California

Foreclosure Activity Free-Falls in Calif. Because of New Notice Law

Foreclosure activity in California plummeted in September, largely because of a new state law that requires lenders to contact homeowners in advance of foreclosure filings. So dramatic is the drop in activity—down 61.8 percent from August levels—that monthly foreclosure stats are worthless as barometers of housing market conditions, according to…

Oct 20, 2008 4:50 PM CDT

LAPD Report IDs Faulty Fingerprint Work; Lawyers Seek Audit

In at least two cases, faulty fingerprint work by the Los Angeles Police Department has apparently pointed to the wrong suspects, and charges were dropped, according to a confidential internal report. But “LAPD officials do not know how many other people might have been wrongly accused over the years as…

Oct 17, 2008 11:32 PM CDT

Transient Convicted in Death of Ex-President of California Bar

A transient has been convicted of second-degree murder for strangling a former president of the California State Bar during a sexual encounter. Garvin Shallenberger was killed in 2006 at his Palm Desert vacation home, the Daily Journal reports (sub. req.). He was 85. Michael Salvador Anunciation was convicted yesterday and…

Oct 17, 2008 12:25 PM CDT

Heller Veterans Open 2 New Calif. Offices for Growing Hogan & Hartson

Hogan & Hartson is opening two new offices in Northern California with eight veterans from the dissolving Heller Ehrman law firm, including Heller’s former litigation practice chair and securities litigation co-chairs. The move by the 1,000-attorney Washington, D.C.-based international law firm to open new offices in San Francisco and Silicon…

Oct 15, 2008 12:00 AM CDT

Bomb Scare at Lieff Cabraser

Updated: A man wearing a white plastic device sparked a 11-floor evacuation today after he walked into the Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein law firm in San Francisco’s financial district. The unidentified man was unhappy that he had been turned down in an effort to appear on the television game…

Oct 13, 2008 9:56 PM CDT

At Least 100 Heller Employees Laid Off on Friday

Updated: Two e-mails were dispatched to Heller Ehrman employees last Friday. One informed the recipients they were being asked to continue working at the law firm, for now. The other had bad news for at least 100 staffers: It was their last day at the firm. Both the Recorder and…

Oct 13, 2008 10:56 AM CDT

Wavering Client Finally Pleads in John Cusack Stalking Case

A plea deal that would have saved a woman accused of stalking actor John Cusack from further jail time almost fell through, after she told a Los Angeles judge that her counsel had used scare tactics to coerce her into agreeing to it. But as 33-year-old Emily Leatherman was about…

Oct 10, 2008 7:43 PM CDT

As LAPD Search for Teen’s Body Ends, Family Still Struggles With 1968 Murder

For a little while this year, it looked like Los Angles police might find the body of a teen-age boy murdered by a trusted neighbor 40 years ago. But the LAPD plans to suspend the search today, having found nothing while digging near a freeway where they think the former…

Oct 10, 2008 7:23 PM CDT

Despite S&L Debacle Decades Ago, Most Hard-Hit States Didn’t Amp Up Regulation

Despite the savings and loan meltdown that hit the country some 20 years ago, many states at the center of that maelstrom apparently didn’t learn the obvious lesson: Regulation is needed to keep dubious mortgage lending practices in check. Now, many of the same states that suffered the most from…

Oct 8, 2008 5:44 PM CDT

False Affair Claim Doesn’t Get Remaining Prosecutors Booted

A false claim of an affair that spurred 250 California-based prosecutors to remove themselves from a corruption case hasn’t resulted in the ouster of the final two assistant U.S. attorneys. A federal judge refused last week to reconsider his decision allowing two federal prosecutors to continue handling the prosecution of…

Oct 7, 2008 2:10 PM CDT

Calif. Prosecutor Arrested on Suspicion of Rape, Makes $1M Bail

A veteran California prosecutor has been arrested on suspicion of rape in an alleged incident reportedly involving another Contra Costa County deputy district attorney. He has posted $1 million bail. Michael Gressett, 51, is on paid administrative leave after being arrested Thursday on suspicion of four felonies—rape, oral copulation, sodomy…

Oct 6, 2008 10:13 PM CDT

Calif. Judge Bans Anna Nicole Smith Breast Surgery Videotape

In the latest ruling in a steady stream of medical privacy cases, a California judge has nixed a Texas doctor’s claimed right to distribute videotapes of the 1994 breast augmentation surgery he performed on celebrity Anna Nicole Smith. After granting a preliminary injunction against Dr. Gerald Johnson last year, Los…

Oct 6, 2008 9:10 PM CDT

Public Appeal & Engineer’s Work Diary Lead to Dig for 16-Year-Old’s Body

Some 40 years after a now-dead child serial killer admittedly stabbed a 16-year-old neighbor boy to death, authorities today are expected to begin excavating the Southern California site where they believe he buried the body of Roger Dale Madison. It is near a freeway, and, authorities now believe, Mack Ray…

Oct 6, 2008 5:03 PM CDT

9 LA Lawyers Move from Sonnenschein to Seyfarth Shaw

A group of nine real estate and corporate attorneys are moving from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal to the Los Angeles office of Seyfarth Shaw. The five partners in the group are expected to be joined today by four associates, according to a Seyfarth press release. “Seyfarth Shaw has long planned…

Oct 6, 2008 3:14 PM CDT

Bank of America to Modify Countrywide Mortgages in $8.6B Deal

Bank of America will agree to modify loan terms, where possible, for up to 390,000 borrowers who took out subprime loans serviced by Countrywide in a deal that could be worth more than $8.6 billion, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The deal, expected to be announced today, would…

Oct 6, 2008 1:24 PM CDT