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Special Reports


Judicial Profile

Judge Tracey Blount recalibrates for criminal docket

Tracey M. Blount
Los Angeles County Superior Court

2026-04-15

MCLE

Using AI to parse the logic of a legal opinion

Apr. 8, 2026

From opinion to syllogism: How AI rapidly breaks down Sup...

By Marc D. Alexander

When going low no longer works: Strategic civility as the new power play in family law

Mar. 27, 2026

In family court, the sharpest move isn't shouting--it's s...

By Noel E. Guth

Workers on the spectrum and the quiet frontier of employee civil rights

Mar. 23, 2026

Workers diagnosed with autism and attention deficit hyper...

By Pawanpreet K. Dhaliwal


Today's News

Torts/Personal Injury


A federal judge declined to pause a wrongful death case against OpenAI, ruling that parallel state proceedings won't resolve all claims tied to a chatbot's a...


Class Action


A class action alleges Home Depot used license plate readers in California parking lots without proper notice or safeguards, sharing data with law enforcemen...


Litigation & Arbitration


A Los Angeles judge denied UCLA's request to pause a Rose Bowl lease lawsuit, ruling the school must continue litigating despite its appeal over arbitration.


Real Estate/Development


The 215-lawyer Firm strengthened its Southern California presence with a group from Resch Polster & Berger, boosting real estate, litigation, and tax cap...


Securities


A federal judge is considering whether Google investors can pursue class claims alleging the company misled markets about ad auctions, inflating its stock be...


Litigation & Arbitration


PG&E will pay $80 million to settle claims by Placer County Water Agency over the Mosquito Fire, resolving litigation tied to wildfire damage, lost reven...


Columns

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Achieving success in complex litigation mediation

Apr. 15, 2026
By Stuart M. Rice

In complex litigation, successful mediation turns chaos--multiple parties, shifting liability theories, and insurance battles-...


Labor/Employment, Construction

A California appellate decision confirms that ignorance is no defense for prime contractors when payroll records show no appre...


Labor/Employment

Data is the black box of wage and hour mediation

Apr. 15, 2026
By Leonid M. Zilberman

In wage and hour and PAGA mediations, employer data acts like a plane's black box--both sides analyze it to reconstruct work ...



Verdicts & Settlements

Wrongful Termination of Contract Pinner Construction Co., In... $27,329,125
Breach of Contract Webcor Construction, LP v. ... $20,000,000
Retaliation Christian Tetrault v. Capit... $13,975,466
Wage and Hour Erica Morris, Yolanda Orteg... $11,350,000
Wage and Hour Esmeralda Castanon, and Joh... $8,250,000
Invasion of Privacy Taliah Mirmalek, on behalf ... $3,850,000
Wage and Hour Nadia Tuliau, an individual... $3,600,000
Retaliation Christine Jones v. County o... $2,670,000
Police Negligence Marlen Medina v. County of ... $2,500,000
Wage and Hour Benjamin Zermeno, on behalf... $2,038,000

On the Move

Buchalter

Apr. 10, 2026


David Menninger joined Buchalter as a special counsel in Los Angeles. The move was April 3, 2026.

Menninger, a former deputy federal public defender and federal judicial clerk at both the district and appellate levels, brings an insider's perspective to complex, high‑stakes cases involving fraud, tax, money laundering, and immigration‑related charges. His record includes a high‑profile jury acquittal that garnered national media attention, a not guilty verdict in a category where such outcomes occur in only 0.03% of cases, and many pretrial dismissals of indictments, as well as post‑conviction work that compelled the government to vacate a wrongful murder conviction.


Details

Buchalter has 600 attorneys in 15 offices including Los Angeles, Napa Valley, Orange County, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco. Among the law firm’s key practice areas are Commercial Finance, Corporate, Health Care, Litigation, Insolvency and Financial Law. The firm’s website is buchalter.com

Featured Content


Community News

The volunteer-run project run by an associate at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati features first-person narratives from AA...




Daily Appellate Report

Criminal Law and Procedure

People v. Espiritu

Defendant's objection at voir dire, which did not raise the potential presumptive invalidity, did not result in forfeiture of the issue on appeal.


Eminent Domain

Modification: Department of Water Resources Cases

Because precondemnation entry required only general eminent domain authority--not project authorization or funding--the trial court properly granted the Department of Water Resources' pet...


Torts

Cordero v. Ghilotti Construction Co., Inc.

Neither the "retained control" exception nor Cal-OSHA regulations created an exception to the general rule that hirer was not liable for independent contractor's work injury.


Municipal Law, Contracts

Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Assn. v. County of Los Angeles

Ambiguous memorandum of understanding language failed to defeat union's statutory meet-and-confer rights under the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act.


Criminal Law and Procedure

U.S. v. Williams

Sufficient evidence supported defendant's conviction for attempted enticement of a minor.