Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits

In a win for Trump, Supreme Court lifts restrictions on LA immigration stops

A divided Supreme Court said the Trump administration can resume for now the indiscriminate immigration-related stops in Los Angeles that sparked protests and charges of racial profiling. Over the objections of the three liberal justices, the court on Sept. 8 blocked a judge’s ruling that federal agents need a reasonable suspicion that the person they’re questioning is in the country illegally.

USA Today

Ninth Circuit blocks Bay Area sideshow law

A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Thursday sided with a Bay Area journalist in his lawsuit over an anti-sideshow law, which he claims violates the First Amendment and “criminalizes journalism.” Jose Antonio Garcia covers road safety for an Oakland-based news outlet, The Oaklandside, under the name “Jose Fermoso.” He sued Alameda County in 2024 over a law he claims violates the right of reporters to gather news by criminalizing their mere presence at and observation of sideshows.

Courthouse News Service

California Lutheran University, Galleglys settle 4-year legal battle

After a nearly four-year legal battle, former Congressman Elton Gallegly and his wife Janice have settled their lawsuit with California Lutheran University outside of court. Though the terms of the agreement are confidential, a joint news release issued Sept. 8 states that the on-campus Elton and Janice Gallegly Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement - at the heart of the dispute - will continue.

Ventura County Star

Two DTSM board members sue city over board removals

Two former board members of Downtown Santa Monica Inc. filed a lawsuit Friday against the city and its council, challenging the removal of six directors from the nonprofit that manages the downtown business district. Leonid Pustilnikov and Jon Farzam filed the suit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Sept. 5, arguing the City Council violated the organization's bylaws and California nonprofit law when it removed the board members and installed interim appointees.

Santa Monica Daily Press

Supreme Court reverses death verdict in gang murder case

The California Supreme Court yesterday overturned the death sentence of a man convicted of a 2003 killing based on the fact that the only special circumstance alleged was that the defendant committed the murder in furtherance of gang activities, finding that retroactive changes to the laws governing criminal street enterprises demand the reversal. 

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Dismissal of charge after guilty plea doesn’t shield doctor from consequences

An Orange County sports-medicine doctor who pled guilty in 2019 to a misdemeanor charge of accepting kickbacks for making medical referrals cannot, despite a dismissal of the action pursuant to Penal Code §1385 in the interests of justice, escape the statutory consequence of being barred from participating in the workers’ compensation system, Div. Four of the Court of Appeal for this district has held.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

California city to revoke ban on homeless housing in settlement with state

A Southern California city on Friday agreed in a settlement with the state to repeal an ordinance that banned emergency shelters and other facilities for unhoused people. The settlement resolves a lawsuit that California brought last year against Norwalk, a largely Latino city of about 100,000 residents in Los Angeles County. State officials accused the city of violating California housing laws.

Courthouse News Service

Witness’s reference to accused’s ‘moniker’ didn’t require mistrial to be declared, C.A. holds

A judge, after a police officer referred in testimony to the defendant’s “moniker,” properly admonished the witness, outside the presence of the jury, to use, instead, the word “nickname,” Div. Eight of the Court of Appeal for this district said yesterday, holding that this sufficiently guarded against further prejudice and that declaring a mistrial - on the theory that the term that was used connotes gang membership - was not required.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Inglewood man charged in dating app murders

An Inglewood man was charged Monday after he was accused of murdering two men and trying to kill another after meeting the victims on an online dating app, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said Monday. Rockim Prowell, 34, killed Miguel Angel King, 51, on July 20, 2021 after the two men talked on an online dating app, the district attorney’s office said. Investigators believe Prowell shot King to death and stole his car.

NBC4

Man charged with murdering 13-year-old at Pico Rivera gas station

A 20-year-old man has been charged with killing a 13-year-old boy who was waiting for his mother to finish work at a gas station in Pico Rivera last month. “What happened at this gas station is every parent’s worst nightmare,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said. “The victim was simply waiting for his mom when he was gunned down. No mother should have to endure the unbearable tragedy of losing their child, especially in such a violent manner. We will work tirelessly to pursue justice in this case.”

L.A. County District Attorney’s Office News Release

DUI suspect charged after crashing into Downey home, killing grandmother

A suspected DUI driver was charged with manslaughter after authorities said he crashed into a Downey home, killing a grandmother and leaving her granddaughter hospitalized. The suspect was identified as Ryan Mota, 24, of Maywood, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. On Aug. 16, Downey police responded to a home in the 9500 block of Gallatin Road after a driver crashed into the house around 2:30 a.m.

