Los Angeles Courts

In a decision likely to fuel controversy in the federal judiciary, a federal appeals court Thursday unanimously overturned $6,200 in sanctions that a Los Angeles trial judge had imposed against two San Diego attorneys simply because they had not gone through the pro forma task of being admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court here--a task that takes about 10 minutes and costs $20. The appellate court in San Francisco said that U.S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr.

Former UCLA basketball player Reeves Nelson's lawsuit against Sports Illustrated and reporter George Dohrmann was thrown out of court Wednesday. Nelson filed a defamation lawsuit against Time Inc., Sports Illustrated's parent company, in May over an article that portrayed Nelson as a bully who had had tried to injure teammates at times. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mary Ann Murphy ruled that the suit infringed on freedom of speech rights for the magazine and writer. She also found that Dohrmann had numerous sources to back up the facts in the article.

The Los Angeles County Bar Assn.'s attempt to require the state to approve more judges for the heavily backlogged Los Angeles courts has been rejected by a federal appeals court. Delays of several years in deciding civil suits before the county's 238 Superior Court judges do not violate the constitutional rights of lawyers or their clients, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday.

One by one, the three teenage girls took the stand and answered hard questions about their awful actions one night in April. Why would you deface your Jewish classmate's home with swastikas and the word "Jew"? When you defecated on her doorstep, what could you possibly have been thinking? But it was not a prosecutor posing the questions in the hearing in downtown Los Angeles last week, which involved criminal charges of vandalism, vandalism as a hate crime and terrorism by symbol.

Funeral services for retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Mervyn A. Aggeler, who died Wednesday, are scheduled this morning at St. Monica's Catholic Church in Santa Monica. Aggeler, who served as a Municipal and Superior Court judge from 1954 until his retirement in 1969, was one of three family members to preside in Los Angeles courts. His father, William Tell Aggeler, served for 12 years as a Superior Court judge; his brother, Leo, also served as a Los Angeles County judge.

The building boom in Los Angeles county courts will continue paying off this year with the opening of a courthouse in the Antelope Valley and another in western San Fernando Valley. In 2001, residents across the county can also expect more community outreach and better service from the Los Angeles County Superior Court, a behemoth that is trying to reposition its sprawling branches as small, neighborhood-friendly courts, said James Bascue, the court's presiding judge.

The official in charge of assembling jurors for Los Angeles courts said juries here do not adequately reflect community diversity. "We are doing well in terms of (reflecting diversity) in race, gender and ethnicity," said Raymond F. Arce, senior director of special operations for the Superior Court, "but not well with respect to age and economic status."

In the ownership dispute brewing in the Los Angeles courts over an 840-pound emerald, the list of purported owners keeps on growing. There's the self-trained geologist who says it belonged to him from the start. There are the two Idaho investors who say it became theirs after a business partner failed to deliver on a transaction. Then there's the businessman who says that for the last seven years he believed it was stolen.

Los Angeles courts have sentenced some patients with alcohol or drug problems to treatment at unlicensed clinics, of the type police are investigating for possibly killing men with "aversion" treatments that include force-feeding them alcohol, a county health official said Thursday.

Los Angeles courts have sentenced some patients with alcohol or drug problems to treatment at unlicensed clinics similar to facilities police are investigating for possibly killing men with "aversion" treatments that include force-feeding them alcohol, a county health official said Thursday.

The Dodgers should not be allowed to use the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to minimize their liability to Bryan Stow, attorneys for the injured San Francisco Giants fan argued Wednesday. The Dodgers, saying they should not be held liable for an attack they could not have predicted, have asked the Bankruptcy Court to throw out Stow's claim. Wednesday, Stow's attorneys asked the Bankruptcy Court to yield to Los Angeles Superior Court, where they filed a civil suit last May against team owner Frank McCourt, the Dodgers and related entities.

