(Subscription required) Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Small, a former appeals lawyer, brings disciplined, detail-oriented reasoning to complex civil trials while balancing a demanding docket and varied caseload.

San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell issued a joint alert Wednesday, urging the public not to respond to messages that appear to come from a court. The scam notices are often sent by text message or email and may be titled "Notice of Hearing - Toll Violation" or "Notice of Hearing - Traffic Violation."

 A judge properly ordered that victims of a massive Ponzi scheme who obtained judgments on which they were unable to collect be paid from the Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund, Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday, rejecting the argument by the Office of Secretary of State that the claims are invalid because the underlying lawsuit was time-barred.

Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday that Apple Pay, a mobile payment service which allows users to transfer funds without physical cards or cash, is a “financial account” within the meaning of an exclusion from probationary search terms and, as such, a motion to traverse a warrant, that sought records from bank accounts only discovered by clicking on an app on the probationer’s phone, should have been granted.