Cheryl Miller

August 20, 2007 | Law.com

In a move that could portend a big-dollar ballot war between California trial lawyers and companies, a state trial attorneys group has launched three ballot initiatives that would impose more corporate regulation, in an attempt to derail a business-backed measure to curb class actions. Both sides appear to be well-funded and ready for a fight. The trial attorneys' move repeats a tactic that they used last year to kill an initiative that would have limited construction-defect and building access suits.

By Cheryl Miller

3 minute read

May 11, 2007 | Law.com

Miffed lawmakers told the California State Bar on Tuesday to stop charging members $10 a year to finance a new office building that the Legislature never approved. The Senate Judiciary Committee -- on orders from Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata -- also tacked on language in pending Bar dues legislation that will force Bar officials to refund any of those building fund fees that they've stashed away. That money, which could total $580,000, would be refunded as a credit to each member's 2008 dues bill.

By Cheryl Miller

3 minute read

November 28, 2006 | The Recorder

With his insider's perspective and Sacramento perch, Rodney Davis can cite plenty of reasons for enjoying his work.

By Cheryl Miller

5 minute read

July 22, 2008 | The Recorder

Arnold Schwarzenegger's latest crop of judges includes more Democrats than Republicans. But many vacancies remain.

By Cheryl Miller

4 minute read

January 06, 2010 | Law.com

A Sacramento, Calif., judge accused of becoming embroiled in a 2006 divorce case received a "severe" public censure from California's Commission on Judicial Performance on Tuesday. Commissioners said Superior Court Judge Peter McBrien violated a litigant's right to due process when he dramatically ended the trial of Mona Lea Carlsson and Ulf Johan Carlsson at the end of two days of proceedings, cutting off a witness mid-testimony.

By Cheryl Miller

3 minute read

June 09, 2010 | The Recorder

Primary wins by S.F.'s Kamala Harris and L.A.'s Steve Cooley create an old-school contest between two career prosecutors.

By Cheryl Miller

4 minute read

May 22, 2006 | Law.com

A state Senate subcommittee offered California judges two budgetary gifts Thursday: an 8.5 percent pay raise and money for 50 new judgeships next April. A sister Assembly panel was not so generous, however, making no immediate offer to match the Senate's pay hike and proposing money for no more than 20 new judicial positions next year. The different spending proposals mean the judiciary's budget will head to a conference committee, where lawmakers from both houses will try to reach a compromise.

By Cheryl Miller

4 minute read

July 03, 2007 | Law.com

With contract talks stalled, a union representing 3,500 lawyers in the attorney general�s office and other agencies are demanding a raise. The union�s expert says an increase of 105 percent should do the trick.

By Cheryl Miller

3 minute read

February 26, 2008 | The Recorder

There are lots of reasons state Public Defender Michael Hersek's office isn't a lobbying machine. And it's feeling the consequences, Cheryl Miller writes in today's Capital Accounts column.

By Cheryl Miller

5 minute read

May 07, 2007 | Law.com

A legal saga that started with a chunk of concrete hurled in 1981 ended Thursday -- perhaps temporarily -- with a $1.2 million judgment, a reinstated fraud action and a cheeky opinion from a California appeals court. Seemingly puzzled that a dispute thought settled 26 years ago is still inspiring litigation, the panel held that a woman could sue for breach of contract even if the pact was linked to a legal-fee agreement deemed unenforceable because the woman's attorney-husband had written it improperly.

By Cheryl Miller

3 minute read