(Subscription required) On a docket dominated by custody fights and domestic violence allegations, Judge Nicole C. Bershon blends appellate experience, collaborative court insight and firm courtroom control to keep children from becoming collateral damage. 

Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that a plaintiff’s request for attorney fees following a favorable settlement was properly denied as untimely where it was not served on the other side until seven months after the date on which a notice indicated that the case would be “deemed dismissed without prejudice.”

Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has affirmed a restraining order that requires the live-in father of a man who threatened to shoot up a school to turn in, and refrain for possessing, any guns for a period of three years, finding no error in the trial judge’s conclusion that a requirement that the restrained person must be found to pose a “danger of causing…injury” may be met where a party did not adequately prevent access to firearms in the home.

(Subscription required) From ancient Greek texts to complex civil dockets, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael B. Wilson approaches the law like translation- carefully, structurally, and with an eye toward fairness.