#california-supreme-court

#california-supreme-court

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Before leaving her post as California's top judicial official in January, former Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said she had serious concerns about the rapidly growing industry of private judges.In response to revelations by The Times that such for-hire judges had helped facilitate the misappropriation of client funds by fallen legal titan Tom Girardi, Cantil-Sakauye said in August that the largely unregulated industry was ripe for greater oversight.

I'll always remember the first time I stepped into Blipsy Bar on N. Western Avenue, in Los Angeles's Koreatown.I felt like a teenager from the '80s, here to escape the humdrum of the Hollywood crowds.I settled into the moody, retro atmosphere, watching people buy cheap drinks and looking nostalgically at the arcade games on offer: Ms. Pac-Man, Gun Fight, Track & Field, Paperboy.

If our legal rights to data privacy aren't enforceable, they are just empty promises.One of the best ways to enforce them is to let people sue the companies that violate their data privacy.Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court has been chipping away at private enforcement by rewriting a legal doctrine called "standing," which determines who has been harmed enough to deserve their day in court.

For more than a year, the California voter-approved gig-economy law known as Proposition 22 has hung in the balance after a judge invalidated the ballot initiative allowing giant ride-hailing and delivery companies to classify their workers as independent contractors rather than employees.On Tuesday, a California appeals court will hear oral arguments in San Francisco on whether it should uphold the lower court that deemed Proposition 22 unconstitutional and unenforceable.

A California state appeals court on Monday revived a ballot measure allowing app-based services such as Uber Technologies Inc and Lyft Inc to treat drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, in a major victory for the industry.A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based court reversed a lower court ruling in 2021 that the ballot measure, known as Proposition 22, was unconstitutional.

A California appeals court said on Monday that Proposition 22, the ballot measure passed by state voters in 2020 that classified Uber and Lyft drivers as independent contractors rather than employees, should remain state law.The decision by three appeals court judges overturned the ruling last year by a California Superior Court judge, who said the proposition was unenforceable.

More than $545 million in Bay Area bridge tolls are now free to fund transit and highway projects across the region after the California Supreme Court ended a legal battle between a crusading anti-tax group and the Bay Area's bridge authority.Transit planners are breathing a collective sigh of relief after the court decision on Tuesday.

The University of California has reached a tentative agreement with postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers to increase their pay and other benefits.Those UC workers are staying on the picket lines in solidarity with their United Auto Worker union members who still have not reached a deal.Reporter: Laura Fitzgerald, KQED
California Chief Justice's Final, Year-End Media Briefing
Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the chief justice of the California Supreme Court, held her annual year-end media briefing yesterday.

A California Supreme Court ruling brought an end to one chapter of an ongoing legal battle between a San Jose church and county officials that could have wide-ranging implications for religious activists and public health authorities.Wednesday's ruling denied a final bid by Santa Clara County to force Calvary Chapel to pay more than $200,000 in fees after the church was found in contempt of court.