Courts/Rulings & Lawsuits

New law expands court-ordered mediation pilot in Los Angeles County

The legislation is intended to address delays in one of the nation’s largest and busiest court systems, where civil cases can require significant time and resources to resolve. Under AB 1950, the court will be able to test broader use of court-ordered mediation and evaluate whether the approach can reduce delays and improve access to justice. Mediation gives parties an opportunity to reach an agreement without proceeding through a full trial.

Colorado Boulevard News Desk

Man convicted of killing Los Angeles sheriff’s deputy found sane by jury

The man convicted of murdering a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy was determined to be sane at the time of the deadly shooting, a jury announced Wednesday. Kevin Salazar, 32, was found guilty of first-degree murder last week in the ambush-style killing of Deputy Ryan Clinkunbroomer on Sept. 16, 2023, in Palmdale. “We’ve got to remind everybody why Ryan was murdered,” L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna said.

KTLA

C.A. shields identity of publicly named alleged rapist

Div. One of the Court of Appeal for this district has agreed. in an opinion, with the Los Angeles Times and writer Noah Goldberg that there’s no bar to the disclosure of records by a state university relating to its determination that a professor committed the rape of a colleague, but has withheld the man’s identity, spurning the contention that anonymity is inappropriate where the name of the person has been publicly revealed.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

UCLA disciplined a pro-Palestinian protester behind closed doors. Now he's suing

In a prolonged case that offers a rare look into the fiercely private student discipline process, a UCLA computer science doctoral student is suing the University of California, asking a judge to reverse his two-quarter suspension and release a master's degree withheld for more than 600 days. 

Los Angeles Times

California court revives lawsuit accusing Apple of blocking independent repairs

An appeals court in California has resurrected a 2022 lawsuit over claims Apple convinced them not to use a third-party repair service to fix cracked iPhone screens. In the last few years, Apple has been more open to enabling repairs of its hardware performed outside of its support ecosystem. While its position has relaxed a lot, it still has to deal with its policies from prior years.

Apple Insider

Judge to hold conference with prosecutor, LACo over discovery dispute

A judge will hold a conference to hear a discovery dispute between a longtime Los Angeles County prosecutor and her employer over whether promotions she was denied after suing can be part of pretrial discovery. Deputy District Attorney Linda Baek alleges in her Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that she was repeatedly harassed and denied promotions by individuals within the office she believed were trying to destroy her career.

MyNewsLA

Ninth Circuit gives bad beat to online sports-betting exchanges

The Ninth Circuit on Friday dealt prediction markets a bad hand, with judges saying they saw little difference between a sports-betting platform and a designated contract market. In one of three prediction-market cases decided Friday, a three-judge appeals panel affirmed a lower court’s decision to dissolve a preliminary injunction that had favored KalshiEX. 

Courthouse News Service

Financial elder abuse does not require economic profit

A wealth adviser who gambled with the portfolio of a client, now age 90, and caused assets to dwindle from a value of $2,616,421 in August 2019 to $475,099.23 in December 2020, can be held liable for financial elder abuse though he did not pocket any of the property, Div. One of this district’s Court of Appeal has declared in affirming a $6 million award plus three-quarters of a million dollars in attorney fees.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Fired police chief's free speech lawsuit against Miami commissioners can proceed, court rules

Expensive lawsuits linger around Miami City Hall like vengeful ghosts, still around long after the people involved have left city government - and still draining Miami's coffers. Recently, one such lawsuit has once again reared its head: a First Amendment whistleblower case brought against city officials by embattled former police chief Art Acevedo back in January of 2022.

WLRN Public Media

Prosecutors

D4vd murder case: Victim’s family demands justice as indigent claim draws scrutiny

The family of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, the teenager whom singer D4vd is accused of sexually abusing and murdering before mutilating her body last year, is calling for justice as their attorney disputes the artist’s claim of indigence in a Los Angeles courtroom this week - a claim used to justify swapping his high-powered legal team for a public defender.

