Courts, Rulings & Lawsuits

Lancaster sues LA county for overcharging on sheriff's services

The City of Lancaster filed a putative class action lawsuit against Los Angeles County, claiming that it overcharges for law enforcement services provided by the Sheriff's Department. The lawsuit claims that the county saves money on operational costs by using overtime to cover vacant officer positions in cities it contracts with rather than filling those positions, while still billing the cities for the full cost of services.

Daily Journal

Gun owners seek court order to expedite concealed carry permits in LA County

A group of gun owners and Second Amendment advocates asked a federal judge to force Los Angeles County to issue concealed carry permits without delay, claiming that the current 18-month wait violates their constitutional rights. U.S. District Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett didn't issue a ruling on their request for a preliminary injunction at a hearing Wednesday afternoon in downtown LA.

Courthouse News Service

Ninth Circuit takes on challenge to California firearms ban in ‘sensitive places’

A Ninth Circuit panel heard oral arguments Thursday in a challenge of an injunction on most provisions in a state law banning the concealed carrying of firearms in "sensitive places.” Signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom this past September, Senate Bill 2 removed an earlier requirement that people applying for a permit to carry concealed firearms show a compelling need to do so, but set limits on who can hold a permit, setting a minimum age of 21 and requiring firearms training.

Courthouse News Service

Court rules against Newsom, says CPUC president must disclose meetings calendar

Over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections, a state appeals court ruled Friday that a watchdog group was entitled to learn when Newsom’s senior energy adviser met with utility companies in the year before the governor appointed her as president of the California Public Utilities Commission. The San Francisco-based Energy and Policy Institute filed suit seeking calendars of meetings between Alice Reynolds and representatives of major utilities and labor unions during 2021, before she took office as Newsom’s appointee to lead the commission. 

San Francisco Chronicle

‘Not guilty by reason of insanity’ judgment can’t be modified under resentencing law

A man who was acquitted of crimes by reason of insanity and was committed to a state hospital for treatment was not “sentenced,” rendering void on its face an order that he be “resentenced,” the Fifth District Court of Appeal has declared. The decision, filed Thursday, reverses an order by Kern Superior Court Judge Gloria J. Cannon recalling the 2016 judgment in the case of Shawn Vincent Gray and modifying it by reducing the term of commitment from a maximum term of 19 years, 4 months - subject to being extended if it were determined that Gray had not regained his sanity - to a maximum of 13 years, four months. 

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Builders may challenge California’s development ‘impact fees,’ Supreme Court rules

The Supreme Court ruled Friday that developers and home builders in California may challenge the fees commonly imposed by cities and counties to pay for new roads, schools, sewers and other public improvements. The justices said these “impact fees” may be unconstitutional if builders and developers are forced to pay an unfair share of the cost of public projects.

Los Angeles Times

Judge blocks LA city councilman’s lawsuit against Ethics Commission

LA City Councilman John Lee's lawsuit against the city's Ethics Commission, which has accused Lee of various ethical violations, met a roadblock on Friday when a Superior Court judge agreed to throw out the lawsuit - though Lee will have an opportunity to refile his complaint. Lee is only non-Democrat serving on the city's 15-member legislative body. 

Courthouse News Service

California bar executive's ghostwriting violated conflicts rules, probe finds

A former State Bar of California deputy executive violated the "spirit" of conflict of interest rules by ghostwriting reports on complaints in which the bar’s top disciplinary lawyer was recused, a state bar investigation has found. Former Deputy Executive Director Robert Hawley “more likely than not” improperly authored seven such reports between 2010 and 2015 in cases against the bar's chief trial counsel or cases where the chief trial counsel had a conflict of interest, according to the report by law firm Adams, Duerk & Kamenstein, released on Wednesday.

Reuters

Supreme Court to review homelessness case that's been preventing encampment sweeps

Wednesday marked a key deadline in the battle over how cities can manage and solve homelessness. The US Supreme Court is set to review a decision later this month that's been preventing cities from sweeping encampments, and everyone from the Governor to homeless advocates want their say. "The big question for the US Supreme Court is can you criminalize poverty and homelessness," said legal analyst, Steven Clark.

