Steve Jackson Rodriguez, 39, was a certified nursing assistant who worked nights at a Southern California group home for severely disabled children. While there, he committed a series of horrid child exploitation crimes, many of which he filmed. He was sentenced to life in prison for producing child pornography and... Read More »
Rosa Cuevas was an “uninvolved passenger” in a high-speed police chase that resulted in an injured officer and the death of a police dog. She sued the City of Tulare, California, as well as the officers and the local police chief for the injuries she suffered from three gunshot wounds... Read More »
Nicholas Needham was accused of being a sexually violent predator (SVP) in 2016. The California Department of State Hospitals (DSH) appointed two doctors to evaluate him prior to trial. Each determined that Needham had a mental illness that made him likely to engage in sexual violence. They suggested he be... Read More »
California law, not a federal statute, governs whether carjacking qualifies as an aggravated felony that justifies a deportation penalty. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 2 that a man convicted of carjacking without force may remain in the United States. This ruling partially denied the defendant’s... Read More »
The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (EFASASHA or the Act) was signed into law in March 2022. Sponsored by Senator Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY), the new law stops employers from requiring their workers to enter into arbitration regarding incidents related to sexual assault or harassment in... Read More »
A fired Uber driver’s class action suit that alleged his dismissal occurred because racial discrimination caused his low ratings on post-ride passenger surveys was dismissed by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 24. The appellate court said the driver’s allegations were insufficient to support his claims because he... Read More »
Christopher Grimes was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Adrian Dawson in 2018 which took place after Grimes hit a parked car in the strip mall in which Dawson’s fiancée and child were sitting. The two men had an altercation that led to Dawson’s murder by gunshot when Grimes... Read More »
A naturalized citizen sued Meta Platforms, Inc., which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, for employment discrimination, alleging the social media company chose to hire noncitizens with specialty worker visas because it could pay them less. The Ninth Circuit, relying on a federal statute, reversed the district court’s dismissal of the... Read More »
A woman who received electroconvulsive therapy for depression sued Somatics, LLC, the manufacturer of an FDA-cleared device that delivers electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), aka electric shock treatment, to treat severe major depressive episodes. Before undergoing her treatment, the patient was only warned that ECT could cause short-term memory loss. Unfortunately, her... Read More »
The California Supreme Court has unanimously blocked efforts to place the “Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act” (TPA or the Act) on the November ballot. The TPA would have amended the State Constitution to require every new tax imposed by state law to be the subject of a ballot referendum.... Read More »
Tilting Point Media LLC, (Tilting Point) which describes itself as a “free-to-play publisher” of dozens of apps and video games, has reached a $500,000 settlement with the Attorney General of California and the Los Angeles City Attorney for violating laws that prohibit the collecting and dissemination of children’s data without... Read More »
After receiving a complaint from a whistleblower, three professors from the UCLA School of Dentistry were investigated for soliciting unauthorized fees from international students from Middle Eastern countries. The professors, who were identified only as John Doe et. al., entered into settlements with the University that had hired a law... Read More »
A FedEx manager who called an employee “slow” could have committed age discrimination according to a new ruling by a California Court of Appeal. The case, Michael Freem v. Superior Court of Orange County, partially reversed Orange County Superior Court Judge Richard Y. Lee’s grant of summary judgment in favor... Read More »
A dispute between neighbors over the City of Los Angeles’ height limits for trees and plants led to a district court decision that ruled private parties are barred from bringing civil suits to enforce local ordinances. The ordinance in question was section 36900 (a) of the Los Angeles Municipal Code,... Read More »
Congress amended the Communications Decency Act (CDA) in 1996 in an effort to stop minors from viewing sexually explicit material. Though this was the main goal of the act, Section 230 has perhaps had a greater impact on social media than the portion aimed at protecting children. Section 230 gives... Read More »
