(Subscription required) Eaton and Palisades wildfire lawsuits involve tens of thousands of plaintiffs, novel immunity defenses, utility liability disputes, and unprecedented strain on California courts and coordinated litigation systems.

Wednesday’s decision blocks ICE and the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review from lying in wait for asylum seekers and other noncitizens at routine hearings throughout the region — a move that would effectively restore pre-Trump prohibition on such arrests.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed four persons to the Los Angeles Superior Court. He announced late Monday that he selected Sarah J. Ellenberg, who has served as a court commissioner since April 2024, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Juan C. Dominguez.

The Court of Appeal for this district has held that the right of a purchaser under the state’s “lemon law” to damages where the manufacturer of an unrepairable automobile spurned a demand to take back the vehicle and refund the purchase price cannot be judicially impaired by hacking from an award the amount paid by an insurer after the car was totaled in a hit-and-run accident.