Hollywood Reporter

Ex-LAPD officer Clifford Proctor indicted in 2015 on-duty killing outside Venice bar

A grand jury indictment was unsealed Monday against former LAPD officer Clifford Proctor, who was previously charged with murder for the 2015 on-duty killing of Brenden Glenn outside a bar in Venice. The indictment alleges Proctor personally used a gun to kill Glenn. The shooting of the homeless man followed a dispute non the Venice Beach boardwalk in the seaside Los Angeles County community.

NBC4 Los Angeles

South Bay man accused of threatening to shoot up Jewish community center

A South Bay man who previously served prison time after failing to complete a court-ordered anti-bias program has been ordered to stand trial on felony hate crime charges for allegedly threatening to shoot up a Jewish community center where hundreds of children were present, prosecutors announced Wednesday.

KTLA

Podcaster indicted, arrested in LA for allegedly threatening to kill President Trump, prosecutors say

A podcaster has been indicted and arrested in Los Angeles for allegedly threatening to kill President Donald Trump, federal prosecutors said. Benjamin Azariah Southworth was taken into custody on Thursday morning at his apartment in the Westlake neighborhood of L.A., according to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. Southworth pleaded not guilty in court and is being held without bond. He is due back in court next month.

ABC7 Los Angeles

Trusted manager stole $2.56M from family-run LA fashion company: Prosecutors

A former credit and accounting manager for a family-owned women’s clothing company has been charged with 106 felonies in an scheme to steal more than $2.56 million from the company over nearly a decade, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Donna Faye Bui, 45, is accused of transferring approximately $2,562,941 from Karen Kane company accounts into her personal bank accounts through hundreds of transactions, prosecutors said.

Los Angeles Patch

LA rapper arrested in $8.1-million stolen check scheme

An aspiring Los Angeles-area rapper was arrested on Wednesday and charged in connection with a multimillion-dollar check-cashing scheme, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Ada William Obayuwana of Quartz Hill, who goes by “ColdheartedAC” and “AC,” and two others were charged in a 25-count federal grand jury indictment alleging that they illegally possessed more than 50 stolen U.S. Treasury checks and hundreds of other checks belonging to individuals and businesses worth more than $8.1 million, then cashed or attempted to cash them at lenders throughout Southern California.

Los Angeles Times

Feds indict a Honduran national for illegally registering to vote

Federal prosecutors have announced the arrest of a Honduran national living in the San Fernando Valley for illegally registering to vote in California. Darwin Jonathan Rivera Flores, 30, of Winnetka, is charged with two felonies and faces deportation if convicted, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Friday. While prosecutors found a voter registration linked to his name and address, there is no evidence he voted in any recent elections.

Los Angeles Magazine

Teen charged with murder in San Diego mosque shooting for allegedly agreeing to publish shooters’ writings

A North Carolina teenager has been indicted on murder charges in connection with the deadly mass shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego earlier this year, after authorities alleged she recorded the livestream of the attack and published the shooters’ writings. A grand jury indicted a 17-year-old on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill said.

CNN

Policy/Legal/Politics

Reducing drug penalties likely increased homelessness in California, new report says

When Californians voted to reduce drug penalties in 2014, it likely had the unintended consequence of also increasing homelessness in the state, according to a new report. The report, released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California, set out to measure the long-term effects of Proposition 47 - a 2014 ballot measure that lowered some drug and property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors.

CalMatters

L.A. to pay $5.8M to family of man killed in OIS after charging officers with a plastic fork

The city of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $5.8 million to the family of a man who was holding a plastic fork and experiencing a mental health crisis when he was fatally shot by a rookie Los Angeles Police Department officer, attorneys for the family said. The settlement announced Thursday brings to a close a two-year legal tussle between the family of Jason Maccani and the city’s lawyers over his 2024 death.

Los Angeles Times

Former sheriff alleges cover-up in blast that killed three LASD detectives, including Santa Clarita resident

In a recent interview, former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva alleged that a missing grenade in connection with an explosion that claimed the lives of three Sheriff’s detectives, including a Santa Clarita resident, was thrown into a “local lake.” At the end of July, Villanueva appeared on AM 870 The Answer, discussing the explosion that led to three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Arson and Explosive Detail detectives being killed.

KHTS

Traffic deaths are on the rise. Why is the LAPD pulling over fewer drivers?

Marvin Reid can't say how many pedestrians he's seen get hit while trying to brave the North Hollywood intersection of Magnolia Boulevard and Tujunga Avenue. He gave up keeping count long ago. One afternoon last spring, he watched a man get run over while walking toward a 7-Eleven on the corner. Fortunately, the man popped to his feet "like nothing ever happened" and hustled into the store, Reid said.

Los Angeles Times

Bass orders review after LAPD releases videos of two suspect deaths

Mayor Karen Bass is ordering an independent evaluation of officer-involved deaths and severe injuries, specifically those involving people experiencing possible mental health crises, after the LAPD released videos of two recent suspect deaths. “These two videos were incredibly difficult to watch,” Bass said in a statement Friday.

MyNewsLA

What LAPD requires during stops - and where its gang unit fell short

If you were stopped by an LAPD gang unit officer in 2023, officers may have searched you or your property without consent, photographed you without a clear legal reason or failed to record the encounter. An inspector general audit found failures to follow department protocols during traffic stops and other interactions the unit had with the public, including rules designed to protect people’s constitutional rights. 

The LA Local

Auditors say OC health officials waved off conflict-of-interest warnings for eight months

Orange County officials were told in March 2023 that the daughter of then-Supervisor Andrew Do was running a nonprofit receiving county subcontract money. The concern was raised by the nonprofit’s own prime contractor, escalated through the Health Care Agency, and carried all the way to the county’s chief executive.

Fullerton Observer

California court upholds $7.1 million judgment against The Game in sexual assault case

A California appeals court has upheld a multimillion-dollar judgment against The Game stemming from a sexual battery lawsuit filed more than a decade ago. The court issued its decision Thursday (Aug. 27), leaving intact a $7.1 million judgment awarded to Priscilla Rainey and rejecting procedural arguments raised by the rapper. The latest appeal focused largely on how the rapper was notified of proceedings in the case. 

Complex

C.A. justices unimpressed that pro per’s ancestor was member of California Supreme Court

A pro per litigant, who says he went to law school, has failed to sway justices of the Court of Appeal for this district by boasting that his great uncle, a century ago, was a member of the California Supreme Court and opining that his ancestor would have found appalling the conduct of the judge who sustained a demurrer, without leave to amend, to the appellant’s complaint.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

The fall of ‘Wicked': How an LA crime boss went down - and took his gang out with him

Ezequiel Romo's gang had plagued Panorama City for decades. Named after Blythe Street - a short thoroughfare flanked by overcrowded apartments - the crew had robbed, stole, peddled drugs and shot up rivals since the 1980s, seemingly untroubled by the city of Los Angeles' attempts to defeat it. The city poured millions into fixing blight, lining the street with trees and turning a vacant lot filled with stripped cars into a park.

Los Angeles Times

California Supreme Court disbars attorney tied to DWP billing-scandal cases

Tarzana attorney Michael J. Libman has been disbarred for his role in purportedly conspiring with lawyers inside the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office to initiate a “friendly” class-action lawsuit against the municipality over the Department of Water and Power’s 2013 rollout of a new problem-riddled billing system and allegations that he hired Israeli operatives to hack into personal accounts of a Los Angeles Superior Court judge.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Southern California

L.A. councilwoman shoots down ‘sex huts’ for the homeless

City council meetings often become colorful during public comment periods, when residents are allowed to speak freely on nearly any topic they choose. That includes proposing ideas for city lawmaker to consider. Many proposals involve straightforward, serious policy changes. Others can be outlandish. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park recently shared a startling proposal from a public speaker that she said the council will definitely not be considering.

KTLA

LA County pays $12.5M over East LA deputy shooting that killed father of three

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved a $12.5 million settlement to resolve a federal lawsuit over the 2021 fatal shooting of David Ordaz Jr., a 34-year-old father of three who was killed by sheriff's deputies responding to a mental health crisis at his family's East Los Angeles home. The board approved the payment without discussion, according to county attorneys who recommended the settlement.

Hoodline Los Angeles

LAPD internal affairs file spills more details on unit in racist recordings scandal

After LAPD recruitment officers were accused of making racist, sexist and homophobic comments - some of which were caught on tape - department leaders promised to look into whether they improperly disqualified any police applicants. More than a year and a half later, the city is still waiting on the report. But the contents of a separate LAPD internal affairs file reviewed by The Times has shed new light on the unit at the center of the scandal and how its officers responded to investigators who were looking into the matter.

