California

DACA-enrolled immigrant sues for details on his deportation

A young man deported in February despite his participation in a deferred-deportation program is suing the federal government for information about his arrest.

Apr 19, 2017 4:45 PM CDT

Jailhouse informant program used for decades, and sheriff’s dept. tried to cover it up, brief says

Judge Thomas Goethals of the Orange County, California Superior Court has threatened several times to send people at the county sheriff’s department to jail for shredding or playing discovery games with evidence about the department’s jailhouse informant program, the Orange County Register has reported in the past. But the 5,653…

Apr 4, 2017 1:36 PM CDT

Judge approves $25M settlement in suit against Trump University

A federal judge targeted by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign gave final approval on Friday to a $25 million settlement in a suit against Trump University. U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel approved the settlement after considering objections by a Florida bankruptcy lawyer who said she wanted a trial and…

Mar 31, 2017 2:19 PM CDT

Lawyer for Roman Polanski asks for time served in 40-year-old rape case

Forty years after movie director Roman Polanski fled the United States to avoid penalties for sexual assault, his attorney has asked a judge to sentence him to time served, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. Attorney Harland Braun told a Los Angeles trial court Monday that Polanski should be allowed…

Mar 21, 2017 4:52 PM CDT

Arbitrator rules against former executive director of State Bar of California

An arbitrator has dismissed the last of the claims in a lawsuit against the State Bar of California brought by former executive director Joe Dunn. The Los Angeles Daily Journal (sub. req.) and the Sacramento Bee reported Monday that arbitrator Edward Infante of JAMS (formerly the Judicial Arbitration and Mediation…

Mar 20, 2017 5:11 PM CDT

California chief justice: Courthouses shouldn’t be used as bait in immigration enforcement

California’s chief justice is expressing concern about immigration agents who “appear to be stalking undocumented immigrants in our courthouses.” The chief justice, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly after hearing reports that immigrants in the country illegally were being arrested in courthouses…

Mar 17, 2017 3:59 PM CDT

Harvard law grad is sentenced in kidnapping once believed to be a hoax

A Harvard law grad and former lawyer was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday for a 2015 kidnapping of a California woman. Matthew Muller, 39, spoke briefly to the court, report the Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times. “I’m still sick with shame that my actions have…

Mar 17, 2017 10:16 AM CDT

California DA launches special unit to address plague of perjury

In 1998, Luther Jones was convicted in California of molesting his former girlfriend’s daughter and sentenced to 27 years in prison. But the girl, who was 12 when she testified about the alleged sex abuse, recanted in 2016.

Mar 1, 2017 3:45 AM CST

California State Bar investigating former Los Angeles city attorney

Updated: The State Bar of California has filed discipline charges against former Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, the Los Angeles Times reported. The charges stem from a death penalty case Trutanich handled in 1985, well before he was elected city attorney in 2009, the State Bar of California said…

Feb 23, 2017 5:55 PM CST

Suit claims Mike and Ike box has too little candy and too much air

A California woman claims in a lawsuit that the maker of Mike and Ike candies is misleading customers by filling nearly half the box with air rather than candy. Stephanie Escobar says in her suit that she bought a box of Mike and Ike candy for $4 at a Los…

Feb 14, 2017 4:26 PM CST

Jury awards ousted general counsel nearly $8M; metadata is said to be important evidence

Federal jurors in San Francisco on Monday awarded nearly $8 million to a general counsel who says he was fired because he blew the whistle on his company’s potential violation of a foreign bribery law. The former general counsel of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Sanford “Sandy” Wadler, was awarded $2.9 million in…

Feb 7, 2017 3:33 PM CST

Resentencing ordered in controversial child sodomy case that led to efforts to recall judge

A judge who sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for child sodomy should not have ignored the mandatory minimum of 25 years in prison, a California appeals court has ruled. In a decision on Tuesday, the 4th District Court of Appeal overturned the sentence imposed by Judge M.…

Feb 3, 2017 7:00 AM CST

San Francisco sues to block Trump order denying funds to sanctuary cities

The city of San Francisco on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to block President Trump’s executive order that withholds federal grant money to sanctuary cities that don’t cooperate with federal immigration enforcement. San Francisco’s city attorney, Dennis Herrera, said at a news conference that the executive order was unconstitutional…

Feb 1, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Lawyer is sanctioned $250 for flinging coffee toward opposing counsel during deposition

A federal magistrate judge in Oakland, California, has sanctioned a lawyer $250 for flinging iced coffee toward opposing counsel during a deposition, and then downplaying her responsibility for the incident. U.S. Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu imposed the sanction on lawyer Valeria Calafiore Healy in a Jan. 27 order (PDF), the…

Jan 31, 2017 7:00 AM CST

Arbitrator tosses fired bar executive’s claim against former California bar president

An arbitrator has tossed the last claim against former California State Bar President Craig Holden in an action filed by the bar’s fired executive director, Joe Dunn. Dunn had alleged intentional interference with contract. But JAMS arbitrator Edward Infante, in a decision released on Monday, found the evidence was lacking,…

Jan 26, 2017 1:14 PM CST