(Subscription required) The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday that litigants may make settlement offers under Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 that present opposing parties with a choice between alternative settlement terms, rejecting the Court of Appeal's conclusion that such offers are categorically invalid.

An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld an Arizona voter registration law Friday, concluding that a voter outreach organization does not have standing to challenge a law requiring cancellation of some voter registrations.

The California Supreme Court held yesterday that an inmate’s request for an accelerated trial timeline on pending cases, based on a Penal Code section providing that a defendant who is sentenced to prison may demand that other criminal prosecutions be fast-tracked, is premature until he is actually in the custody of the state penal institution.

A California appellate court this week ruled Sonoma County failed to comply with the state’s bedrock environmental law when officials in 2023 amended the local ordinance regulating approval of new well permits outside city limits. The ruling means the county will likely have to devote closer study to the impact of its amended ordinance on imperiled species like salmon and steelhead trout in the Russian River watershed.