ABC7

Chula Vista loses on police drone video in landmark state high court decision

A Chula Vista journalist is celebrating a landmark victory for open records after the California Supreme Court declined to hear the City of Chula Vista’s bid to reverse an appellate ruling on police drone video. Arturo “Art” Castañares, publisher of La Prensa San Diego, says Wednesday’s court action signals “the end of the road” for the 3-year-old case. It can’t be appealed further.

Times of San Diego

DMV hearing is not necessarily marred by lack of due process based on prospect

The Fifth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a 2022 opinion from this district proclaiming that it offends due process for the same employee of the Department of Motor Vehicles to act as both an advocate and an adjudicator does not mean that the prospect of an individual performing both roles means that it actually occurred in any individual case.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

Ninth Circuit stays out of wrongful conviction in arson case for now

The Ninth Circuit declined Monday to interfere in a decade-old wrongful arrest and racial discrimination case seeking to expunge the conviction of a man accused of starting a fire that killed 29 people over 50 years ago. While the court is unsure whether a federal judge can expunge a state conviction, as the plaintiff has requested, the three-judge panel decided the issue would be better served upon a retroactive appeal, rather than a peremptory writ of mandamus. 

Courthouse News Service

L.A. County wants mental exam for nurse suing over sexual affair

Attorneys for Los Angeles County want a judge to order an independent psychological examination of a nurse practitioner who alleges she was wrongfully fired in 2022 for reporting unsafe job conditions as well as a sexual relationship between two colleagues. Tiffany Bryant's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges harassment and retaliation.

City News Service

Lie must go to the nature of the bargain to support mail-fraud conviction

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday vacated the convictions for mail fraud and conspiracy of six businesspersons whose sales representatives lied in the course of wooing customers but, a three-judge panel declared, a falsehood, in order to give rise to criminal liability, must go to the nature of the bargain.

Metropolitan News-Enterprise

DA's Race

Former D.A. hopefuls endorse Hochman in bid to oust Gascon

In a significant turn of events in the Los Angeles County District Attorney race, former candidates John McKinney and Maria Ramirez have thrown their support behind Nathan Hochman, marking a notable shift away from their current superior, George Gascon. The endorsements come as a boost for Hochman, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Assistant Attorney General, who is challenging Gascon in the upcoming election.

Westside Current

Ex-Dodger Julio Urías charged in alleged domestic violence incident that landed him on administrative leave

Julio Urías, a free-agent left-handed pitcher, has been charged with five misdemeanors by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, stemming from his arrest last September when he was pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, a spokesperson confirmed to CBS Sports Tuesday. Those include one count of spousal battery, two of domestic battery involving dating relationship, one of false imprisonment, and one of assault. An arraignment is set for May 2. 

CBS Sports

Japanese-language translator charged in complaint with illegally transferring more than $16 million from baseball player’s account

A Japanese-language translator was charged today via federal criminal complaint with unlawfully transferring more than $16 million from a Major League Baseball (MLB) player’s bank account - without the player’s knowledge or permission - to pay off his own substantial gambling debts incurred with an illegal bookmaking operation.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Supreme Court puts key charge for Jan. 6 rioters under the microscope

The mounting complications facing the Justice Department’s prosecution of Jan. 6 rioters heads to the Supreme Court next week in a challenge that threatens to upend over 300 convictions. A staple of prosecutors’ Jan. 6 charges will be put under the microscope as the justices consider if the Department of Justice misused a two-decade-old obstruction law to penalize pro-Trump rioters.

Courthouse News Service

12 members of smog inspection cheating ring indicted

Twelve people have been charged by federal indictment for a conspiracy to cheat California smog inspections using a sophisticated device known as the “OBDNator,” in violation of the Clean Air Act. The indictment was unsealed today following the arrests of the defendants who are alleged to have manufactured, distributed, and used OBDNators to cheat smog checks across the state.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

Woman accused of randomly vandalizing cars in Los Angeles area facing 12 charges

A woman accused of vandalizing a dozen vehicles with bricks across Los Angeles and Santa Monica has been charged with 12 counts of vandalism, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. Lisa Jones, 30, was charged with 11 felony counts and one misdemeanor count of vandalism of $400 or more in damage or destruction of property, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced Monday.

USA Today

Gavin Newsom says baseball saved him. But the legend of his career doesn’t always match the reality

For their 2004 home opener, the San Francisco Giants invited a special guest to throw the ceremonial first pitch: Gavin Newsom, then just a few months into his first term as mayor of San Francisco. As Newsom took the pitcher’s mound, wearing dress shoes and a button-down shirt underneath his custom Giants jersey, the announcer informed the crowd that “he played first base for the University of Santa Clara and was drafted by the Texas Rangers.”

CalMatters

California criminal justice battle intensifies with reformers’ counteroffensive

Criminal justice reform advocates are mobilizing to thwart a ballot initiative that would reverse California’s recent turn away from tougher criminal penalties. The counteroffensive signals that those advocates fear the initiative to crack down drug and property crimes, backed by prosecutors and major retailers, has a strong chance of landing on the November ballot.

Politico

Public law update - US Supreme Court rules on whether actions taken by public officials on social media violates First Amendment

Public officials, like many Americans, use social media to communicate. The First Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits governments and public officials from abridging a person’s freedom of speech. The issue that courts have been grappling with is determining when a public official uses their social media account and blocks members of the public from interacting with their account as a private citizen and when are they using their social media account as a public official subject to the First Amendment.

Burke, Williams & Sorensen LLP

Newsom's 'California Dream' faces $26K 'cost-of-living penalty,' homelessness director flees high-cost state after another eviction

California's state website highlights what it describes as the "California Dream," defined as "the idea that every person can achieve a better life, regardless of where they start out.” But it's becoming increasingly hard for California residents to afford the state's high costs.

Benzinga

Black market cannabis thrives in California despite legalization

A funny thing happened on the way to cannabis legalization: illegal pot is still big business. In the decade since the first states legalized recreational marijuana, about half the country has moved to allow adults to buy regulated pot from authorized sources. But in some states, that's been more theory than practice.

NPR

Saying prosecutors should focus on Antifa, judge frees white supremacist in beating

In his sentencing memo Thursday, U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney made it clear why he was letting Tyler Laube off lightly. It wasn’t just because of what Laube did or didn’t do - the defendant had already confessed to beating a journalist at a 2017 Southern California rally and pleaded guilty to violating riot laws as part of a white supremacist gang. Laube deserved a light sentence, Carney said, because prosecutors should have focused on leftist groups. 

USA Today

California Democrats bring down the hammer on crime - or try to

The speaker of the California Assembly and fellow Democrats Tuesday will announce a package of bills targeting retail theft - all without touching a landmark criminal justice measure voters approved nearly a decade ago. A wide-ranging proposal from Speaker Robert Rivas and Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur would allow police to make arrests without witnessing the incident or footage of it, establish a new crime targeting “serial” theft and allow the value of stolen items from multiple retailers within 60 days to be aggregated into a grand theft, which can be a felony.

Politico

Government can step in as campus antisemitism reaches ‘DEFCON 1’: Experts

Jewish students face an unprecedented uptick in campus antisemitism, and experts argue that university response has been inadequate to the point that government action is not only permissible, but necessary. The Washington Examiner interviewed three leading First Amendment lawyers and scholars after a recent poll revealed that Jewish students by and large feel unsafe on campus, coinciding with a 400% rise in antisemitic incidents, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Washington Examiner

SEIU and wealthy donors trying to kill California’s retail theft reform bills

The SEIU has thrown down its cards and is now trying to kill retail theft reform bills - even the bills authored by Democrats. And they are joined by the wealthy spouses of real estate developers, tech billionaires and daughters of oil barons - people who live behind tall walls and secured gates. Their cars and homes aren’t broken into.

California Globe

CA sheriff blasts Newsom's 'failed leadership' on crime, proposes solution to fix 'disaster': 'had enough’

Riverside County, California, Sheriff Chad Bianco is helping lead an effort to reverse a 2012 ballot measure he says is directly contributing to the homelessness and crime crisis in the Golden State and is calling on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to get on board.

Fox News

A time when America united to discourage kids from taking drugs

A review of the book DARE to Say No: Policing and the War on Drugs in Schools (Max Felker-Kantor, The University of North Carolina Press) in the May 2024 issue of Reason Magazine looks back 42 years to the launch of a Reagan Administration’s effort to convince school children that taking drugs was a bad idea.

California Globe

Los Angeles City/County

LAPD HQ phones down: System upgrade went awry

Who ya’ gonna call? Phones Busted! The landline telephones at the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters have been down for more than a week, inconveniencing hundreds of employees and city residents. The 911 system and all of the individual stations are working properly, said chief of media relations Commander Kelly Muniz, so public safety has not been compromised.

