The Court of Appeal for this district has held that a Los Angeles Superior Court judge properly granted an anti-SLAPP motion in a case where a man sued Simon & Schuster, contending the author of memoirs, his brother-in-law, is falsely portrayed on the inside flap of the dust jacket as a virtuous man when, in actuality, he was charged in the 1980s with three felony counts of receiving of stolen property.

Div. Two of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has almost penalized a pro per appellant for filing a brief containing phony citations, apparently the product of artificial intelligence “hallucinations,” but, after ordering payment of $500 by her, declared that “[e]xecution of the sanction is suspended.”

(Subscription required) Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maria Jhai credits her background in anthropology, federal prosecution, and innocence work with teaching her the importance of questioning assumptions, listening carefully and approaching each case with an open mind. 

The Commission on Judicial Appointments will hold public in-person hearings in San Francisco on Aug. 6 to consider four appointments to California’s Courts of Appeal in Ventura, Los Angeles, Fresno, and San Jose.