(Subscription required) Gov. Gavin Newsom has appointed his top staff attorney to the Third District Court of Appeal as he rushes to fill appellate vacancies around the state in his final months in office. Sapp was one of eight appellate court appointees Newsom’s office announced Friday. 

A U.S. appeals court on Monday allowed ​thousands of lawsuits to move forward against Meta Platforms, Alphabet's Google, ByteDance's TikTok and Snap Inc's Snapchat over claims they designed their products to be ‌addictive to young users. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an appeal by Meta and TikTok seeking to overturn a lower court ruling requiring them to face more than 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal court, saying the companies had appealed too early.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has nominated two local superior court judges to become associate justices on the San Diego-based appeals court, and he has also appointed two court commissioners to fill the open seats of retiring superior court judges. Nominated to the 4th District Court of Appeal, Division 1 are San Diego Superior Court judges Marsha Amin and Lisa Rodriguez. 

In thousands of court hearings and trials every day in California, no stenographic reporter is available to prepare a transcript. If the losing side can’t afford to hire a reporter, they may lack the record needed for an appeal. That’s neither fair nor legally acceptable, the state Supreme Court said Monday, ordering courts to tape-record all proceedings that take place without a court reporter and provide transcripts to the parties.