During the COVID-19 pandemic, employees of California State University (CSU) were ordered to conduct their classes remotely. In order to comply, one biology professor tried to retrieve his computer and other vital equipment from his on-campus office, but he was denied permission to enter it. As a result, he had... Read More »
While the nation continues to bemoan questionable behavior by United States Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor, the California Supreme Court is actually doing something to prevent its judges from unethical actions. The California Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Ethics issued a Formal Opinion on August... Read More »
A group of about 20 armed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents dressed in tactical gear raided the home of Los Angeles-based actor Siaka Massaquoi in the early morning hours of June 10, 2021, to execute a federal search warrant. They believed that Massaquoi had entered the U.S. Capitol building... Read More »
A police officer in Merced, California, who was fired for lying under oath in court, will get another chance to see if his termination was supported by sufficient evidence about his questionable actions during a possibly illegal search. Officer Jose Cruz was terminated from the Merced County Police Department based... Read More »
A man with an outstanding warrant(s) for his arrest was properly denied his request for a name change, and the appellate court ruled that the trial judge who refused to allow it did not abuse her discretion. The petitioner’s birth certificate said his name was Andre Pierre Harris. In March... Read More »
In a dispute over who must pay attorney’s fees during divorce proceedings, what matters is not what the parties earn, but what they are capable of earning. When Jennie (Hearn) Hooker filed for a divorce, she asked the court to make her husband Rockford Hearn pay $45,000 toward her attorney’s... Read More »
Jason Carl Schuller was accused of the first-degree murder of his friend W.T. At his trial, Schuller pled not guilty by reason of insanity. Evidence, including testimony by a neighbor, showed W.T. had received nine gunshot wounds to his head as well as serious burn injuries. The jury heard evidence... Read More »
A California prisoner cited several reasons why the State should step in to verify that the food at Kern Valley State Prison is really kosher. He claimed the prison’s food vendors falsely advertised that their meals complied with his religion’s dietary laws. The district court found that the vendors “are... Read More »
After a prison guard at San Quentin died from COVID-19, his wife and children sued the State of California, its Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), and others for transferring inmates with the disease to the prison where their husband and father worked. They argued that the transfer “ultimately killed”... Read More »
A controversial San Francisco ordinance that allows non-citizens over the age of 18 to vote in local school board elections if they have children in school has survived a challenge to its constitutionality. In their ruling approving the law, the judges said that home rule is not prohibited by the... Read More »
Each episode of Netflix’s new blockbuster series Painkiller begins with a disclosure that explains the story about to be televised is partly fiction. But, the people introducing the show also reveal that they are the real parents of a son or daughter who died from various conditions caused by their... Read More »
Prenuptial agreements (prenups) make great movie plots. Body Heat, Private Benjamin and Cary Grant’s Indiscreet are just a few of the comedies, dramas and thrillers that feature them in their plotlines. But if Hollywood wants accuracy, it should take note of a California law and a new ruling that holds... Read More »
Clovis Community College students who belonged to the Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) were ordered to remove a set of flyers from campus bulletin boards after college officials decided that the content violated the school’s Student Flyer policy by containing “inappropriate or offensive language or themes.” YAF was ordered to... Read More »
The Mississippi constitution prohibits felons who have completed their sentences from voting unless two-thirds of the State legislature restores their right to vote. The Plaintiffs in a class action case challenged the prohibition as “cruel and unusual punishment,” and now a federal appeals court found Eighth Amendment grounds to agree.... Read More »
A disabled law school graduate sued the State Bar of California for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), claiming it failed to properly accommodate his needs when he took the bar exam. The case, which the plaintiff lost because the District Court believed the State Bar has sovereign immunity,... Read More »
