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The facts of this case are tragic. The victim, a 90-year-old stroke survivor, told her daughter that she needed to be removed from her nursing home, Monterey Pines Skilled Nursing Facility (now known as Cypress Ridge Care Center after a transfer of ownership). Despite her limited ability to communicate, she told her daughter that her catheter had been removed, the nurse call button had been disabled, and her clothing had been taken off by someone the night before....

Bautista v. County of Los Angeles, B219035, concerned a challenge to a trial court’s denial of plaintiff’s petition for writ of mandate seeking to reverse the decision of the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission approving his discharge as a sworn peace officer for engaging in a personal relationship with a known prostitute and heroin addict in violation of the sheriff’s department’s prohibited-association policy, and grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants on plaintiff’s federal civil rights claim....

The federal Eastern District court in California recently sent a letter to Congress, as well as the members of its bar, explaining that the court will soon be in crisis as the judges in the district are already overworked compared to their peers in other district courts, and there are a couple judges with retirements planned. Notably, when the retirements happen next year, each judge in the district is expected to take on an additional 500 cases....

Back in the day, paralegals had to toe the line between helping lawyers and practicing law without a license. But that line is fading as another state has authorized nonlawyers to practice law. Washington led the nation with limited license legal technicians in 2012, and Utah will start licensing paralegal practitioners in 2019. These legal professionals can handle a variety of cases without a lawyer’s supervision – as if that never happened before....

Trial court’s judgment granting guardians’ petition to declare two minors free from the care, custody, and control of their biological parents and granting the parents visitation rights is affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded where: 1) Probate Code section 1516.5 does not have any constitutional infirmities; 2) no denial of the right to counsel occurred; 3) any deficiencies in the investigator’s report were not prejudicial to the parents; 4) the evidence amply supports the termination of parental rights; 5) the case is remanded to comply with the inquiry provisions of the ICWA; and 6) the trial court’s order granting visitation rights to the parents must be reversed as it was in excess of the trial court’s authority....

In an appeal from the Tax Court’s determination that the taxpayers owed alternative minimum tax (AMT), the order is affirmed where the Technical and Miscellaneous Revenue Act of 1988 made it crystal clear that Congress intended the 90% cap on the AMT foreign tax credit to supersede any preexisting treaty obligation with which it conflicted. Read Jamieson v. Comm’r of Internal Rev. Serv., No. 08-1253 Appellate Information Decided October 16, 2009...

Last week, prosecutors introduced testimony from eight alleged victims who vividly described sexual abuse by Jerry Sandusky that they suffered as children. This week, Jerry Sandusky’s defense begins which much less poignant testimony. On the first day of the defense, the focus was not on arguments as to why Jerry Sandusky didn’t do it. Instead, the focus was on just what a great guy Sandusky supposedly is. An Iraq war veteran also testified, as did a school teacher and a counselor from the Second Mile, Sandusky’s charity for children....

It all began as a restaurant review – and not even a scathing one, like Pete Wells’ legendary 2012 takedown of Guy Fieri’s Times Square restaurant in The New York Times. Jay Rayner of The Guardian paid a visit to Jinjuu, a new Korean restaurant on London’s touristy shop-filled Regent Street. The executive chef, Judy Joo, claimed in her online biography that she spent two years working for Gordon Ramsay. Rayner emailed Ramsay’s company, Gordon Ramsay Holdings, to see if that were true....

When the FCC decided to turn its back on net neutrality, the state of California decided it was time to take action. In response, the California legislature passed, and Governor Jerry Brown signed into law, Senate Bill 822, named the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018. The California law is similar to the Brightline regulations imposed by the FCC in 2015, which were rescinded earlier this year....

A motorcyclist was taking part in a helmet protest over a NY helmet law when he died. Philip Contos, 55, went over the handlebars of his Harley Davidson, hitting his head on the pavement, after he hit his brakes, reports ABC News. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital, ABC News reports. And, he would have survived the accident if he was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, said a medical expert to ABC News....

