(Subscription required) Judge Tara Desautels has served on the Alameda County Superior Court since 2010 and currently handles a civil calendar. If confirmed by the Commission on Judicial Appointments, she would join the First District’s Division Two as an associate justice and fill the vacancy created when Therese Stewart was elevated to presiding justice.

(Subscription required) A divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Monday ruled for Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.’s bid to compel arbitration of a couple’s class action alleging it breached their contract by not issuing a refund after their flight was canceled with tickets they purchased from a booking website.

(Subscription required) “If litigation materializes, that would be a disaster, because it will involve years if not decades, an untold amount of money and an uncertain resolution at the end of the day,” said Robert Glennon, University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers School of Law.

The Governor also announced his appointment of 14 Superior Court Judges, which include two in Contra Costa County; two in Los Angeles County; one in Placer County; one in Riverside County; one in Sacramento County; one in San Diego County; one in San Joaquin County; one in San Mateo County; three in Santa Clara County; and one in Solano County.