Under California law, parties engaged in litigation are not liable for communications made during “planned or pending court actions.” However, a State appellate court has ruled that comments on defendant’s blog and Yelp are “akin to press releases,’ and therefore not immunized by California’s litigation privilege. Vanessa Hamilton, the defendant,... Read More »
The rights of sperm donors in child custody cases have prompted many states to create laws that seek to clarify who has the right to raise the child. In 2022, California enacted Family Code §7613 (b)(1) that says, “The donor of semen…is treated in law as if the donor is... Read More »
In a renewed effort to control the recent surge in illegal border crossings, Texas Governor Greg Abbot has passed a new law that would allow police officers to arrest any migrants who illegally cross into the state from the southern border. The new law would also allow local judges to... Read More »
A series of personal squabbles between a firefighter and his supervisor led to a $5 million-plus payout because of the severe due process violations that occurred during his firing. The defendant, the county fire protection district, tried to argue that the plaintiff was not entitled to damages because he failed... Read More »
A Georgia gift card maker is facing a lawsuit in California after users said the gift cards they purchased were drained of their funds in a scam that has been all too popular this holiday season. The lawsuit was filed by San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu against InComm Financial... Read More »
When Spencer Elden was just four months old, the “grunge rock band” Nirvana used a nude picture of him, which prominently showed his genitals, on the cover of their 1991 album Nevermind. The album went platinum, sold 30 million copies, and generated a host of album cover copies on merchandise... Read More »
A spiritual adviser to death row inmate Kenneth Eugene Smith has filed a lawsuit against the state of Alabama over plans to use nitrogen gas to execute the condemned prisoner. The lawsuit was filed by Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Hood nearly a month before Smith is set to be executed On... Read More »
Humana, an industry leader providing healthcare plans for over 5.1 million eligible American seniors, is facing a new class action lawsuit over its claims process. The lawsuit was filed by Medicare Advantage beneficiaries earlier this month in the U.S. District Court in Western Kentucky. The class action lawsuit names two... Read More »
The judge in the “second degree implied malice murder” trial of an inebriated man, who hit and killed a six-year-old girl, did not have to instruct the jury to consider a lesser related offense such as “gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.” The driver was convicted and sentenced to 15 years... Read More »
Defendant/Appellant Christopher Esqueda was a felon who tried to sell methamphetamines (meth) and a loaded .22 caliber revolver from his Anaheim hotel room in January 2020. Unfortunately for him, the potential buyers were two undercover law enforcement agents, one from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and... Read More »
A popular Chicago area car wash is at the center of a wrongful death lawsuit after a Hinsdale teenager was killed in a horrific car accident. On July 17, 14-year-old Sean Richards was killed at the Fuller’s Car Wash after a Jeep being driven by a car wash employee struck... Read More »
A new lawsuit accuses a former Harvard Medical School professor of secretly using his own sperm to artificially inseminate a patient he saw in 1980. That patient, 73-year-old Sarah Depoian, is now suing the retired professor for what her legal team has described as “medical rape.” The now-retired professor, Dr.... Read More »
A recent Ninth Circuit opinion raises the question of whether California’s consumer protection laws should perhaps be renamed California’s “consumer unprotection laws.” In a case where a manufacturer replaced potentially harmful ingredients in its hair dye with “chemicals that are just as unsafe or worse” than those they replaced, the... Read More »
The family of a 43-year-old inmate who died while behind bars has filed a federal lawsuit against the Department of Corrections and others for the state of his body when it was returned to the family. The family is also suing for the Department of Corrections’ negligent actions they say... Read More »
After Benjamin Kohn, a disabled attorney, failed the bar exam three times, he sued the State Bar of California for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act when it denied his desired test-taking accommodations. He claimed that the State Bar is not an “arm of the state” and therefore does not... Read More »