California Globe

LA tests program to send unarmed civilians instead of cops to people in crisis

Los Angeles officials - eager to ease the city’s reliance on police officers for handling nonviolent mental health emergencies - have launched a new pilot program that sends unarmed civilians with training to respond to such calls. Modeled after a heralded program out of Oregon, city officials said the so-called Unarmed Model of Crisis Response has two teams of mental health practitioners available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for situations that would typically fall to police, such as conducting welfare checks and responding to calls for public intoxication and indecent exposure.

Los Angeles Times

‘An honor': Meet LAPD's first Latina deputy chief, Ruby Flores

As the Los Angeles Police Department celebrates its first Latina deputy chief, the woman stepping up to the responsibility is taking the historic role seriously in showing young girls and women they can achieve what they set their intentions on. Ruby Flores, a Mexican American woman raised in East Los Angeles and Norwalk, beamed with pride as she spoke with NBC4 about her new position.

NBC4

LAPD interim chief Dominic Choi: Quiet reformer or ‘Michel Moore 2.0’?

Nearly two hours into a welcome ceremony last month at the lavish home of a Korean diplomat in Hancock Park, the guest of honor - the first Asian American to lead the Los Angeles Police Department - had yet to step on stage. Dominic Choi took over last month as LAPD’s 58th chief, and since then he has managed to keep a relatively low profile, so far avoiding the kinds of headline-grabbing controversies that plagued the department in recent years. 

Los Angeles Times

OC homeless placed in jobs, through Chrysalis, CalOptima partnership

After living on and off the streets for a decade, Weldon Haywood Jr. said he found the help he needed to move past homelessness thanks to a new partnership between CalOptima Health and Chrysalis. "I was drinking. I was homeless, in and out of jail, and at a certain point in time I just got tired of doing that," Haywood said. Today, he's employed with Illumination Foundation, a homeless care center in Fullerton.

ABC7

Veteran San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy arrested on gun charges, ties to Mongols gang

Since January, San Bernardino County sheriff’s investigators have been secretly watching Deputy Christopher Bingham, a firearms expert and former gun shop owner with suspected ties to the notorious Mongols motorcycle group. Their surveillance led to the arrest Thursday, April 4, of the 45-year-old Twentynine Palms resident, who was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, with bail set at $500,000. 

San Bernardino Sun

Feds strengthen background check requirements for gun purchases

The Justice Department has finalized regulations to strengthen background check requirements for gun sales and crack down on unlicensed firearms dealers. The regulation, which was finalized Thursday, strengthens the definition of people who are “engaged in the business” of selling firearms and are thus required to conduct a background check.

Courthouse News Service

Business groups and lawmakers battle over ballot measure to limit California tax increases

Californians will be coughing up many billions of dollars this month as they file their federal and state income tax returns and pay the second installment on their property taxes. How much? Annually, individual Californians and California-based businesses pay roughly a half-trillion dollars in federal taxes - personal income taxes, Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes, primarily. 

CalMatters

California lawmakers pitch bill to raise fines for corporate criminals

In the wake of reduced federal dollars, California lawmakers hope to provide stable funding for victim services with a bill focused on holding bad corporate actors accountable. Assembly Bill 2432 would increase fines for corporations convicted of crimes. The money would fund crime victim service programs, which help people by offering medical care, counseling, lost wages, courtroom advocacy and temporary housing, among other services.

Courthouse News Service

California state auditor’s scathing homeless report: Where did the money go?

The California State Auditor yesterday issued a scathing report on how very broken are the state’s homeless programs. In the last five years, the state has spent about $24 billion dollars trying to eradicate - or at least lessen - California’s enormous homelessness problem. Currently, there are about 183,000 homeless people in the state: that’s up 53% in the past ten years and 30% in just the last five.

California Globe

Crime

$140K in counterfeit Lakers apparel seized from vendors in downtown L.A.

L.A. police seized more than $100,000 worth of counterfeit Lakers apparel outside Crypto Arena in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, authorities announced. “We love sports, but don’t like counterfeiting,” the Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division said in a post to X, formerly Twitter. It’s unclear if any arrests were made, but officers with Central Division’s Vice Bureau collected an estimated $140,000 worth of illegal purple and gold merchandise.

