The police arrested Marlon Flores for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The California Supreme Court found that being in an area known for gang activity and ducking behind a parked car when police arrived were not sufficient indications of criminal activity to justify Flores’ detention by... Read More »
The State Bar of California requires all students attending unaccredited law schools in the state to take the First-Year Law School Students’ Exam after they complete their first year of study. This exam, commonly known as the “baby bar exam,” is mandated by the State’s Committee of Bar Examiners and... Read More »
The misstatement of the legal definition of implied malice has led to the reversal of a second-degree murder conviction in California. During defendant John Fay’s murder trial that caused the death of Anthony Davis, the prosecutor said that Fay had the mental state for implied malice because he was “aware... Read More »
“They destroyed the house, they broke every window, they put holes in the stucco. They deployed a ridiculous amount of contaminated chemicals…in the home, rendering it uninhabitable,” said the plaintiff’s lawyer during oral argument, while describing the damage a SWAT team inflicted on the home of Oleg Varlitskiy while they... Read More »
California’s commitment to clean and renewable energy is among the most progressive in the world. A lawsuit by an energy watchdog organization, however, challenged some of the recent decisions of the State’s key energy regulatory agency and sought the calendar of its current president for the time she served as... Read More »
A man and a woman were convicted of murder with special circumstances, due at least in part to the admission of a two-year-old preliminary hearing transcript of the testimony of a key witness who did not appear at trial. Defendants argued that the read transcript was admitted in error because... Read More »
California passed Senate Bill 10 in 2023 to allow counties and cities the right to override some local housing initiatives that enacted housing density caps. The bill authorizes the construction of up to ten units on a single-land parcel without requiring the review mandated under the California Environmental Quality Act. ... Read More »
While taking a shower at the Sofitel Hotel in Beverly Hills, California, Monique Howard’s hand-held shower wand broke, cutting her hand, causing her to fall on her back, and leaving her with severe injuries. She sued Accor Management US, Inc., which managed the hotel at the time, and her complaint... Read More »
After a contentious marriage and divorce filings that never actually resulted in a divorce, S.B. (Wife) and K.K. (Husband) continued their relationship while living separately in their $7 million home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Most of the time, S.B. resided in a 500-square-foot guest house, while K.K. lived in... Read More »
In the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Sorrento), a San Diego-based biopharmaceutical company, issued a press release saying it “might” have discovered a cure for COVID-19. The release was picked up by Fox News and BioSpace.com. Sorrento’s stock price immediately rose steeply, but declined a week later... Read More »
Over the past few years, hundreds of COVID-19-related insurance claims by small businesses have been rejected because the claimant was unable to show the “direct physical loss or damage” required by the policy. Brooklyn Restaurants (Brooklyn), the plaintiff in a case against Sentinel Insurance Company (Sentinel), is different. The plaintiff’s... Read More »
Dwayne Lucious, representing himself, asked the Court of Appeal to lower his child support payments by quoting a phrase from California Civil Code §3526, enacted in 1872. Lucious told the court, that “No man is responsible for that which no man can control.” The Court of Appeal unanimously disagreed. In... Read More »
Meta Platforms, Inc. (formerly Facebook) was sued by a group of advertisers for misrepresenting the “Potential Reach” of advertisements on its platforms, which include Instagram and WhatsApp, in addition to its original Facebook social media outlet. The advertisers claim that ads on Meta’s sites would potentially reach fewer people than... Read More »
A multi-vehicle crash in Los Angeles led to the shooting death of Daniel Hernandez, the man whose pick-up truck caused the accident. The confrontation between Hernandez and Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Officer Tori McBride took place in April 2020, when she and other LAPD officers arrived at the scene... Read More »
The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) began building a new 4.5-mile streetcar line to connect downtown Santa Ana with two transportation hubs. The construction required two public utility companies, Southern California Edison Company (SCE) and Southern California Gas Company (SCG) to relocate their equipment that was in the way of... Read More »
