Courts/Legal News

In a landmark victory for gay rights advocates, a federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled California's same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional.

An open records advocacy group is suing the city of Sacramento after being denied emails and other communications regarding last summer's volatile City Council redistricting process.

A federal appellate court has struck down as unlawful a 2004 management plan for Sierra Nevada national forests formulated by George W. Bush's administration, saying it lacks a required analysis of how fish will fare under the plan.

Sacramento developer Sotiris Kolokotronis filed for personal bankruptcy Friday following years of legal battles over a failed Elk Grove housing complex.

John O'Mara recoiled Friday at the mere thought of it. Talk about himself? It's not in his attention-avoiding DNA. All he wanted was to slide out of his fourth-floor corner office in the Sacramento District Attorney's Office. He saw no need to look back on the career during which he oversaw every county murder prosecution going back five presidents.

A former bartender at 33rd Street Bistro in Sacramento has filed a lawsuit against the local company operating it and one of its co-owners, claiming she was fired for pointing out unlawful health hazards.

Embattled Placer Superior Court Judge Joseph O'Flaherty announced Wednesday that he will not seek a new six-year term in the upcoming June election.

Several hundred California state workers will receive back wages as part of an agreement to end five furlough lawsuits against the government.

A federal appellate court Tuesday rejected claims by a former University of the Pacific student that school officials were deliberately indifferent and retaliated against her after she was sexually assaulted by three UOP basketball players.

One day after turning thumbs down, the Assembly on Tuesday passed legislation that would ask voters to alter California's "three-strikes" criminal sentencing law.

CalPERS refuses to sell its long-term care insurance to the same-sex partners of state workers, on the grounds that federal law doesn't allow it. Now a judge in Oakland seems ready to overturn that federal ban.

John and Kathyrn Clark thought their lives were in danger when they were contacted, out of the blue, by their adopted son's biological mother. In a lawsuit, the Clarks accuse CPS and others involved in the custody case of failing to protect their identities, a violation of state and federal laws.

The maker of a popular hair-smoothing treatment has agreed to warn stylists and salon-goers that its products cause exposure to a cancer-causing chemical. The warning is part of a legal settlement announced by California Attorney General Kamala Harris on Monday.

California lawmakers stepped into a power struggle Monday by approving legislation to give local trial courts more control over their spending.

A Sacramento Superior Court judge Friday refused to stave off the elimination of more than 400 local California redevelopment agencies, rejecting arguments that the Legislature violated the state constitution by cutting off their funding.

An Elk Grove bowling alley is being sued by the victim of a parking-lot assault that was labeled a hate crime by police.

A group of air conditioning contractors is suing to overturn a California law that it says turns apprenticeship programs into monopolies.

A Sacramento federal judge has avoided making public a set of documents sought by The Bee that were offered to support a critical motion in a bitter legal battle over how a 2007 wildfire started and who should pay for damages it caused.

Calling it "inadequate for California," the state is rejecting the latest settlement proposal between states and major U.S. banks over lending abuses that fueled the foreclosure crisis.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny on Monday gave Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District another six months to meet stricter filtration rules for the effluent it discharges into the Sacramento River.

Democratic legislative leaders sued Controller John Chiang on Tuesday to have the courts determine whether the state's cash manager abused his authority by cutting off their paychecks in last year's budget fight.

Advocates who sued Sacramento County in 2010 to preserve continuity of care for mental health care recipients in the face of budget cuts announced a settlement in the case Monday.

After nearly 40 years representing tribes, Sacramento attorney Howard Dickstein is a polarizing figure. His negotiating tactics have angered some tribes, and he is often depicted as a controlling presence who meddles in tribal affairs.

An African American highway supervisor alleges that his Sacramento County superiors repeatedly ignored his complaints about racial harassment.

Nearly 100 protesters participated in a national effort to express their outrage over a Supreme Court decision that has allowed corporations greater access to the political process by "occupying" Sacramento's federal courthouse Friday.

No charges will be filed against any of the 10 protesters arrested during a Nov. 18 pepper-spraying incident at the University of California, Davis, the Yolo County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.

At one time Donald Joseph "DJ" Fernandes was a nice Catholic boy from Fair Oaks who respected his teachers at St. Mel's Church and graduated from San Juan High School with good grades and worked as a carpenter and got married and raised a son.

A Sacramento federal judge heard arguments Thursday and will rule later on The Bee's objections to sealing documents that allegedly contain evidence of misconduct and fraud on the part of U.S. Forest Service employees.

A federal judge on Thursday continued to block the state from reducing in-home care to low-income disabled and elderly residents, a budget cut pursued last year by Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers.

A Sacramento federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments today on a Bee challenge to sealing documents in a legal slugfest between the government and Sierra Pacific Industries over the origin of a monster wildfire in 2007 and who should pay for the devastation it wrought.

Davis waiter Rogelio Servin entered deportation proceedings in San Francisco earlier this month and came home a legal resident, thanks to a little-used wrinkle in immigration law.

Chris Crotte left Sacramento for the Army. Seven years later, he left the Army in pain.

California prison officials must be ever vigilant to prevent inmates from getting their hands on forbidden stuff – shanks, dope, phones and the like.

California's political watchdog agency has delivered a federal lawsuit to the U.S. Postal Service in an ongoing dispute over mail records.

The digital counter ticked down the remaining minutes of Ignacio Mesa Viera's dialysis treatment.

Prudential Life Insurance will pay up to $20 million to the families of certain deceased life insurance policy holders in California, under a settlement announced Friday by the state Controller's Office.

CalPERS has won the right to pursue a $1 billion lawsuit against two Wall Street heavyweights, beating back their efforts to have the case thrown out of court.

Frank C. Damrell Jr., a retired federal judge in Sacramento, has joined the Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy law firm. Damrell, 73, who retired in October after 14 years as a U.S. District judge, heads the Cotchett firm's new Sacramento office.

Racial tensions, financial mismanagement and ongoing feuds are adversely affecting students attending the Twin Rivers Unified School District, according to a 24-page report released Thursday by the Sacramento County grand jury.