(Subscription required) California’s Supreme Court on Wednesday approved use of the NextGen Uniform Bar Exam starting in July 2028, officially ending the state’s brief diversion into trying to develop its own unique lawyer-licensing test. Their order directs the state bar’s Committee of Bar Examiners to create a California-specific component to “accompany” the NextGen exam starting with the July 2029 administration.

A federal judge has blocked California’s “Truth in Recycling” law, which would restrict the familiar chasing-arrows symbol to packaging that is actually recycled at meaningful rates. Industry groups hail the ruling as a free-speech victory, while environmental advocates warn it undermines efforts to curb misleading marketing. The fight comes amid sobering data: Less than 10% of single-use plastics are recycled in California, even as millions of tons of waste burden landfills, oceans and taxpayer cleanups.

San Bernardino County judges and court staff hosted a special dedication ceremony on July 8 to officially celebrate the reopening of the expanded and renovated San Bernardino Juvenile Dependency Courthouse. Renovation improved security, expanded public waiting areas, and added accessible courtrooms and lactations rooms.

The Court of Appeal for this district has reversed an award of punitive damages in the amount of $250,000, holding that it cannot stand in the absence of evidence as to the appellant’s financial worth, and observing that an ability to pay cannot be inferred from evidence that that the woman owns a house in Woodland Hills and applied more than $500,000 of her own money to fixing the house she was claiming, in probate proceedings to be hers.