bill that aims to reduce vigilantism but that critics say would criminalize self-defense. Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur (D-Los Angeles) proposed Assembly Bill 1333, which “would eliminate certain circumstances under which homicide is justifiable, including, among others, in defense of a habitation or property,” CalMatters explains.
KTLA
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Tracking Trump in court: The scope of executive power tested
Judges appointed by every president since Ronald Reagan are handling the wave of litigation filed over President Donald Trump’s early actions - including some appointed during his first term. Appointees of Democratic presidents are largely hearing the cases, often issuing temporary court orders that block actions from immediately going into effect while a judge considers further arguments and evidence in the case.
Bloomberg Law
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Secret recordings reveal LAPD cops spewing racist, sexist and homophobic comments, complaint alleges
For the better part of a year, a Los Angeles police officer working in the department’s recruitment office secretly recorded dozens of conversations in which fellow cops hurled racist and derogatory comments against Black police applicants, female colleagues, and lesbian and gay co-workers, according to a complaint filed with the LAPD.
Los Angeles Times
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Citing threats, DWP seeks to spend up to $700,000 on private security for CEO
The chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has asked the utility’s board to spend around $700,000 on private security for her, citing an uptick in threats after the Palisades fire. The five-member Board of Water and Power Commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to approve the one-year private security contract for the CEO and chief engineer, Janisse Quiñones.
Los Angeles Times
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Why is Mayor Karen Bass deleting her text messages?
When flames erupted in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 7, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was more than 7,000 miles away, on a diplomatic mission to Africa. Bass headed home shortly thereafter and was in transit for nearly 24 hours as the fire ravaged the Palisades and surrounding communities. She and her office have said she was in constant communication during that period.
Los Angeles Times
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Los Angeles is broke - and LA people can feel it
LA is broke, and for many Angelenos, the cracks are evident. Twenty-three-year-old Andres Perkins says there is an intersection in Reseda’s business district that floods every year when it rains, and there are broken sidewalks everywhere. It’s been like this for years, Perkins said. He recalled watching his grandfather fix one of those broken sidewalks outside their Encino home, more than 15 years ago, after a woman walking by got distracted by a guava tree and tripped over a sidewalk that had been buckled by tree roots.
Los Angeles Public Press
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Trump administration tells Columbia how to get $400M back
The letter, sent Thursday and seen by The Free Press, states that “Columbia has. . . fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment” and “outlines immediate next steps that we regard as a precondition for formal negotiations regarding Columbia University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.”
The Free Press
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ICE arrests Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University protests, lawyer says
Federal immigration authorities arrested a Palestinian graduate student who played a prominent role in protests against Israel at Columbia University, according to his attorney. Mahmoud Khalil was inside a university-owned residence Saturday night near Columbia’s Manhattan campus when several Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents entered his apartment and took him into custody, his attorney, Amy Greer, told The Associated Press.
Associated Press
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Mormon church rocked by child sexual abuse allegations in California
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) in the US has been rocked by a slew of sexual abuse allegations launched against it in California in the latest scandal to hit the organization that is better known as the Mormon church. A three-year look-back legal window that allows adult survivors of sexual assault to file claims in California has produced almost 100 allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Mormon leaders.
The Guardian
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Attorney General Bonta secures court order blocking Trump administration from terminating federal probationary employees
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following statement in response to the U.S. District Court for Maryland granting a temporary restraining order that bars the Trump Administration’s unlawful mass firing of federal probationary employees from taking effect. Attorney General Bonta, as part of a coalition of 20 attorneys general, filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration over the illegal firing of federal probationary employees and sought the temporary restraining order at issue.
Attorney General Bonta Press Release
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Major law firms face crises from Trump orders
As the second administration of Donald Trump approached, organizations geared up for how to deal with being targeted by him given his constant Twitter attacks during his first term. Recently, two major law firms that do or have worked for people Trump views as enemies have been singled out. These firms are in a major crisis that’s difficult to navigate. On March 6, Trump signed an executive order aimed at Perkins Coie LLP, a Seattle-based firm with more than 1,000 lawyers.
PRCG
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State Farm exec fired after secret recording appears to show him discussing rate hikes
A State Farm executive has been fired after apparently making comments about the insurance company's recent rate hikes following the devastating SoCal wildfires. In a shocking turn of events, Haden Kirkpatrick was fired after an undercover video appears to show him talking about rate hikes. What's worse - the comments were made in reference to fire victims in the Pacific Palisades.
ABC7
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Mexican Mafia smuggled heroin with Pringles, secret code and L.A. jail deputy, records say
Even after it was deciphered, the coded message from jail seemed strange. In a recorded call, a Los Angeles County inmate recited a string of numbers to a woman on the other end of the line: “84, 89, 17, 17, 31 ...” Sheriff’s deputies had seized a handwritten key from inside the jail that allowed them to decode it. “I need you to go buy two big Pringles chips,” it began, according to law enforcement records reviewed by The Times.