KTLA

2 charged in theft of wedding gift box with $60,000 at Glendale banquet hall

Two men accused of stealing a wedding gift box from a couple at their banquet hall celebration in Glendale were charged Tuesday with second-degree burglary and other crimes. The box containing $60,000 in cash and checks, gifts from the newlyweds' wedding guests, was stolen Aug. 31 at the Renaissance Banquet Hall on Central Avenue.

NBC4

LA woman accused of faking own kidnapping pleads not guilty

An undocumented immigrant who lives in South Los Angeles pleaded not guilty today to federal charge alleging she invented a story that she was "kidnapped'' at gunpoint by masked immigration officers or bounty hunters and held hostage in a warehouse. Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, is charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

City News Service

California woman facing felony charges for registering her dog to vote, casting 2 ballots

A California woman illegally registered her dog to vote and cast two ballots under the canine's name, according to officials. Laura Lee Yourex, 62, of Costa Mesa, faces five felony charges, including perjury, procuring or offering a false or forged document to be filed, casting a ballot when not entitled to vote and registering a nonexistent person to vote, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.

Fox News

L.A. County employee charged with alleged hate crimes against Asian co-worker

A county employee faces felony hate crime charges for allegedly breaking into the county’s headquarters to place death threats targeting an Asian co-worker. Bhavin Patel, 42, allegedly entered the downtown building three times over two weeks to scatter threatening messages on desks and cubicles. If convicted, Patel could face up to 13 years in prison for the alleged criminal threats and civil rights violations.

Los Angeles Times

California father facing involuntary manslaughter charge after child found in car

A father is facing involuntary manslaughter charges after his child was left inside a vehicle Tuesday afternoon in the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Deputies were sent to the 3800 block of Chanson Drive shortly after 3 p.m. on a report of a child not breathing, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated in a news release. “The call involved a child who was found unresponsive in a vehicle,” the Sheriff’s Department said.

KTLA

Naasón Joaquín García charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and child exploitation of members of La Luz Del Mundo Church

As alleged in the Indictment, the defendants engaged in a racketeering enterprise that exploited the LLDM Church and persisted for decades to facilitate the systemic sexual abuse of children and women - including the creation of photos and videos of sadistic child sexual abuse. For decades, the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise operated for the sexual gratification of NAASÓN and his father, the former leader of the Joaquín LLDM Enterprise, Samuel Joaquín Flores, who died in 2014.

U.S. Department of Justice News Release

Policy/Legal/Politics

First came the wildfire. Then came the scams

Three days after the Mountain Fire tore through the hillsides of Camarillo in Southern California last November, Craig Crosby was at home assessing the damage when he spotted two men canvassing the neighborhood. Crosby’s house was still standing, but the blaze had burned down the northwest corner of the structure and his avocado orchard. Every surface was covered in ash and soot. The windows had melted, the doors were scorched, and everything reeked of smoke.

Grist

L.A. judge who threatened to shoot people in his courtroom admonished by state panel

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge known to make inappropriate remarks, including threatening to shoot people in his courtroom and suggesting one woman would raise a "meth baby," has been publicly admonished by a state watchdog panel for judges. The Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency responsible for probing complaints of judicial misconduct and incapacity as well as disciplining judges, issued its findings in August.

Los Angeles Times

Woman drops suit vs. Whittier over items retained in homicide probes

A woman has dropped her lawsuit against the city of Whittier in which she accused its police department of wrongfully retaining computers and other personal property seized from her after her husband was implicated in the killings of two men years earlier. Victoria Adhara Wall’s Norwalk Superior Court lawsuit alleged conversion of property and sought both compensatory and punitive damages. 

MyNewsLA

Former Rams receiver, Poly alum alleges racial profiling after arrest at Ralphs

Long Beach Poly alum and retired Los Angeles Rams wide receiver DeSean Jackson is suing Los Angeles County and Ralphs Grocery Co., alleging his civil rights were violated when he was wrongfully arrested by a deputy sheriff in 2023 at a Ralphs store in Marina del Rey in connection with a car theft. Jackson also alleges negligence and false imprisonment. He seeks unspecified damages in the Los Angeles Superior Court suit brought Friday.

