Government
Advise and Consent
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - Taking a slap at the Clinton administration and a possible preemptive strike at future White Houses, the Senate ...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Clients Skunked, But Not by Him, Girardi Claims
By Denise Levin
Plaintiffs' attorney Thomas V. Girardi, lauded by colleagues and feared by adversaries for his knack of winning multimillion-...
Criminal
New Law Fleshing Out DNA Banks Feared, Praised
By Peter Blumberg
SACRAMENTO - The sexual assault and murder of a 76-year-old woman. The rape of a pregnant woman resulting in the death of her...
State Bar & Bar Associations
State Bar Purges Republican Critic From Governors
By Don De Benedictis
The State Bar of California suddenly and unexpectedly removed a persistent Republican critic from its Board of Governors last...
Family
Claims Board: Settle 'Sex Slave' Case
By Cheryl Romo
On Monday, Los Angeles County's Claims Board forwarded $974,000 in lawsuit settlements to the Board of Supervisors for cases ...
Zoning, Planning and Use
Trash Dump Opponents Hope Dirt Spills
By Mathew Heller
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - A convicted felon accused of conspiring with a trash-company executive to subvert opposition to the Rail-C...
Judges and Judiciary
Judges' Ratings To Continue Despite Critics
By Craiq Anderson
SAN JOSE - The Santa Clara County Bar Association's survey of judges' performance, long disliked by members of the local benc...
Government
First Phase of BofA Bond Trial Plods to a Conclusion
By Vivien Lou Chen
SAN FRANCISCO - It was originally supposed to take just two weeks. Instead, it's taken six months to get from opening stateme...
Natural Resources
Watershed Decision
By Jason Armstrong & Sean Windle
RIVERSIDE - The most recent legal battle over the state's water hasn't resulted in people taking shorter showers or watching ...
Insurance
Insurers Crash The Consumer Lawyers Party
By Denise Levin
By Denise Levin Daily Journal Staff Reporter Walking into the lion's den proved successful for representatives of an insuranc...
Criminal
No Suspicion Is Needed to Search State's Parolees
By Philip Carizosa
SAN FRANCISCO - Tossing aside a 12-year-old precedent, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday that police may search parol...
Media
Kato Kaelin Can Sue Over Accomplice Claims
By Anna Marie Stolley
A state appeal court Thursday resurrected part of a libel suit that Brian "Kato" Kaelin brought against a former acquaintance...
Law Office Automation
Immunity for Year-2000 Bug Catches Foes
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - With the millennium fast approaching and the end of the congressional session just weeks away, a brief but possi...
Personal Injury & Torts
Malpractice Killed Jailed Teen, Suit Says
By Lauren Blau
Contending her healthy 17-year-old son died needlessly, a woman filed a $25 million claim Thursday against the county of Los ...
Litigation
School District Sued Over Controversial Letter
By Marty Graham
SAN DIEGO - Anti-tax activists filed suit in Superior Court on Monday against the San Diego Unified School District and its s...
Constitutional Law
Nixon Defender Is Concerned With Impeachment's Vagaries
By Pamela Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - Judge Charles E. Wiggins, who 24 years ago was a staunch and eloquent defender of President Richard Nixon dur...
Personal Injury & Torts
Prop. 213 Bars Recovery of Man Hurt Exiting Car
By Anna Marie Stolley
In a broad interpretation of Proposition 213, a state appeal court ruled Wednesday that an uninsured motorist who was injured...
Alternative Dispute Resolution
Arbitrators Won't Decide Federal Employment Suits
By Tom Orewyler
Bowing to a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision as well as pressure from the plaintiffs' bar, the nation's largest for-...
Judges and Judiciary
Judges Consider Whether to Make Their Finances More Accessible
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - At its biannual meeting that ended here Tuesday, the Judicial Conference of the United States took steps to impro...
Criminal
Counsel, Despite Vacation Plans, Held Effective in Plea-Bargain
By Anna Marie Stolley
A state appeal panel has held that a murder defendant, who claimed his vacation-bound lawyer was pushing him to agree to a pl...
Criminal
Boy, 9, Charged in Brother's Stabbing Death
By Michael D. Harris
A 9-year-old boy was charged Tuesday with the second-degree stabbing murder of his 11-year-old brother, becoming one of the y...
Litigation
L.A. County Pays $1.2 Million to Settle Claims
By Lauren Blau
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to approve two lawsuit settlements - including a nearly $1 million ...
Litigation
Too Old to Rock'n' Roll? Well, Not Too Old to Sue
By Garry Abrams
Pat Boone, Chubby Checker, Freddy Fender and some 30 other pop and rock performers from decades gone by have finally made a r...
Large Firms
Women Lawyers' Chief Knows Value Of Contacts, Funds
By Stephanie Francis Cahill
When Linda S. Peterson joined the Women Lawyers Association of Los Angeles 12 years ago, the bar group did little fund-raising...
Appellate Practice
High Court Is Asked to Clarify Speech Limits
By Pamela Mac Lean
SAN FRANCISCO - For the first time, a federal appeals court invoked a 1997 California Supreme Court rule change Tuesday and as...
Criminal
Casino Fracas Results in an Immunity Scuffle
By Mathew Heller
HEMET - Normally, a fracas between security guards and a patron at a gaming casino might attract about as much attention as a...
State Bar & Bar Associations
Ray Marshall Elected to Lead the State Bar
By Don De Benedictis
SAN FRANCISCO - With rumors of political intrigue swirling in the background, the State Bar Board of Governors has elected Sa...
Criminal
Defense Team Questions Prosecutors' Methods
By John Roemer
SAN FRANCISCO - On April 16, 1981, Deputy Attorney General Charles R.B. Kirk - a controversial prosecutor known widely as "Ma...
Environmental
Ad Campaign Takes Home Depot to Woodshed
By Marty Graham
SAN DIEGO - Home Depot, a nationwide chain of do-it-yourself supply stores, settled a government complaint over a hazardous w...
Government
Attorney General Urges Agencies to Embrace ADR
By Daniel Shaw
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno on Monday urged top officials from all major federal agencies to avoid litigation an...