Los Angeles Times

Dog-eaten meat, rats and urine: Stomach-churning details of 10K LA street food complaints revealed

A dog eating meat out of a street vendor’s bag before it was served to customers. Cockroaches crawling out of a food truck. Mice scurrying beside open salsa. Raw meat baking unrefrigerated in the heat. People urinating around cooking equipment. These are just a handful of the stomach-churning allegations listed in a staggering 662-page dossier of 9,746 public health complaints about street food vendors filed across Los Angeles County from 2023 until early 2026.

California Post

Fight over RV parking grows in Venice

For the last two years, Chanel Lara has made a decommissioned school bus her home. “It’s really nice. It’s really reliable. It starts up every time,” she said. Lara bought it in Washington state and then drove it down to Venice, where she lives now. She said she goes out of her way to keep her space clean. “I pick up after my dogs, like, you know, the same thing that any other good neighbor would do,” she said.

Spectrum News

Penske Truck Leasing to pay $7.66M settlement

Penske Truck Leasing Co. has agreed to pay $7.66 million to resolve allegations of violations of California environmental and hazardous materials laws at facilities throughout the state, officials announced Monday in Los Angeles.

MyNewsLA

Public Safety

At least 20 people ransack Superior Grocers store during street takeover in South LA, LAPD says

Police are investigating after thieves burglarized a grocery store during a street takeover in South Los Angeles early Sunday morning. At least 20 people broke into a Superior Grocers store located in the area of Manchester Avenue and San Pedro Street, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Officers responded at about 4:30 a.m. and took one person into custody, according to the LAPD.

ABC7 Los Angeles 

Another L.A. street takeover acts as cover while thieves ransack store

A gas station and car wash in Bellflower was ransacked by more than a dozen people as an illegal street takeover kicked up heavy smoke just outside the business early Monday morning. Deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department responded to 8504 Artesia Blvd. around 3 a.m. after receiving reports of a strong-arm robbery in progress, LASD officials confirme

KTLA

Massive raid nets $153K in beauty products bound for black market at Downey storage unit

L.A. County sheriff's deputies might call it a "beauty" of a find - a storage unit filled with stolen makeup, skin care and beauty products. All of them likely bound for the black market. Beauty retailers lose millions each year and these thefts cost shoppers too. The shelves of this storage unit look similar to the aisles of a Sephora or Ulta Beauty store - but it’s actually a crime scene.

ABC7 Los Angeles

$10 million in Adidas and Nike streetwear found at Arcadia warehouse, all fake, authorities say

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it uncovered a bulk shipment of counterfeit Adidas, Nike and other branded streetwear at a port of entry in early August. Last week, deputies served a search warrant at the commercial warehouse in Arcadia where the shipment was addressed and found more than 25,000 units of counterfeit branded streetwear with an estimated retail value of $10 million, according to a Sheriff’s Department news release.

Los Angeles Times

LAPD wants 300 new vehicles to police the 2028 Olympics. City politicians are skeptical

The Los Angeles Police Department wants 300 new vehicles for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and it's asking the city to pay for them. LAPD officials say the request for around $30 million to procure the vehicles would help temporarily expand the Police Department's fleet during the summer of 2028, so the police force could patrol Olympic venues while maintaining its presence around the city.

LAist

LAPD Chief says Los Angeles needs 3,300 more officers before 2028 Olympics

Los Angeles police officials are raising concerns about staffing levels as the city recovers from hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup and prepares for the 2028 Summer Olympics. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell says they need 3,300 more officers to meet safety demands, especially the Olympics.

Los Angeles Magazine

19-year-old arrested after fight in Beverly Hills alley turns into deadly stabbing

A 19-year-old man who was arrested after a fight between two men in a Beverly Hills alley turned into a deadly stabbing over the weekend has been charged with murder. It happened at around 11:40 p.m. in an alley in the 400 block of N. Palm Drive, just south of Beverly Boulevard, where officers said they were called for reports of an altercation, a news release from the Beverly Hills Police Department said. 

CBS News Los Angeles

Lawmakers vote to let first responders retire earlier and with more money. Will Newsom sign on?

The ink isn’t dry on an expansion of pension benefits for California police and firefighters - in fact, Gov. Gavin Newsom hasn’t even signed it into law - but unions are already negotiating contracts as if their members could soon be eligible for more lucrative retirement formulas.

LAist

California may restrict undercover police operations targeting youth

California may protect young people facing criminal allegations from deceptive law enforcement techniques by limiting how police use undercover agents in custody. The Legislature last week passed a bill that would prohibit law enforcement agencies from targeting certain people under age 26 in so-called Perkins operations, which involve undercover agents posing as incarcerated people to elicit incriminating information from suspects. 

CalMatters

California lawmakers strike wildfire deal that leaves out most of Newsom’s big demands

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Saturday backed off his proposal to reduce costs for electrical utilities after their equipment sparks wildfires, agreeing instead to a narrower deal after homeowners, insurers and fire survivors argued his original plan would have shifted those costs onto them. Instead, the governor and Senate and Assembly leaders agreed on a package of policies that includes prohibiting private equity groups from investing in wildfire claims and denying utility CEO bonuses in the years their companies cause fatal fires.

CalMatters

Convictions/Pleas/Sentences/Parole

LACo woman sentenced to probation for paying Skid Row homeless to vote

A longtime Los Angeles County ballot initiative signature collector was sentenced today to 18 months of probation and 120 hours of community service for paying people, including homeless people in downtown Los Angeles' Skid Row, between $2 and $3 to register to vote. Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, of Marina del Rey, pleaded guilty in June to one federal count of paying another person to register to vote.  

City News Service

South L.A. man pleads guilty to armed robbery spree in SoCal, admits to shooting victim during attempted carjacking in O.C.

A South Los Angeles man pleaded guilty today to committing an armed robbery spree in Southern California parking lots, including one incident in which he forced a firearm into a victim’s mouth, breaking the victim’s teeth, and another incident in which he shot a victim outside an Orange County shopping mall during an attempted carjacking.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Duane “Keffe D” Davis found guilty in Tupac Shakur's murder, three decades after his death

Guilty of murder: Duane “Keffe D” Davis was found guilty of first-degree murder Monday in the death of Tupac Shakur – a case that had remained unsolved for nearly three decades. Davis was found guilty of plotting the 1996 killing near the Las Vegas Strip, and he is the only person ever charged in the murder.

CNN

LA County caretaker found guilty of murdering two women at assisted living facility

A Los Angeles County caretaker was found guilty of murdering two elderly women at a Diamond Bar assisted living facility three years ago. Caretaker Jianchun Li faces a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole after the jury found that he was legally sane when he killed Monica Moon Lee, 75, and Hee Sook Park, 83, in June 2023. 

CBS News LA

Multi-million-dollar Apple Store scammers sentenced after hitting Beverly Hills and Grove locations

Federal prison sentences were handed down Friday to two men who orchestrated a massive trans-Pacific scheme that targeted Apple retail locations in Beverly Hills, The Grove, and across Southern California, defrauding the tech giant of over $16.2 million, according to a Department of Justice press release. U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. sentenced ringleader Wenhui Huang, 41, to 78 months in federal prison and ordered $16.2 million in restitution. 

The Pride

This is Flock’s AI search tool for cops

Flock Safety’s latest search tools give police several ways to find people on camera, not just the license plates on their cars. The capabilities sit inside a suite of software now at the center of dozens of police stalking cases. WIRED collected and analyzed that software and created a mock-up of what officers see when interacting with the system. Among the tools is an AI-powered watch list.

Wired

A plane outrage: The ultra-rich fail to pay taxes on private jets

As someone who loathes airports almost as much as I dread the middle seat, I’m kind of jealous of the ultra-rich who fly around on private jets. If I ever win the Powerball, I won’t hang out in trendy restaurants or buy fancy cars, but I’ll definitely leave commercial air travel to the proletariat. So it’s with mixed emotions that I share this delightful and infuriating story by my colleague Rebecca Ellis on people accused of failing to pay taxes on the ultimate, winged status symbol.

Los Angeles Times