California

Driverless Cars Get Green Light in California

Clearing the way for testing and regulations, California became the third state to legalize driverless cars, prompting Gov. Jerry Brown to quip that the state is one step closer to making science fiction a reality. Lobbying for the so-called autonomous vehicles has intensified as manufacturers tout the eventual safety improvements…

Sep 26, 2012 1:36 PM CDT

2nd Venture Capital Firm Faces Suit re Claimed Discrimination Against Female Partner

For the second time in less than six months, a venture capital firm in the San Francisco area has been sued for alleged discrimination against a female partner. Such litigation by high-profile women working in the male-dominated field is unusual, and the previous suit, by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers…

Sep 25, 2012 6:56 PM CDT

Calif. Judge Ponders Whether Dog That Bit Cop, Chased Police Horse 1.6 Miles Should Be Put Down

Updated and corrected: An unleashed male dog reportedly made a beeline for a mounted National Park Service police officer as the dog was out running with his owner on Aug. 6 in Crissy Field in the San Francisco area. The dog, known as Charlie, bit the boot of the officer,…

Sep 19, 2012 4:35 PM CDT

California Divorce Lawyer Is Charged in Plot to Bug Cars of Her Clients’ Spouses

A California divorce lawyer has been accused in a criminal indictment of planting listening devices in the vehicles of her clients’ spouses to obtain information for legal proceedings. Mary Alice Nolan, 60, of San Ramon is accused of referring clients to a private investigator who installed the listening devices, report…

Sep 19, 2012 11:38 AM CDT

City Attorney Seeks Payday-Loan Claimants with Intern’s ‘Pay Me Maybe’ Video

An Oct. 1 deadline is looming for some California consumers to file claims under a statewide settlement with two payday loan companies. That fact is being publicized in a new video called “Pay Me Maybe,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle blog SF Gate, the Huffington Post and the San…

Sep 19, 2012 10:30 AM CDT

Hospital OKs Language-Discrimination Settlement of $975K; That May Be a Health Industry Record

Without admitting wrongdoing, a California hospital has agreed to pay a settlement of $975,000, among other conditions, to resolve a federal employment discrimination lawsuit contending that Filipino-American staff members were harassed for speaking their own language while other workers who spoke languages other than English were not. Delano Regional Medical…

Sep 18, 2012 11:02 PM CDT

New Round in 25-Year-Old Tree Dispute Puts Same Neighbors, Now Elderly and Elsewhere, At Odds Again

After a dispute spanning 25 years that at one point went briefly to the California Supreme Court, an elderly Oakland woman won the right to trim neighbors’ trees that were blocking the view from her property of the San Francisco Bay. But now Phyllis Bishop, who is 95 and living…

Sep 18, 2012 8:05 PM CDT

Jailhouse Lawyer Testifies Against Inmate He Once Agreed to Help

A one-time jailhouse lawyer didn’t feel compelled to keep the secrets of his “client” when he testified at the accused murderer’s trial in California on Thursday. John Pratt told jurors that the defendant, Steven Arthur Duarte, “appeared to be a decent guy and wrongly accused” when he first met him…

Sep 14, 2012 3:20 PM CDT

Colo. Sanctuary Sues Over State Reg, In Effort to Give Captured Calif. Bear a New Home

It appears that a California bear’s salad days of dining on tasty human food in trash cans and taking a dip in swimming pools near the foothills of Glendale, are over. However, the future of the 400-pound, approximately 5-year-old black bear is uncertain because of a Colorado state regulation that…

Sep 12, 2012 7:15 PM CDT

Stephen Baldwin Sues Kevin Costner’s Lawyer for $10M After Losing at Oil Spill Cleanup Machine Trial

Stephen Baldwin. s_bukley / Shutterstock.com Kevin Costner. s_bukley / Shutterstock.com After losing a legal battle over a premature decision to sell his stake in an oil spill cleanup machine company just before a major oil company placed a $52 million order, actor Stephen Baldwin hasn’t yet given up his war…

Sep 11, 2012 9:42 PM CDT

DOJ Intervenes In LSAT Disability Bias Class Action, Says ‘Flagging’ of Tests Violates ADA

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to intervene on behalf in a class action filed against the Law School Admission Council in federal court in San Francisco over claimed discrimination against disabled test-takers in the administration of the Law School Admission Test. In what the LSAC has called a…

Sep 7, 2012 8:05 PM CDT

Ice Cream Maker Ben & Jerry’s Wins Lookalike Porn Movie TRO; Boston Cream Thigh, Other DVDs Nixed

It might seem unlikely that those who enjoy Ben & Jerry’s gourmet ice cream would think the Vermont-based maker of trademarked flavors such as Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Peanut Butter Cup and Boston Cream Pie has anything to do with similar sounding porn flicks such as Chocolate Fudge Babes, Peanut Butter…

Sep 7, 2012 6:30 PM CDT

Thirty-Four Years After His Graduation, Law Grad Joins the California Bar

It took 34 years and seven or eight tries for University of San Francisco law grad Jeffery Baker to become a lawyer. Baker, 62, will be sworn in as a California lawyer on Thursday, the Contra Costa Times reports. “If that’s not a record for the longest time between graduating…

Sep 6, 2012 12:13 PM CDT

9th Circuit Says Los Angeles Can’t Treat Personal Belongings of Homeless Individuals Like Trash

Upholding a federal court’s injunction that prevented the city of Los Angeles from treating as trash the personal belongings that homeless individuals left unattended for a short time, a federal appeals court Wednesday said government workers could seize their property only if it is has clearly been abandoned, poses an…

Sep 5, 2012 8:34 PM CDT

Federal Judge Says Calif. Law Allows Clawback Claims Against Ex-Thelen Partners But NY Law Doesn’t

In a ruling that could affect former partners of other failed law firms, a federal judge in New York held Tuesday that a bankruptcy trustee can pursue clawback claims against some but not all of Thelen’s former partners. Drawing a distinction between what is permitted under California and New York…

Sep 4, 2012 10:31 PM CDT