(Subscription required) Judge Jeffrey S. Ross is considering a joint trial of separate tax refund lawsuits by Uber and Lyft against the City and County of San Francisco, citing overlapping evidence and claims totaling about $175 million, while stopping short of formally consolidating the cases.

A financial elder abuse law that permits only prevailing plaintiffs to recover attorney fees does not bar the recovery of costs associated with defending against competing undue influence claims so long as the expenses are inextricably intertwined with those associated with the prosecution of his causes of action, Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal held yesterday.

Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has reversed a $3.5 million wrongful death judgment awarded to the mother of a 19-year-old teenager killed by police during a traffic stop in Orange County due to the trial judge’s error in instructing the jury on the use of deadly force by officers based on a legal standard not yet in effect at the time of the fatal incident.

The Trump administration has agreed not to cut off federal funds to the University of California while it appeals a judge’s ruling that said it had improperly withdrawn $600 million from the schools based on claims that they unduly favored racial and gender minorities and allowed antisemitism on campus.