(Subscription required) After 12 years presiding over felony trials in Compton, Judge Sean D. Coen now oversees long preliminary hearings in downtown Los Angeles -- often sharing lunch, cases, and courtroom philosophy with his father, fellow Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Coen.

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Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that a trial judge erred in granting a motion for partial judgment notwithstanding the verdict as to the willful intent element required for an award of treble damages in a case asserting a claim against an Orange County Sheriff’s Department employee who shared the plaintiff’s mental health records relating to a temporary involuntary commitment with the patient’s sister.

Alameda County is violating a reporter’s constitutional rights by prohibiting him and other spectators from standing within 200 feet of the automobile street stunts known as sideshows, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday.