California

Lawyer’s demand-letter threat to reveal sexual liaisons was not extortion, appellate court says

Ruling in a case that has been closely watched by lawyers, a California appeals court held that a pre-litigation demand letter threatening to reveal an opponent’s sexual activities if he did not provide an accounting and return allegedly embezzled business funds did not amount to extortion. The opponent, former reality…

Jul 17, 2013 7:30 PM CDT

Federal judge OKs feds’ $5B suit against Standard & Poor’s, blasts ‘troubling’ defense of ‘puffery’

A federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., has given the green light to a Department of Justice lawsuit claiming that Standard & Poor’s Rating Services fraudulently misrepresented its evaluations of companies as independent and objective. While U.S. District Judge David O. Carter has not ruled on the merits, he denied…

Jul 17, 2013 4:55 PM CDT

Greenpeace, gun groups join in suit over US surveillance ‘dragnet’ by Electronic Frontier Foundation

A wide swath of interest groups, ranging from Greenpeace to gun rights advocates, have joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and a coalition of 19 organizations in filing a legal challenge to what the plaintiffs describe as an “illegal and unconstitutional program of dragnet electronic surveillance” by the U.S. government. Filed…

Jul 16, 2013 8:55 PM CDT

Lawyer who smuggled client’s ‘hit list’ from jail should get 4-year suspension, bar judge says

A prominent California criminal defense attorney should lose her law license for four years for smuggling materials out of a state jail including a claimed hit list of witnesses in a murder case, a California State Bar Court judge ruled on Monday. Attorney Lorna Brown admits she took materials out…

Jul 16, 2013 7:53 PM CDT

Lawyer to face first-degree murder case after his wife dies from gunshot wound

A month after a Southern California lawyer allegedly shot his wife in the chest during a domestic incident at their home, she has died and her death has been ruled a homicide. Prosecutors say Mark Madrigali, 57, who was being held in lieu of $1.5 million bail on attempted murder…

Jul 16, 2013 6:00 PM CDT

‘Certifiable saint’ but for indirect role in $2.4B fraud, ex-BigLaw partner gets 1 year in club fed

A former partner of Mayer Brown was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in federal prison for his role in a $2.4 billion fraud on investors in Refco Inc. Joseph P. Collins, 62, was allowed to remain free pending his appeal in the Manhattan federal court case, reports…

Jul 16, 2013 3:45 PM CDT

California high court refuses to stop gay weddings

California’s supreme court on Monday declined to stop gay marriages from continuing while it considers a bid to revive Proposition 8. ProtectMarriage, the organization sponsoring the 2008 anti-gay marriage ballot measure, had asked the court to bar the issuing of marriage licenses to same-sex couples while it appeals a federal…

Jul 15, 2013 9:55 PM CDT

Stalkers steer sex-seeking strangers to victims’ homes through false online ads

About 100 men showed up at a Virginia women’s home expecting sex after her vengeful ex-boyfriend duplicitously solicited them using her identity. Frightened by her unwanted and in some cases aggressive visitors (one came with a crowbar and another rammed her security gate), the woman is one of a growing…

Jul 15, 2013 9:15 PM CDT

California’s beleaguered prison now faces investigation into mental health facilities

As problems with California’s prison system continue to mount, on Thursday the state Senate confirmed Gov. Jerry Brown’s pick to run the system, and a federal judge ordered an investigation of conditions at mental health facilities in the prisons. Despite objections from Republicans in the legislature, Jeffrey Beard, who retired…

Jul 12, 2013 7:15 PM CDT

Psychic sued for failing to lift love curse

A North Hollywood woman has filed suit against her psychic reader, claiming the medium fraudulently took her $11,000 without lifting a curse on the plaintiff’s love life. In addition to fraud, Klarissa Castro’s suit against Jennifer Williams and her Los Angeles company, Psychic Readings By Yana, alleges intentional and negligent…

Jul 11, 2013 7:45 PM CDT

Did Saudi princess hold US worker captive, or is this a wage dispute? Judge sets $5M bail

A Saudi princess has been arrested in California and charged with human trafficking, after a Kenyan woman flagged down a bus and, with the help of a female passenger, told authorities she was being held captive and forced to put in long hours for little pay as a domestic worker…

Jul 11, 2013 1:45 PM CDT

29,000 California prisoners on hunger strike to protest isolation

Some 29,000 prisoners began a hunger strike this week in California to protest the conditions of isolation units and the quality of the food they are receiving. The strike is being considered among the largest, if not the largest in the state’s history, according to the Atlantic Wire and Los…

Jul 10, 2013 4:00 PM CDT

Paralegal admits embezzling $327K, secretly settling law firm claims

A paralegal, office manager and secretary for a small San Francisco-area law firm has admitted embezzling more than $327,000 by secretly settling client claims and stealing the proceeds, as well as retainer payments, over a five-year period. Ana Lissa Reyes also signed up clients without the firm’s knowledge, and established…

Jul 3, 2013 7:40 PM CDT

Yoga class at public grade school is akin to dodgeball and not religious, judge says

A San Diego judge has rejected a challenge to yoga classes in Encinitas public schools, equating the classes to exercise programs like dodgeball. Judge John Meyer said yoga may be rooted in religion, but the classes in Encinitas are taught without references to Hinduism and they have a secular purpose,…

Jul 2, 2013 1:13 PM CDT

Jury acquits in case over anti-bank messages, picture of money-grabbing octopus chalked on sidewalk

A protester who wrote critical messages and drew a picture of an octopus grabbing money in water-soluble chalk on the sidewalk outside several branches of a major bank has been acquitted by a San Diego jury in a controversial criminal case. Jeff Olson was found not guilty Monday on 13…

Jul 1, 2013 10:39 PM CDT