Civil Law

The yellowing photo shows a woman in a knee-length, sleeveless dress. Her short hair blows in the breeze. She wears glamorous dark glasses against the summer glare. The time is the early 1960s. She could be in John F. Kennedy's America, but she's in Iraq, at a time when it was ruled by one in a string of military strongmen. Today, few Iraqi women would dare to wear such an outfit. Most cover their arms to the wrist. Only wisps of hair stray from their head scarves.

The woman who says she bit into a human finger while eating chili at a Wendy's restaurant has a history of making claims against corporations, including another fast-food chain, a former employer and General Motors. Anna Ayala, 39, who hired a San Jose attorney to represent her in the Wendy's case, has been involved in several legal battles in the Bay Area, according to court records.

As residents attempt to fix blame for the deadly La Conchita landslide, legal experts say suing public agencies or even uphill neighbors is difficult unless roads, leaky pipes or other man-made conditions contributed to the collapse. "When you build on a hillside you are taking a great risk," said Tarzana attorney David B. Casselman, who has represented individuals, corporations and public agencies in landslide litigation over the last two decades.

Investment banking giant UBS said Tuesday that the Securities and Exchange Commission might bring civil charges against it over work the firm did for HealthSouth Corp., whose founder faces trial on allegations he masterminded a $2.7-billion accounting fraud. The case is an example of regulators' efforts to hold Wall Street financiers responsible if they are shown to have abetted corporate clients' wrongdoing.

Tenants of a downtown Los Angeles hotel that was immortalized on the cover of 1970 album by the Doors filed a "slumlord" lawsuit Tuesday, alleging that they have been forced to live with rats and without heat, working plumbing and other basic amenities.

Federal enforcement of civil rights laws has dropped sharply since 1999 even though the level of complaints received by the Justice Department has remained relatively constant, according a study released Sunday. Criminal charges alleging civil rights violations were brought last year against 84 defendants, down from 159 in 1999, according to Justice Department data analyzed by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, or TRAC, at Syracuse University.

Yesenia Valencia sifts through packets of court forms, searching for the right one to give a woman representing herself in a custody dispute. The college student has learned all about forms and how to complete them. She's part of an expanding program in California courts to guide people who can't afford lawyers through the complex civil justice system. Valencia is one of 100 students inducted last month into the first California JusticeCorps class.

Kobe Bryant's accuser is considering filing her civil suit against the Laker star in Orange County because there is no limit on financial damages in California, one of her attorneys said Sunday. The 20-year-old woman filed a federal suit in Denver in August, three weeks before the felony sexual assault charge against Bryant was dropped in Eagle County, Colo.

The woman who has accused Kobe Bryant of sexual assault is considering a civil suit, her attorneys said Wednesday, and she plans to discuss with prosecutors whether to continue with the criminal case. Two days after a judge released transcripts from a closed hearing that included testimony damaging to the 20-year-old woman, attorneys John Clune and Lin Wood appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and MSNBC's "The Abrams Report."