• Judge sets two new social media addiction trials for 2027

    Daily Journal
    September 10, 2026

    (Subscription required) A Los Angeles judge set two more social media addiction bellwether trials for 2027 as nearly 3,000 coordinated cases move forward and two minor plaintiffs prepare for trial next month.

  • Fitness-for-Custody Finding in Unrelated Case Is Irrelevant

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    September 10, 2026

    Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has reversed an order awarding a San Diego criminal defense attorney primary physical custody of his son, holding that a judge erred in basing the decision largely on the child’s expressed desires and without focusing on whether the father had rebutted the statutory presumption of unfitness on the part of a litigant who has committed a domestic battery.

  • Jury-Room Translations Not Enough to Upend Civil Judgment

    Metropolitan News-Enterprise
    September 10, 2026

    Div. Five of this district’s Court of Appeal has rejected a plaintiff’s assertion that a trial judge erred in denying her request for a new trial after declarations were submitted from members of the panel indicating that some jurors had provided translation services to another panelist, who had expressed concerns over her English skills during voir dire.

  • California enacts laws restricting chatbots and banning teens from ‘addictive’ social media

    CalMatters
    September 10, 2026

    California teens will be barred from “addictive” social media products and limited in their interactions with chatbots under two of the 13 bills signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom today to protect kids online. The law on addictive social media may be the most controversial. It will require social media companies to either stop offering “addictive” tools like infinite scroll and autoplay to users under 16 or to keep those users off their platforms entirely. 

    Related: Daily Journal, The Sacramento Bee, Los Angeles Times, CalMatters