Fees charged by Lexis for conducting research on its databases are not recoverable as costs, Div. One of this district’s Court of Appeal has held, rejecting a prevailing defendant’s contention that a contrary 1993 California appellate opinion should be repudiated and the reasoning of two U.S. District Court memorandum opinions should be adopted.

Seven levels of white walls and public hallways engulfed in natural light with a clear view of Santa Rosa, Bennett Peak and Sonoma and Taylor mountains from the top floor. And on the other side of doors along those hallways, courtrooms with matching layouts, pew-style seating and windows allowing the natural light to continue flowing inside. This is what the public should expect at Sonoma County’s new courthouse that is slated for a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon, May 29, with full operations commencing this summer.

(Subscription required) The unanimous court held that a 50-year-old case affirming the blanket disqualification of individual judges does not mesh with the realities of California's judiciary today.

(Subscription required) A downtown Los Angeles federal courthouse was renamed Wednesday for the Mendez family, whose landmark school desegregation case helped lay the groundwork for Brown v. Board of Education.