KTLA

Theft suspects hit by car in West Hills while running away from security

Two people who allegedly stole from a store in West Hills were hit by a car as they ran away, leaving one of them dead. The incident happened just before 10 p.m Saturday near Criswell Street and Fallbrook Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Authorities say the pedestrians stole merchandise from a nearby TJ Maxx and were trying to get away from security. That's when they ran across the street and were hit by a car.

ABC7

How 'burglary tourists' stole jewelry worth millions from Orange County home

Carol and Jeff Starr celebrated their daughter's wedding last month with a bit of irony: neither was wearing their own wedding rings at the ceremony. Thieves had broken into their Orange County home last spring and cleaned out a safe full of jewelry. "They hit the jackpot," Carol Starr told CNN. The couple had locked their own rings in a 6-foot-tall safe, where they also secured heirloom jewelry passed down from Carol's late mother.

CNN

Sex trafficking a focus on Figueroa: From South LA to Sacramento

If you drive down the Figueroa Street corridor, you can see improvement. The criminal activity, prostitution and dealing has gotten noticeably better over the last several months. That is thanks to the leadership from the Offices of Mayor Bass, Councilmember Harris-Dawson, City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto and US Attorney Martin Estrada, along with focus and attention from the LAPD working with the FBI and DHS to build and sustain an initiative focused on the crime and trafficking along this corridor.  

Los Angeles Sentinel

Scammers wire themselves $48,000 from Simi Valley business owner

Scammers somehow managed to wire themselves a little over $48,000. Now, a Simi Valley business owner in the middle of an expensive and elaborate scam is sharing his side of the story. According to the FBI, about $2 billion is lost every year to wire transfer fraud. When it involves a small business, it can leave a devastating impact.

Fox11

Man convicted in decades long identity theft that led to his victim being jailed

William Woods was homeless and living in Los Angeles when he learned that someone was racking up debt using his name. But when he reported his concerns to the branch manager of a bank, he wound up spending nearly two years locked up, accused of identity theft himself. As he continued to insist he was Woods in a desperate effort to clear his name, he was even sent to a state mental hospital and drugged, court records show.

AP

Jonathan Majors sentenced to 1 year of counseling in domestic assault case

Jonathan Majors has been sentenced to one year of domestic violence counseling after being convicted last year of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari. The actor must complete a 52-week, in-person domestic violence programming in Los Angeles, where he currently resides. There will be an opportunity in the future for the sessions to be partly virtual. 

Variety

Moorpark man sentenced to more than 11 years in federal prison for trying to entice sexual activity from someone he thought was a minor

A Ventura County man was sentenced today to 140 months in federal prison for soliciting on social media platforms sexually explicit photos from an individual he thought was a 14-year-old girl. Thomas Kern Gissell, 29, of Moorpark, was sentenced by United States District Judge John F. Walter, who also placed Gissell on 20 years of supervised release when Gissell eventually is released from prison and ordered him to pay $5,100 in special assessments and $27,000 in restitution.

U.S. Attorney’s Office Press Release

New white paper, 'Navigating Reputational Harm' by Eric W. Rose and James F. Haggerty analyzes managing reputational issues in the digital age

Attorney James F. Haggerty and Eric W. Rose, a nationally known expert on reputational damages, are pleased to announce the publication of a new white paper, "Navigating Reputational Harm: A Deep Dive into Repairing, Measuring, Metrics, and Legal Implications of Reputational Harm in the Internet Age," published by Hart + Harvest Press as part of their new Media Monograph Series.

Hart + Harvest Press

Michael Jackson’s accusers seek to open sealed records that include nude photos of the singer

Michael Jackson’s production company is fighting to keep sealed court records out of the hands of two of his accusers ahead of a forthcoming jury trial. MJJ Productions filed a motion Wednesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to quash four subpoenas issued by Jackson’s alleged sex-abuse victims, Wade Robson, 41, and James Safechuck, 46. 

Los Angeles Times

What are Santa Ana officials hiding in a claim alleging the police union runs City Hall?

A brewing controversy over city redactions to a legal claim by a long time, well known, experienced former city manager in Santa Ana is shedding new light on the grip the police union - which routinely spends big on local elections - has on elected officials in the heart of OC. Former City Manager Kristine Ridge’s claim alleges a hostile workplace created by Mayor Valerie Amezcua and paints a general picture of a pressure campaign by elected officials on behalf of the police union to get her to boost former union president Gerry Serrano’s pay and pension. 

Voice of OC