California

Paintball Suit Seeks Warnings

A man whose wife was killed in a paintball accident says a successor manufacturer has not lived up to a promise to publicize the dangers of older equipment. Mark Contois plans to file a complaint today in a California court seeking to force KEE Action Sports to do more to…

Oct 5, 2007 4:30 PM CDT

Nuns Evicted, Gagged in Pedophile Priest Settlement

The Catholic Church has obtained a gag order to prevent disgruntled nuns in California from talking about their evictions. The church is ousting nuns from five convents so it can sell the buildings to help fund a $660 million pedophile priest settlement, the Washington Post reports. One of those who…

Oct 5, 2007 3:15 PM CDT

Heller Ehrman Axes 65 Support Staffers

Heller Ehrman has cut 65 administrative staffers—but no attorneys—in its offices throughout the United States. The aim was to cut costs, firmwide managing partner Robert Hubbell told the Recorder. He said the expanding law firm needed to consolidate work that was initially done in each of its offices. The move…

Oct 5, 2007 12:37 PM CDT

Cops Bag Arrests, Vehicles in ‘Friendly’ Contests

Los Angeles County police have been participating in some unusual contests. There was “Operation Any Booking,” in which cops competed to see how many people they could arrest in a day. Or “Operation Vehicle Impound,” which boosted vehicle impoundments from 4.7 a day in July to 37 on the day…

Oct 4, 2007 6:27 PM CDT

Judge Allows NASA Background Checks

A federal judge has refused to halt background checks for 28 workers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. U.S. District Judge Otis Wright of Los Angeles refused to issue an injunction after the government said information about past drug use would not be used in criminal cases against the workers, the…

Oct 4, 2007 6:04 PM CDT

Focus on Day Casebeer in Discovery Probe

New court filings put the spotlight on a Silicon Valley law firm in a judge’s effort to find out why Qualcomm Inc. failed to turn over hundreds of thousands of discovery documents. Declarations filed yesterday focused on 21 potentially damaging e-mails that were withheld from Broadcom Corp. in a patent…

Oct 4, 2007 11:08 AM CDT

Wanted: New Spector Defense Lawyers

Although Phil Spector’s defense counsel deadlocked the jury at his Los Angeles murder trial, he wants another legal team to represent him at retrial. Six attorneys are interviewing for the job of lead counsel, according to the Associated Press. Many of Spector’s current lawyers are stepping aside after months defending…

Oct 3, 2007 8:11 PM CDT

L.A. Courthouse Evacuated

Police ordered the evacuation of the federal courthouse in Los Angeles this morning because of an item described as a briefcase or possibly a travel bag left outside. A bomb squad removed the “suspicious item” and found no explosives, KNBC.com reports.

Oct 3, 2007 5:02 PM CDT

Target Class Action OK’d, Seeks Web Access for Blind

Plaintiffs who contend Target failed to make its Web site accessible to the blind have won class action status for their lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of San Francisco certified two class actions, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.). One is a nationwide class action alleging violations…

Oct 3, 2007 1:35 PM CDT

Lawyer Defends Use of Opponent’s Notes

Should a lawyer who obtains an opponent’s privileged notes of an interview with expert witnesses be able to use them to his advantage in trial? Justices of the California Supreme Court and students watching oral arguments both appeared to favor arguments that the lawyer should have checked with the trial…

Oct 3, 2007 10:42 AM CDT

20-Year CA Judge Removed from Bench

A former prosecutor who was appointed a California state court judge nearly 20 years ago has been removed from the bench for “misconduct” and “gross neglect” of his judicial duties. Superior Court Judge Robert Spitzer, who sits in Riverside County, was removed from the bench today by the California Commission…

Oct 2, 2007 10:20 PM CDT

Mayer Brown Loses Another Partner

In the latest partner defection from Mayer Brown’s office in Los Angeles, corporate and securities practitioner Kenneth Kohler has joined the Los Angeles office of Morrison & Foerster. A number of other partners also have left Mayer Brown’s Los Angeles office in recent months, including Louis Eatman, the former national…

Oct 2, 2007 9:41 PM CDT

Judge to Simpson: Hand Over Rolex

O.J. Simpson doesn’t have to give the shirt off his back to satisfy a $38 million wrongful-death judgment. But he does have to hand over an expensive Rolex wristwatch the family of murder victim Ron Goldman saw the former football superstar wearing on the Internet, a Los Angeles judge ruled…

Oct 2, 2007 8:31 PM CDT

Judge to Britney: No License, No Kids

Britney Spears lost custody of her two young sons at least in part because she didn’t have a valid driver’s license. Because the 25-year-old pop diva didn’t comply with a court order to get a driver’s license by Monday, and allegedly didn’t comply with an earlier court order to take…

Oct 2, 2007 5:27 PM CDT

Britney Loses Custody, Gains Lawyer

Pop singer Britney Spears has at least temporarily lost custody of her two small sons. Starting Wednesday at noon, her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, will have custody “until further order of the court,” according to Superior Court Judge Scott Gordon. It is not clear why the judge made the ruling, reports…

Oct 1, 2007 8:57 PM CDT