Conviction and sentence for receiving a stolen vehicle and firearms possession is reversed and remanded where: 1) the evidence was insufficient to support a support a Penal Code sec. 186.22(b)(1) sentence enhancement for committing the crimes for the benefit of a criminal street gang; and 2) the trial court erred in convicting defendant of both possession of a loaded firearm by a member of a criminal street gang and possession of a loaded firearm for which he was not the registered owner as they are both penalty provisions of Penal Code sec....

It can be difficult for parents to find a baby-sitter at times. Sometimes you are forced to just bring the little ones along and it can be a bit tough on everyone. This story takes the whole “bring the kids along” issue to new, completely inappropriate and quite criminal heights. A Wisconsin man is being sought for allegedly taking a couple of toddlers along to a medieval themed S&M sex party....

This past Saturday, community groups and environmental workers held a rally in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Richmond to mark the one-year anniversary of the Chevron refinery fire, started by a rupture in the pipeline, reports Reuters. The one-year anniversary however, has had much more significance for Chevron. On Monday, Chevron entered a plea to criminal charges alleging violations of the Labor and Health & Safety Codes. Ah, but it doesn’t end there for Chevron....

If you’ve been thinking about going to law school and stumbled onto this website, you’ve come to the right place. We’re all lawyers here, been there and done that – stumbled, that is. We can tell you where the potholes are on this road to becoming a lawyer. Just follow the rules and you’ll be fine. Here are some summer school directions: Guess what? It almost doesn’t matter what undergraduate program you choose in pursuit of a law degree....

The fight over deceased artist Thomas Kinkade’s multi-million dollar estate will soon make its way up to the California Court of Appeals. On July 24, attorneys for Thomas Kinkade’s estate filed an appeal with California’s Sixth District Court of Appeal, reports Patch. The appeal involves the ongoing dispute over the artist’s estate, stemming from two holographic wills Kinkade left behind. Kinkade passed away in April, and left a barely-legible handwritten will, purporting to leave his estate to his mistress of 18 months....

When Valentine discovered the alleged fraud, he apparently decided “I Won’t Back Down,” as Tom Petty himself might say. So Valentine called in private investigators and the FBI. The Tom Petty scam allegedly conned customers with a website that claimed to book various artists like Petty, Kansas, and Ludacris, The Smoking Gun reports. A man named Chad Christopher Lund ran the site called “LundLive,” and allegedly wrote up a $330,000 contract for Petty’s performance at Valentine’s wedding....

There are many straightforward ways that a person can get a DUI: being pulled over for driving erratically, DUI checkpoints, or being involved in a car accident. And then, there are less conventional ways to get a DUI, such as while riding a horse on the freeway. How Did This Happen? Isaac Bonsu was initially pulled over for an equipment violation. According to the dashboard camera released by police, Bonsu got out of his car and started running....

In September, 2015, news broke that Volkswagen had been using illegal ‘defeat devices’ on its diesel cars in order to evade emissions tests. In a matter of days, the German car company was swamped by lawsuits. While the government’s VW investigation continues to play out, the consumer class action was settled last October, when U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer approved a $10 billion package as part of a total $15 billion deal settling civil claims....

John Marshall Law School may become part of the University of Illinois at Chicago, at the same time showing how legal education is changing at the speed of a mouse-click. “The preliminary conclusion of this study was that it would be financially feasible for JMLS to become a part of UIC,” the website says. What Next? Any arrangement would require approval from the boards of the university and the law school, as well as the Illinois board of higher education and the American Bar Association....

It’s widely known that some lawyers turn to alcohol to relieve stress. But only a few like attorney Paul Hletko decide to turn alcohol into a new career. “I was growing weary of practicing law,” Hletko tells ABA Journal in a magazine feature. So in 2010, he decided to turn away from his patent law practice and focus instead on opening a micro-distillery which he named Few Spirits. But turning Hletko’s home-brewing hobby into a full-scale business required a bit of legal maneuvering – a challenge Hletko met head-on....