• California Chief Justice to Help Dedicate New Courthouse in Santa Rosa

    California Courts Newsroom
    May 19, 2026

    The construction project will provide a new 6-story, 15-courtroom courthouse of approximately 170,000 square feet in the city of Santa Rosa. The building will consolidate court services, and address overcrowding and security issues

  • Huntington Beach hit with first major penalties under new housing law

    Daily Journal
    May 19, 2026

    (Subscription required) San Diego Judge Katherine A. Bacal ordered Huntington Beach to pay $160,000 in civil penalties for violating California's Housing Element Law, marking the first major enforcement action under a 2024 statute empowering the state to financially penalize cities that defy housing mandates.

    Related: LAist

  • California lawyers can’t quit AI — even as hallucinated citations pile up

    San Francisco Chronicle
    May 18, 2026

    A lawsuit against Bay Area Rapid Transit by an officer who was fired after refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 faced possible dismissal this spring because the officer’s lawyer had fallen ill and missed numerous deadlines. When the lawyer resurfaced, she filed arguments explaining her absence and why it shouldn’t be used against her client — but three of the four cases she cited as precedent, a federal magistrate found, were nonexistent.

  • California Courts Celebrate Jurors

    California Courts Newsroom
    May 18, 2026

    On May 11-15, courts shined a spotlight on the citizens that help bolster our democracy by making the cherished right of trial by jury a reality.