City News Service

Cutting edge case: Ninth Circuit to decide on California’s switchblade ban, Second Amendment

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is considering whether California’s longstanding ban on switchblade knives violates the Second Amendment, in a case that could expand constitutional protections beyond firearms. The lawsuit, Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bonta, challenges California Penal Code sections that prohibit the possession, sale, or transfer of automatic knives with blades two inches or longer.

Must Read Alaska

Trump fails to overturn E. Jean Carroll's $83 million verdict

A federal appeals court on Monday refused to throw out an $83.3 million jury verdict against U.S. President Donald Trump for damaging the reputation of the writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019 when he denied her rape claim. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan rejected Trump's argument that the January 2024 verdict should be overturned because he deserved presidential immunity.

Reuters

Leo Pustilnikov on the record

On the surface, the parallels between Beverly Hills and Redondo Beach may not spring readily to mind. The bustling beach city in the South Bay conjures up images of an iconic pier, beach volleyball, “Baywatch” and the aerospace industry. Its population is more than double that of Beverly Hills. Redondo Beach does share something in common with Beverly Hills on the land use planning front, however. Both cities are engaged in litigation with the real estate investor-developer, Leo Pustilnikov. 

Beverly Hills Courier

California FAIR Plan continues denying smoke damage claims despite court loss and regulatory action

Despite a court loss and sanctioning by state regulators, California's home insurer of last resort continues to deny smoke damage claims from the January wildfires - even when toxic substances have been found in homes, according to a Times review of denial letters.

Los Angeles Times

LA supervisor backs fired Metro driver who refused to help ICE agents

Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro Board of Directors member Janice Hahn sent a letter Tuesday to the transit agency’s CEO Stephanie Wiggins, urging her to reinstate a driver who was fired last month for speaking to LA Public Press. In the letter, Hanh wrote that Sean Broadbent showed “concern for the riders he serves.”

Los Angeles Public Press

LACo looks to challenge release of personal data from SNAP applicants

Los Angeles County will either initiate or join pending legal actions challenging federal order requiring disclosure of personal data - including Social Security numbers - of people applying for a federal food program, the Board of Supervisors decided Tuesday. The board approved a motion by Supervisor Hilda Solis to challenge the order handed down by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a requirement that many have seen as an effort to root out people who are living in the country illegally and opening them to being targeted by immigration enforcement agents.

MyNewsLA

Inmate won’t get new resentencing hearing aimed at effecting ‘elderly release’

Div. Six of the Court of Appeal for this district declared yesterday that if a judge vacated a strike in order to render an inmate, 67, eligible for “elderly release,” she was mistaken as to the effect of her ruling and the legitimacy of the objective. Justice Kenneth Yegan wrote: “There is no authority which allows such a striking to achieve ‘elderly parole.’…Neither the trial court, nor an appellate court should attempt to make a ‘Three Strikes’ prisoner eligible for ‘elderly parole.’ Doing so here would work a radical exception to the ‘Three Strikes rule.’ This would be the antithesis of judicial restraint.”

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Southern California

Feces on the wall and moldy food: LA County sued over ‘deplorable conditions' at jails

Jail cells with overflowing toilets, infestation or rats and roaches, moldy food without clean water for drinking and bathing. They are some of the “inhumane” conditions inside Los Angeles County Jails that state investigators have discovered and worked to change over the years, according to the California Attorney General's Office.

NBC4

Board of Supervisors reallocate over $100 million without public comment

On June 24, 2025, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors diverted the vast majority of unspent funds from the Care First Community Investment (CFCI), a grant program serving justice-impacted communities. This contradicts the spirit of Measure J, a voter-approved initiative specifically designed to support anti-incarceration programs. The measure was created in 2020, in the wake of the police killings of George Floyd and LA resident Dijon Kizzee and the ensuing global civil rights protests. 

Knock LA

How CompStat failed Los Angeles - and why the numbers can’t be trusted

When CompStat came to the LAPD from New York under Chief Bratton, it was sold as a tool for accountability. Track crime with data, hold commanders responsible, deploy resources smarter. On paper, it made sense. In practice, it became a system of blame, manipulation, and politics - one that hurt both the officers in the field and the people of Los Angeles. I saw it firsthand. 

CityWatch

Santa Monica officials considering fiscal emergency declaration 

The Santa Monica City Council is voting to declare a fiscal emergency at the next council meeting. Councilmembers will be asked to approve the declaration at Tuesday’s meeting, and if the motion passes, it would give City Manager Oliver Chi the authority to “take all necessary steps to address, alleviate and mitigate the emergency,” according to Section 2 of the resolution to declare the fiscal emergency. 

