NewsLinks is a collection of recent news items relating primarily to the California judicial branch. NewsLinks does not verify or endorse the accuracy or fairness of the news items, and the views expressed in opinions, editorials, and commentaries are those of the writers only. Some news articles linked from this page may require a subscription or be behind a paywall.

NewsLinks

  • Early Filing in PAGA Action Did Not Gut Preclusive Effect

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 21, 2025

    Div. Eight of this district’s Court of Appeal has held that a motion for judgment on the pleadings was properly granted in a representative wage-and-hour action after an earlier-filed matter alleging the same wage and hour claims had settled, rejecting the assertion that the settling plaintiff’s failure to comply with a 65-day waiting period before filing an amended pleading gutted the preclusive effect of the earlier judgment as to the newly filed cause of action.

  • [U.S.] Supreme Court meets to weigh Trump’s birthright citizenship restrictions, blocked by lower courts

    Associated Press
    November 21, 2025

    The Supreme Court is meeting in private Friday with a key issue on its agenda — President Donald Trump ’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States illegally or temporarily are not Ame

  • Error to Let Expert Opine Future Costs Based on Phone Calls

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 20, 2025

    The Court of Appeal has reversed a portion of a judgment against the City of Norwalk in an action for catastrophic injuries suffered by a passenger on a bus who hit her head on a metal seat frame and dropped to the floor when the driver suddenly started up while she was walking to the front, holding that a $1.6 million award for future medical costs, stemming in part from expert testimony that was based on three phone calls, cannot stand.

  • Immunity for Police ‘Pursuits’ Turns on Internal Definition

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 20, 2025

    Div. One of the First District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a trial judge erred in finding that the ordinary meaning of “pursuit” applies to a statute providing immunity from liability for collisions caused by suspects fleeing from police if the law enforcement agency has adopted a written policy on safe conduct for vehicular chases, saying that the technical definition provided in the internal plan controls.

  • Lawyer’s Suit Over Judge Allegedly Threatening to Take License Rightly Tossed—Ninth Circuit

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 21, 2025

    The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a San Diego attorney’s complaint asserting a claim for slander relating to an immigration judge allegedly saying in front of court staff that she would “take [his] license to practice law”—a statement he characterizes as a false accusation of unethical behavior—was properly dismissed as barred by sovereign immunity.

  • No Tolling of Time to Appeal Labor Commissioner’s Decision

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    November 21, 2025

    A Code of Civil Procedure section that provides for the tolling of the period within which to file a paper that has been rejected by a clerk’s office does not apply where an employer is appealing a labor commissioner’s decision and seeking a waiver of a bond requirement, Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal held.

  • Ford denied use of federal discovery material in state cases

    Daily Journal
    November 19, 2025

    (Subscription required) Ford argued for the right to use discovery from its federal RICO suit in related state lemon law cases, but a magistrate judge declined, limiting use and restricting access to confidential documents.

  • Column | Listening as the first principle of civility

    Daily Journal
    November 19, 2025

    (Subscription required) Civility is often described in the language of manners, including politeness, courtesy or restraint. Not to be naïve, there exists a line of scholarly critique arguing that appeals to "civility" in public discourse are not neutral or benign, but can serve to discipline, silence, or erase minority or dissenting voices.