Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal has reversed a summary judgment in favor a Zen Buddhist church in a wage-and-hour dispute, rejecting the judge’s notion that the action is barred under the “ministerial exception” to employer-liability laws and repudiating the contrary view of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

(Subscription required) The number of complaints filed against California attorneys over the last fiscal year spiked to a record high, according to numbers compiled and recently released by the state bar. The reason for the surge in grievances remains unclear, with one state bar official suggesting artificial intelligence—as used by some complaint-filers, not misused by the targeted attorneys—may be a source.

(Subscription required) The Commission on Judicial Performance vacated Monday's scheduled hearing for retired justice William J. Murray Jr., a move that often signals a pending resolution.

(Subscription required) U.S. District Judge Michelle Williams Court, in the Central District of California, found that Knight Law Group, Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law were immune under the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, which protects lawyers from liability for simply petitioning the courts under the First Amendment unless the corporations can prove the cases are “sham” lawsuits. As such, she dismissed the complaint, which had alleged the firms collectively billed $100 million in fraudulent fees.