KTLA

Where did FireAid money go? New investigative report by global law firm sheds light

The FireAid benefit concert raised $100 million to help in the recovery from the Palisades and Eaton fires. But many have questioned where the money went and why they didn't personally receive any of it. An investigation by a global law firm sheds some light. On Monday, law firm Latham and Watkins released its investigative report into the concert concluding that: "we have not identified evidence of any...improper use or misappropriation of funds, fraudulent intent, or deviation from FireAid's stated mission."

ABC7

Santa Ana Police Department reports say officers followed the law during anti-ICE protests. Eyewitnesses tell a different story

The protest on Monday, June 9, started small. Nathan Tran, a Garden Grove native and community organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, joined a few dozen people outside the federal building in Santa Ana, a local epicenter for immigration enforcement actions that were ramping up across Southern California. Despite the small crowd, Tran said he saw federal agents wearing riot gear, standing at the ready.

LAist

Public Safety

A killer who terrorized a neighborhood. A detective who wouldn’t give up. A surprise accomplice

Killers lived in the small house nestled between two freeways and a cemetery in East Los Angeles. Ray Lugo, a longtime detective for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, was sure of it. From 2014 to 2018, three people were gunned down within a two-mile radius of the house on Humphreys Avenue. Each victim had ties to Anthony Velasquez, who shared the home with his father, Manuel.

Los Angeles Times

Pierce Clarkson arrested on felony charge, suspended by UCLA

UCLA backup quarterback Pierce Clarkson was arrested on an unspecified felony charge Friday, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department records. Clarkson has been suspended from the team indefinitely "pending the outcome of the legal process," UCLA said in a statement. "This situation will be evaluated by the UCLA Office of Student Conduct and any further action taken will be in accordance with that evaluation and University policy," the school said.

ESPN

Freeway guardrails are there to protect us. They're now a favorite target of thieves

Guardrail theft is a problem that has been on the rise for the last eight years, according to the local Caltrans office covering L.A. and Ventura counties. Over the last two years, the state transportation agency has spent more than $62,000 on repairs related to guardrail theft in the region. Aluminum, which Caltrans’ guardrails are made from, is just one metal used in public infrastructure that is increasingly stolen and sold to metal scrapyards and recyclers.

LAist

Alleged crime ring uses secret LA County tunnels to hide stolen cars, whistleblower says

A whistleblower who works within the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area came forward exclusively to FOX 11 with claims of a crime ring using a system of tunnels to make stolen cars disappear. "I would say on average, it happens at least once a week," the whistleblower said. The worker wants to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. However, he claims a tunnel along the Rio Hondo is used like a garage by thieves trying to hide stolen vehicles and other expensive items.

Fox11

Breaking Bad star Raymond Cruz arrested after allegedly hosing woman, agent blasts 'outrageous' accusation

Breaking Bad actor Raymond Cruz was arrested Monday on suspicion of misdemeanor battery after allegedly spraying someone with a hose while washing his car in front of his home in Los Angeles. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles Police Department told Entertainment Weekly that officers responded to a call about an alleged battery in the Silver Lake neighborhood around 10:40 a.m. Cruz, 60, was arrested via a private person's arrest and taken into custody, the spokesperson said. No further details were provided.

Entertainment Weekly

Prisoner gunned down outside MacArthur Park facility for state inmates nearing release

A California inmate was killed last week outside a facility near MacArthur Park where some prisoners are allowed to serve the final months of their terms in the community, authorities said. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation did not announce the homicide, which occurred Sept. 2, and only acknowledged that an inmate in its custody was killed after receiving questions from The Times.

Los Angeles Times

Remains of 2 women found in cars investigated as homicides; L.A. authorities reveal new details

The Los Angeles County medical examiner has released new details on the remains of one of two women who were discovered in vehicles at two tow yards this week. Both deaths are being investigated as homicides, according to law enforcement sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the cases. One woman’s remains were discovered about 12:20 p.m. Monday, when police responded to Hollywood Tow on Mansfield Avenue, according to Los Angeles Police Officer Charles Miller.

Los Angeles Times

CHP exempted from California police unmasking bill

The California Highway Patrol has been exempted from a proposal to make sure law enforcement agents do not conceal their identity. The original bill prevented all law enforcement, such as federal immigration agents, from wearing masks or other types of face coverings. But the amendment, first reported by Politico and KCRA, now applies the ban only to local and federal authorities, and officers from other states operating in California.

KTVU

A 'Roomba for the forest' could be SoCal's next wildfire weapon

The giant, remote-controlled vehicle - somewhere between a tractor trailer, a tank and a Zamboni in appearance - slowly rolled across the dry, brittle grass growing between the tangle of freeways making up the 101 and 23 interchange in Thousand Oaks. Inside the beast, fire churned. And as it rolled over the land, that fire incinerated any brush it encountered, leaving only a thin smoke cloud billowing from the top of the machine, some flashes of orange and red from behind its metal skirt and, in its wake, a desolate, smoldering black line.

Los Angeles Times

Fashion District experiencing dwindling sales due to immigration raids, business owners say

Businesses in downtown Los Angeles’ Fashion District have experienced dwindling sales since immigration raids that began in the summer have spooked clientele. The downtown area, known for its array of clothing items and accessories for various occasions, typically experiences bustling crowds on weekends. However, some business owners say they’ve noticed plummeting sales and less foot traffic since federal operations began.

NBC4

Las Vegas police launch new drone program aimed at responding to violent calls

The Las Vegas Metro Police Department is continuing to incorporate technology into its crime-fighting tools, announcing on Wednesday it will build thirteen different hubs across Clark County that will house police drones. These drones will be used to assist officers responding to violent calls by getting an aerial view of a crime scene. “What from my perspective sounded like science fiction, maybe something really is now becoming a reality here as we push the limits of technology,” LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said. 

KLAS

Anthony Romero sentenced to nine years in connection with interstate gun trafficking scheme

Anthony Romero, 42, of Simi Valley was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for gun-related charges after a joint investigation of firearms trafficking into California from Texas. On June 21, 2023, around 5:07. p.m., officers responded to a reported shooting at the River Ranch Apartments at 1546 Patricia Avenue and arrived to find a person with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound sitting on the curb stated a press release Thursday from the Simi Valley Police Department.

KEYT

Man's conviction for murdering estranged wife's teen nephews upheld

A state appeals court panel upheld the conviction of a man for the bludgeoning deaths of his then-estranged wife’s two teenage nephews in the boys’ Arcadia home. The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Jared Moses had violated Deyun Shi’s right to a jury by finding that the defendant was sane at the time of the crimes after hearing from a forensic psychologist called on behalf of the defendant and by excusing jurors from making the decision in the trial’s sanity phase after finding him guilty.

City News Service

Los Angeles lawyer found guilty in $2.1 million bribe

An attorney who had an office in Koreatown was found guilty by a jury on Aug. 28 of receiving a $2.1 million bribe. Paulinus Iheanacho Okoronkwo, 58, aka Pollie, also served as an officer of Nigeria’s state-owned oil company and was charged for accepting a bribe as part of negotiations for favorable drilling rights for a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned oil company.

Beverly Press

Downtown L.A.’s 101-year-old Original Pantry is reopening this Thursday

In a rare win for L.A.’s struggling restaurant and bar scene, Downtown L.A.’s iconic Original Pantry Cafe will once again reopen its doors after shutting down a little over six months ago, per a report from LAist. The 101-year-old diner, which for most of its original run was open 24 hours a day, has fed generations of Angelenos affordable cups of coffee alongside plates of pancakes, spaghetti with garlic bread and other hearty American fare.

Time Out Los Angeles

Ad tech firm sues Google, seeks over $1 billion in damages

Ad tech firm PubMatic sued Google Monday, demanding over $1 billion in damages and contending the tech giant’s stranglehold over the ad industry thwarted its success. PubMatic is among the rivals whose competition Google illegally suppressed, according to the firm’s legal team. In its lawsuit, the firm references a monthlong trial in 2024 focusing on charges that Google violated antitrust regulations in the operation of its ad tech business.

Courthouse News Service

Blake Lively wants Justin Baldoni to pay millions for frivolous suit 

Blake Lively wants Justin Baldoni to pay millions of dollars for filing a frivolous defamation suit against her, in a test of a California law aimed at protecting sexual harassment victims who speak out. Lively has accused Baldoni, her director and co-star, of sexually harassing her on the set of “It Ends With Us” and of retaliating against her for complaining about it by launching an online smear campaign. Baldoni responded with a $400 million defamation lawsuit in which he accused Lively of attempting to destroy his career with false allegations.

Variety