Div. Five of the First District Court of Appeal has held that a trial judge erred in finding that a civilian group charged with overseeing the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department lacked authority to subpoena certain records from employees of the agency, rejecting an assertion that the power to require production of the requested documents may be withheld at the whim of the locality that creates the entity.

(Subscription required) California's judicial watchdog agency had a busy 2025, according to its annual report released Friday. The latest data also carried an ominous message for judges facing discipline: A well-timed retirement will no longer get them off the hook. 

(Subscription required) CARE Court has gone from experiment to scoreboard, with counties now judged on filings, outcomes and their ability to turn court orders into real-world treatment.

Div. Two of the First District Court of Appeal held yesterday that where a buyer was forced to sue the sellers for specific performance as the result of third parties interfering with the sale, attorney fees that were incurred in that action may be recovered in a subsequent lawsuit under a tort-of-another theory, but may not be awarded in connection with that follow-up litigation.