The owner of a Honda Civic hybrid won an unusual Small Claims Court lawsuit Wednesday against the auto giant that some legal experts believe could change strategies for both Small Claims Court and class-action litigation. A Los Angeles County court commissioner ruled that American Honda Motor Co. negligently misled Civic owner Heather Peters when it claimed the hybrid could achieve as much as 50 miles per gallon. Court Commissioner Douglas Carnahan, who mailed his 26-page decision to Peters and Honda, awarded her $9,867.19 in damages.

The presiding judge of Los Angeles County's Juvenile Court is preparing to open child dependency proceedings to the public in an effort to improve accountability and transparency in child abuse, neglect and foster care placement cases. Currently, members of the media and the public are barred from entering dependency courtrooms without court permission. But Judge Michael Nash is proposing a blanket order that would make the hearings open unless someone objects and a judge decides to close the proceeding.

Just when you thought you had seen it all regarding Ron Artest ... The Lakers forward filed paperwork Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court to legally change his name to Metta World Peace. "Metta" is a Buddhist term. One definition for the word is "a strong wish for the welfare and happiness of others. " NBA players need to file papers with the league to change their jersey number, but no such action is necessary for name changes, according to a league official.

Michael Jackson's personal physician declared himself "innocent" in the singer's death Tuesday during a Los Angeles County Superior Court appearance in which he also demanded that his trial begin quickly. Asked how he pleaded to a charge of involuntary manslaughter, the sole count to be decided at the trial now set for March 28, Dr. Conrad Murray paused and then said, "Your honor, I am an innocent man ? " "What's your plea?" Judge Michael Pastor interrupted. "Therefore, I plead not guilty," Murray said.

As the mediator in the Dodgers' divorce case prepared his settlement proposal, he consulted not only with Frank and Jamie McCourt but with representatives from Bingham McCutchen, the firm that employs the lawyer whose actions could determine who owns the team. The mediation process is confidential, but analysts said the mediator likely invited Bingham to help fund a settlement now rather than risk a potentially more costly malpractice suit later. The consultation was confirmed by four sources familiar with the case, all speaking on condition of anonymity because of the confidentiality guideline.

In 2008, the Legislature and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to increase the cost of parking tickets and a range of other civil and criminal fines and fees to raise money to begin repairing and rebuilding dangerous, outdated and inaccessible courthouses across the state. But almost as soon as the higher fees were in place, lawmakers and the governor declared a budget emergency and temporarily diverted much of the new money to fund ongoing court operations. Now the state's biggest trial court, the Los Angeles County Superior Court, sees years of further budget shortfalls ahead and says that it may need to lay off as much as a third of its nonjudicial staff over the next three years to make ends meet.

With quiet satisfaction, judges across Los Angeles County and the state Thursday welcomed back the power to change sentences in "three strikes" cases--a discretion that had been stifled under the 2-year-old law. But even as gleeful defense lawyers said that thousands of their clients sentenced statewide under the law could conceivably have their terms reviewed, judges said the streets will not abruptly be awash in freed convicts.

Frank and Jamie McCourt were married in 1979. The McCourts took over the Dodgers in 2004 and separated last year, four months shy of their 30th anniversary. Their divorce trial begins Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court. What's at stake? The future of the Dodgers. Frank wants the court to enforce a postmarital agreement — signed in 2004 by both spouses — that says he is the sole owner of the team and she is the sole owner of the couple's homes. Jamie wants the agreement thrown out. On what grounds?

As the Dodgers play in Colorado during the final week of the regular season — perhaps trying to clinch their third consecutive National League West championship — Frank McCourt could be on a witness stand in Los Angeles. The trial to determine who owns the Dodgers will start Aug. 30, Los Angeles Superior Court Commissioner Scott Gordon ruled Tuesday. In balancing a crowded court calendar with the desire for a timely resolution of the Dodgers' divorce saga, Gordon selected 11 days for trial, scattered over the course of a month.