(Subscription required) A Los Angeles judge kept the next social media addiction bellwether pool intact and suggested multiple judges could hear cases simultaneously as coordinated litigation moves forward.

The Sixth District Court of Appeal has affirmed a summary judgment in favor of the City of Palo Alto in an action brought by six police officers who claim that the municipality created a hostile work environment by commissioning a mural and placing it on temporary display, with the artwork including a likeness of Assata Shakur who was convicted of the 1973 first-degree murder of a New Jersey state trooper.

(Subscription required) Under the ruling issued Thursday, presiding judges can no longer be forced to reshuffle calendars simply because a repeat litigant decides to disqualify the same judge from all cases in a particular category or department. The ruling preserves Section 170.6 challenges but makes it easier for courts to rule that such motions have been brought in bad faith.

A man convicted and sentenced to death for multiple decades-old gang-involved shootings in Los Angeles had his sentence reversed by the California Supreme Court Monday, finding that the prosecution violated state law by using racially biased language during the trial.