Los Angeles Times
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Los Angeles officials tout crime reduction in MacArthur Park
After reports of violent crimes and widespread drug use especially among unhoused people in the MacArthur Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass and other city officials said Monday that the city resources they poured into the area were beginning to produce results. Bass said there have been fewer sales of drugs and weapons as well as violent incidents since December during a news conference with LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell and LA City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez
NBC4
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CarMax vehicle rampage left one paralyzed, records say. Company outlines chilling event
The chaos at the Inglewood CarMax unfolded like a scene out of a movie. A customer suddenly, and erratically, turned and reversed his SUV into the dealership showroom on Saturday afternoon. The suspected driver, 25-year-old Andrew Jesus Arroyo, injured an employee and several customers in an episode of vehicular carnage that left at least one person paralyzed, according to court records.
Los Angeles Times
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West LA dispensary burglary suspect shot and killed by security guard
A burglary suspect who was shot by a security guard after he crashed his car into a West LA weed dispensary Monday morning has died from his injuries. A possible second suspect is on the run. What we know: The shooting was reported at 3:12 a.m. at ERBA Markets' West LA dispensary on Pico Boulevard and Centinela Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Fox11
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Californians warned of ‘pig butchering’ scam from fraud cryptocurrency websites
California consumers were warned Monday about confidence schemes from fraudulent cryptocurrency websites sometimes referred to as “pig butchering” scams. The typical pig butchering scheme involves a victim receiving a random text or social media message from the scammer, who often attempts to build trust, and then is directed to a fraudulent website to invest money in what appears to be legitimate cryptocurrency.
KTLA
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Illegal dumping in Los Angeles soars in first two months of 2025
Reports of illegal dumping in Los Angeles soared in the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year, according to data compiled by Crosstown LA. There were 22,046 reports of trash, furniture and other debris discarded illegally in the city in January and February, up 36%, according to the data news outlet. That’s the highest number for that period dating back to at least 2018, based on publicly available data from the MyLA311 service.
KTLA
| | Convictions/Pleas/Sentences | | |
LA County Sheriff's Department custody assistant pleads no contest to inmate sex crimes case
A former custody assistant at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department pleaded no contest to forcing an inmate to perform sexual acts at the agency's Lancaster station. What happened to the victim in this case is unconscionable, and our office will not tolerate such egregious abuses of authority," District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.
KCAL News
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Former NFL linebacker sentenced to prison after being convicted in $5 million Ponzi scheme
A former NFL linebacker was sentenced on Monday for his part in a Ponzi scheme that saw victims conned out of more than $5 million, according to federal prosecutors. John Robert Lake, 43, of Plano, Texas, but who formerly lived in Marina del Rey, was sentenced to two years and six months in prison for the scheme that involved falsely telling victims that he was involved in lucrative luxury real estate investments, gold mines in Alaska and Ghana and other ventures.
KCAL News
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Los Angeles County inmate attacked, killed on prison patio
A Los Angeles County inmate died after another inmate allegedly attacked him on Friday morning, officials said. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation identified the victim as 39-year-old Joshua L. Peppers. Investigators said it was around 7:20 a.m. when the homicide suspect, identified as Terrance B. Shaw, 42, attacked Peppers on the Facility C patio at the state prison in L.A. County (LAC).
KTLA
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‘Surge’ of violence prompts crackdown in California prison system, officials say
Faced with seven homicides in the first nine weeks of the year, California prison authorities announced they have restricted inmate movement and revoked privileges such as visits and phone calls at high-security facilities across the state. In a statement dated March 8, officials from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation cited a “surge” in violence directed at both inmates and staff as the reason for the crackdown at 11 prisons.
Los Angeles Times
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Meet Amy Gleason, the DOGE administrator who may - or may not - be wielding extraordinary power
When her daughter was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease in 2010, Amy Gleason attacked the challenge. She carried binders of medical records to doctors’ appointments across six health systems seeking the best care for juvenile dermatomyositis. She volunteered at a nonprofit searching for a cure. She also started a health care company to create record-sharing software that would make life easier for chronically ill patients and families.
Associated Press
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Woman who accused Jay-Z of rape heard on recording saying lawyer pushed her to sue
The woman who said she was 13 when Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter and Sean "Diddy" Combs sexually assaulted her after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards is heard on a recording agreeing Jay-Z did not assault her and saying her lawyer pushed her to sue Jay-Z. The woman's lawsuit against Jay-Z and Combs has since been withdrawn with prejudice, meaning it cannot be revived.
ABC News
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Judge refuses to toss out sexual harassment suit against former Fox News host Ed Henry
A federal judge on Wednesday cleared Fox News from liability in a 2020 sexual harassment suit filed by a former Fox employee but ordered former “America's Newsroom” co-host Ed Henry to still face the civil accusations of nonconsensual sex. While U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams advanced counts against Henry for forcing former Fox Business producer Jennifer Eckhart into sexual activity without her consent, she found that no reasonable jury could conclude that Fox News condoned Henry’s behavior toward Eckhart after learning of it.
Courthouse News Service
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