California

Law Profs Threaten Boycott of Meeting Due to Hotel Owner’s Views

Updated: Four groups representing law professors and legal writing professionals are threatening to boycott the annual meeting of the Association of American Law Schools because of the views of the man who owns the hotel where the meeting may take place. The meeting is slated to be held in January…

Aug 5, 2008 2:19 PM CDT

Bratz Judge Refuses to Grant Mistrial for Juror’s Ethnic Remarks

A federal judge in California has refused to grant a mistrial because of a juror’s disparaging comments about a CEO’s Iranian ethnicity in a copyright dispute over Bratz dolls. U.S. District Judge Stephen Larson said the remarks about the chief executive officer for MGA Entertainment didn’t taint the jury panel…

Aug 5, 2008 1:54 PM CDT

Wilson Sonsini Paid Client $9.5M to Defray Backdating Costs

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati has paid its client, Brocade Communications Systems, $9.5 million in hopes of releasing itself and firm chairman Larry Sonsini from backdating claims. The payment was revealed in a footnote in a court filing, report the Recorder and the Daily Journal (sub. req.). On Friday, a…

Aug 5, 2008 11:35 AM CDT

Paid Well to Do Little, Staffer Relies on Luck, Trial Tech Skills

When Michael Skrzypek began working at Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, he knew so little about computers that a supervisor once had to tell him he was trying to put a CD into a floppy drive. He had little to do—he calculates that he one year put in only 10 weeks…

Aug 4, 2008 10:47 PM CDT

Thelen Says Malpractice Plaintiff Waived Any Conflict, Seeks Unpaid Fees

Thelen Reid Brown Raysman & Steiner says in a response to a malpractice suit that the plaintiff waived any alleged conflicts of interest. The response also says the plaintiff or third parties contributed to alleged losses, and the suit was time-barred, the Recorder reports. The law firm has also counterclaimed…

Aug 4, 2008 3:15 PM CDT

Employee Cell Phones Cost Companies Big Bucks in Back Taxes

Employers that hand out cell phones to their workers are being billed hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes for failing to report the fringe benefit as income to the users. The tax laws require employees to keep detailed records that separate business from personal calls made on the…

Aug 4, 2008 2:09 PM CDT

Order Raises Question: Did Bextra and Celebrex Cases Settle?

A federal judge’s order is leading to speculation that Pfizer has quietly settled several of 3,000 pending cases claiming injuries from the painkillers Bextra and Celebrex. On Friday, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco ordered a law firm handling 250 of those cases to submit detailed information to…

Aug 4, 2008 12:56 PM CDT

Ex-Asst. PD Gets Probation in Ex-Girlfriend’s Stalking

Brought down by a drug habit, according to his attorney, a former assistant Orange County public defender sat before a judge today in Santa Ana, Calif., in a jail jumpsuit awaiting sentencing. David Scharf, 46, was given five years of probation by Superior Court Judge Daniel Barrett McNerney, and was…

Aug 1, 2008 10:22 PM CDT

Judge Cites ‘Serious Problems’ at Calif. Youth Prisons

Although he stopped short of appointing the receiver sought by reform advocates, a California judge said at a hearing in Oakland yesterday that the state’s youth prisons are in serious disarray. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jon Tigar indicated that his patience had worn thin with the state’s slow progress…

Aug 1, 2008 5:40 PM CDT

Victims or Whiners? L.A. Celebrities Seek Protection Against Paparazzi

Complaining that they are being besieged by the tabloid photographers, celebrities met with Los Angeles officials yesterday to seek protection from further harassment. “But Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton criticized many of the ideas as unenforceable, and one head of a photo agency characterized some of the celebrities as…

Aug 1, 2008 4:05 PM CDT

Rob Lowe & Nanny Who Sued Him Both Proclaim Victory re Court Ruling

After a California judge’s decision to dismiss a defamation claim by actor Rob Lowe and a retaliation claim by his former nanny, Jessica Gibson, both sides proclaimed victory this week in the ongoing litigation. It began with a pre-emptive strike by Lowe, 44, who filed a complaint in April claiming…

Aug 1, 2008 3:35 PM CDT

Legal Threat Results in One Less Billy Goat

A billy goat curse may be extending beyond the Chicago Cubs. It’s also apparently afflicting the owner of a California tavern who says he’ll change his establishment’s name to avoid a legal fight. Billy Truby, owner of Billy Goat’s Tavern in Mount Shasta, says he decided to change the name…

Aug 1, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Thong or Slingshot?

Woman Sues Maker of Sexy Apparel, Claiming Skimpy Undergarment Was an Unintended Eyeful

Aug 1, 2008 1:00 PM CDT

Bad Budget News in Calif. & N.Y.; Schwarzenegger Cuts State Workers’ Pay

After recent bad news about the state of New York state and New York City’s finances, officials there are probably watching with interest the current budget crisis in California. Today Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger temporarily reduced the pay of most California state employees to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 an…

Jul 31, 2008 10:44 PM CDT

More Laws Needed to Protect Residents from California Wildfires

A 1928 aerial photo taken of Mission Canyon, Calif., 10 minutes from downtown Santa Barbara, shows four houses and two roads leading in and out of the scenic spot. Decades later, the shot showed 400 closely packed houses and the same two roads, home to those lucky enough to be…

Jul 31, 2008 4:55 PM CDT