(Subscription required) Judge Elaine Lu found that the juror's use of a laptop spreadsheet -- and allegations he took notes home -- improperly introduced outside analysis into deliberations. The jury had been prepared to award $1.4 million to Start and $69,000 to CA Labs.

The Superior Court of Alameda County this week launched an expanded pretrial services program which means that people who have been charged, but not convicted of a crime, will be connected with caseworkers and direct links to social services. 

(Subscription required) Sacramento Judge Richard C. Miadich, a former political law partner and FPPC chair, is applying lessons from decades of campaign battles to a fast-paced law and motion assignment amid a new "civil home courts" experiment.

(Subscription required) Hearings and matters scheduled for Wednesday, February 4, in Superior Court departments at the Spring Street Courthouse may be continued, conducted remotely, or moved to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse.