The California Supreme Court on Monday overturned the double-murder conviction and death sentence of Omar Richard Deen, ruling that a juror with deep personal and professional ties to one of the victims should never have been allowed to serve on the case.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held yesterday that a motion to compel arbitration filed by a car manufacturer, in a certified class action asserting violations of California’s lemon law, was properly denied where the defendant was not a party to the dealership contract containing the agreement to arbitrate, with the panel declining to find that a “delegation clause” providing that an arbitrator is to decide questions of validity forecloses the result.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday struck down as unconstitutional California statutes purportedly aimed at preventing dialysis providers from profiting from an alleged conflict-of-interest scheme in which the centers make charitable contributions to groups that offer premium assistance to help their patients secure insurance policies that pay out for the services they provide.

The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco on Wednesday to halt his investigation of hundreds of thousands of ballots he obtained from the county registrar to examine alleged voter fraud in last November’s election.