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In plaintiff’s suit against the defendants alleging he was defrauded into investing in their company, defendants’ petition for writ of mandate is denied as trial court properly found plaintiff’s peremptory challenge to the judge to be timely where: 1) the second lawsuit involves a different defendant and different causes of action asserted against that defendant; and 2) the second lawsuit does not arise from conduct in, or involve enforcement or modification of an order in, the first lawsuit....

South African Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius has been sentenced to five years in prison for the killing of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The double-amputee athlete, known as the “Blade Runner” for his distinctive prosthetic legs, was the first athlete to compete in both the Olympic and Paralympic games. After being charged with murder in the 2013 shooting death of Steenkamp, Pistorius was found guilty last month on the lesser charge of culpable homicide....

Dismissal of defendant’s petition for unconditional release after he had been recommitted as a Sexually Violent Predator (SVP) is affirmed where: 1) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in dismissing the petition where defendant did not oppose the dismissal motion and conceded there were no changed circumstances at the hearing; and 2) trial counsel provided effective assistance of counsel in not opposing the motion to dismiss where there were no changed circumstances to support a conclusion that defendant’s condition had so changed he would not be a danger to others....

Steven Alan Locasio called a number left on a ransom note to negotiate a deal to get his marijuana back. Little did he know, the suspicious ransom note was left by police detectives to lure the pot grower. “Thanks for the grow! You want them back? Call for the price…we’ll talk” read the note left in place of Locasio’s stash that was growing on a lot near his apartment. According to the Associated Press, Locasio, 48, called the number 10 minutes later and offered $200 for the plants....

In an action to enjoin a union from requiring candidates for union office to password-protect their websites, summary judgment for Defendant is affirmed, where the restriction was not viewpoint-based and left open alternative methods of communication with the public, and thus it complied with Section 101(a)(2) of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. Read Quigley v. Giblin, No. 08-7056 Appellate Information Argued May 4, 2009 Decided June 23, 2009 Judges...

The Supreme Court granted cert to two appeals from the Federal Circuit on Monday. Both cases – the only intellectual property cases the High Court has agreed to hear this year – challenge the Federal Circuit’s two-part test for awarding treble damages in patent infringement cases. The petitioners’ argument is fairly straight forward: the law is simple, granting discretion to the courts in awarding adequate damages; the Federal Circuit’s test is far from simple, imposing rigid restrictions on damage awards....

In a move to keep up with the predicted wave of the future, Nevada became the first state in the country on Monday to pass a self-driving car law. In other words, it will soon be legal in Nevada to kick back, relax and text while driving. As long as your car is doing the driving for you. As always, blame Google. Self-driving, or driverless, cars operate with radar, lasers and GPS, along with a bit of artificial intelligence, according to the Huffington Post....

You just can’t find a local grocery anymore, and it’s going to get even harder to find one soon. With mergers and acquisitions, small grocers and even chains have been losing ground to mega stores for years. But a new kind of acquisition is threatening now: the super stores are buying food-delivery businesses. In an all-cash deal, Target is purchasing a grocery-delivery startup for $550 million. It probably won’t get done before Christmas, but soon you’ll be able to get their groceries the same day you order....

The high of Erica Depalo’s career was probably being named Teacher of the Year in 2011. The low? Probably being charged with sexual assault for having sex with one of her students. Depalo was charged on Friday for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old student. The unidentified male was one of her honors English students. But he wasn’t receiving extra credit for the time he spent with her outside of class....

The four most feared law firms as reported by corporate in house counsel should not come as a surprise to anyone. They also happen to be four of the largest law firms in the country and among the most well respected as well. According to a survey by the BTI Consulting Group, the “fearsome foursome,” in no particular order, include: Boies, Schiller & Flexner Jones Day Kirkland & Ellis Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom So what does it mean to be the most feared?...

It’s that time of year again, which means The Princeton Review has released its newest edition of The Best 167 Law Schools. Now, we know you normally only care about the all-powerful U.S. News rankings. But this year’s Best list has some possibly useful information. It includes a ranking of the Top 10 Law Schools for Career Prospects. Yes, career prospects. Apparently they still exist. Well, if you go to one of the following schools....

Here at FindLaw, we understand the pressures of being a legal professional - most of us are recovering lawyers - so we want to help by tossing you that preferred life preserver of the legal profession, the short list. Today’s offering: Top five things to know about the Federal Circuit Bar Association (FCBA). The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals is a mysterious court to the majority of lawyers who will never have business there....

Nobody’s perfect, so we understand how someone could accidentally wind up married to two people at once…once. But twice? That just seems greedy. Regardless of a person’s efforts to catch multiple fish from the marital sea at the same time, California law provides, with limited exceptions, that an individual can only be married to one person at a time. The Third Appellate District in Sacramento was asked to decide if Nevada law, like California law, follows the one-spouse-at-a-time rule....

A 21-year-old upstate New York woman has been arrested for texting and driving, New York’s WNBC-TV reports, but that’s not the whole story. Here’s the clincher, Daisy Cowit is her legal name, and she allegedly drove into a herd of…what? That’s right, cows. Three of the cows she hit were seriously injured and required emergency surgeries, and while the cows themselves aren’t able to assert legal action, the state certainly can....

Let’s be clear: NBC’s “Bad Judge” will probably not last more than one season. Our review of the half-hour legal comedy’s pilot could be summed up in one word – awful – and we’re not alone in our sentiments. More importantly for the network, the ratings are terrible. If all that didn’t ensure the show’s demise, this might help: The Miami-Dade chapter of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers (FAWL) has sent a letter to the network, asking it to shelve the show, which it says “depicts a female judge as unethical, lazy, crude, hyper-sexualized, and unfit to hold such an esteemed position of power,” reports the ABA Journal....

California Government Code Section 915(a) establishes the manner of delivery of a claim against the government. It requires that a claim be presented to a local public entity by “delivering it to the clerk, secretary or auditor,” or by mailing it to one of these officials “or to the governing body.” Substantial compliance with Section 915 is not enough. Last week, the California Supreme Court held that a claim must satisfy the express delivery provisions language of the statute....

If you’re asked to interview as part of your application to law school, don’t stress too much over it, but also don’t treat it like an interview for a summer job at a car wash. Dress professionally, appear well-groomed, and be ready to talk about yourself and what you bring to the table. It won’t hurt to do some research about your interviewer and the school either. If you can claim that the law school was named after one of your heroes, you may be able to score some school spirit points....

Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year, right before a long weekend. That can only mean one thing for attorneys: Valentine’s Day happy hour! Attorneys who have a torrid love affair with alcohol will be steering clear of spiked beverages. If that’s you, don’t worry. You can still get into the spirit (sans spirits) and treat yourself to tasty libations with a romantic flourish. This Valentine’s Day, fall in love with your liver....

The common refrain these days is that going to law school is a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad idea. There just aren’t any jobs. Perhaps the real issue is not that there aren’t any jobs; it’s that the only jobs are going to that rare breed of lawyers that understands math and science: patent lawyers. According to data compiled by Peer Monitor, demand for intellectual property patent work rose 5.1 percent year-over-year in the first quarter of 2013, Thomson Reuters reports....

New York City is now allowing its birthers to designate their own gender on birth certificates. Though this is limited to just those born in New York City, it is a major win for transgender and gender-neutral individuals, since it allows individuals to select their own gender, without requiring a doctor’s note. Back in 2015, NYC passed a law that allowed individuals to change their gender on their birth certificate if they provided a signed affidavit from a healthcare provider....