Civil Trials

Fannie Mae's Irvine Office Probed for Illegal Kickbacks Called "a Natural Part of Business"

A former foreclosure specialist at mortgage giant Fannie Mae's Irvine office was caught dead to rights accepting an $11,200 kickback from an Arizona real estate broker while a second employee of that office claims she was fired for trying to expose the illegal payments, according to a published repo ... More >>

Nestle Purina PetCare Sued by Garden Grove Nonprofit Hemopet for Copyright Infringement

A Garden Grove nonprofit that provides animal blood banks and veterinary diagnostic services is suing Nestle in Santa Ana federal court for copyright infringement.Hemopet accuses Nestle's Purina PetCare unit of infringing on four patents related to determining nutritional programs for dogs and cats ... More >>

Lawsuit: Former SCAQMD Official Sexually Harrassed Secretaries, His Superiors Punished Victims

In the wake of the Carlos Bustamante scandal, more sex-related allegations have hit the top levels of Orange County management, most recently a lawsuit filed against a former high-ranking official at South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD, which counts OC as part of its jurisdiction).Th ... More >>

Skateboard Shop Boss Abused Workers ... on Pot: Lawsuit

The pot-smoking boss of a Santa Ana skate shop forced employees to pose for "sexually prurient" ads, work with "crude and questionably pornographic material" and, if they piped up about sexual harassment and drug use on the job, quit or be demoted, claims a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior ... More >>

Lawsuit: OC's All Republican Supervisors Designed Welfare System To Cheat Indigent $38 Each a Month

Three homeless individuals are suing Orange County, CA for systematically crafting a welfare system that unfairly discourages applications and cheats qualified indigent people from receiving proper financial and medical assistance. That's according to an 18-page class action lawsuit that blasts the ... More >>

Case of the "McStinkyNigger" Orange County Restaurant Receipt Settles

​A federal lawsuit filed by a successful African-American businessman against a Newport Beach steakhouse that repeatedly listed him on credit card receipts as "McStinkyNigger," "McNigShit" and "McCottonwood" has been mutually dismissed, according to records at Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse in O ... More >>

Bob's Towing Unleashes the Dogs, Fullerton Police Bite Back

​A week after the Weekly reported that local business Bob's Towing had sued the Fullerton Police department for harassment, the department fired back with a salvo of its own. Tuesday's city council meeting saw the embattled department unveiling a nearly 600 page report detailing a  year-long ... More >>

Airport Shuttle Owner Reportedly Settles Cyclist's Lawsuit for $6 Million

​A Santa Ana law firm representing a 32-year-old cyclist who was injured in a collision with a shuttle bus near John Wayne Airport announced "a large multi-national corporation" has agreed to pay its client $6 million to settle a lawsuit. Callahan & Blaine adds that the identities of the cycli ... More >>

Scott Evans Dekraai Sued by Families of Two of the Eight People He Allegedly Murdered

​If lawsuits were assholes, Scott Evans Dekraai would have two of them.Friday, the Seal Beach massacre suspect was sued for wrongful death by the parents of his slain ex-wife, Michelle Fournier, and grandparents of their 8-year-old son. Monday, the troubled man authorities say confessed to the ram ... More >>

Friday Follies: It's A Police Brutality Trifecta!

​It isn't every day that three stories cross your desk within hours or even minutes of each other, all of them involving Orange County cops beating the hell out of people, or as the case may be, killing them. And oh yeah: getting sued for their troubles, too. Where to begin? With the the moth ... More >>

Costa Mesa Layoffs May Not Happen As Soon As Anticipated, Judge Tells City To Wait For Civil Trial

​Finally, the Costa Mesa employees who got layoff notices earlier this year have caught a break--or at least a reprieve. Joseph Serna of The Daily Pilot reports that an Orange County Superior Court judge ruled today that the city cannot lay off employees and outsource their jobs to private co ... More >>

Wells Fargo Bank Sued In Alleged Vietnamese Money Transfer Scheme

Little Saigon Money Wars​In Orange County, only two major businesses offer money-transfer services to Vietnam, and based on U.S. banking laws, both have relied on accounts at Wells Fargo Bank to satisfy American regulators.But now one of those Little Saigon businesses, Saigon Central Post of Westm ... More >>

Irvine Police Sued for Alleged Civil-Rights 'Nightmare'

Go ahead and pee in your pants.​Two Los Angeles women have filed civil-rights lawsuits alleging that members of the Irvine Police Department unlawfully detained, searched and assaulted them, as well as forced one of them to urinate in her pants to the officers' amusement.According to lawsuits by S ... More >>

[UPDATED with More Details:] Newport Beach Film Festival May Seek Legal Action Against Andy Dick

Dick's most-recent booking photo from Temecula.​UPDATE, MAY 16, 8:57 A.M.: More details have been released about the April 29 incident that resulted in the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) considering taking legal action against troubled comic actor Andy Dick.The piss-destroy-chew episode (see o ... More >>

South Orange County Community College District Settles Prayer Lawsuit

The South Orange County Community College District has settled a suit brought by some of its teachers and one former student over the practice of opening prayers at various official district events.The plaintiffs in Westphal v. Wagner--which references Karla Westphal, a Saddleback professor who ... More >>

Is an OC Charity Giving Mexican Orphans Bad Drugs?

Exp 6-19-1971​Charla Pereau's Foundation for His Ministry is rightly proud of its long list of accomplishments helping the homeless and orphans in Mexico.The San Clemente-based charity raises hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from around the world to physically and spiritually feed the und ... More >>

Santa Ana Sucker Habitat Expansion Sucks, Lawsuit-Threatening Water Agencies Tell Feds

Sucker punched​A dozen water agencies serving nearly 3 million Southern California residents have formally warned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) that it the federal agency does not want to be sued, it must rescind the recent expansion of critical habitat areas for the Santa Ana Sucker, ... More >>

Taco Bell Crime of the Week: Lawsuits Allege Salmonella Poisoning!

​In 2010, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention linked Taco Bell to a salmonella outbreak that left hundreds sick (but thankfully none dead). Two of those supposedly affected are now suing the company in Ohio courts, but I'm going to highlight the eating exploits of one of them affect ... More >>

Gay Porn Career Costs Dance Teacher His Job

[Moxley Confidential] His appeal could turn on what his boss knew—and when he knew it

Jury Deliberates Dana Point Deputy Excessive Force Case

Prietto: Does this guy look like a troublemaker?​The lawyer for a group of South Orange County residents--including a famous athlete and a successful Laguna Beach actor/model--told a federal jury today that sheriff's deputies lied on the witness stand to cover up excessive force used during an ear ... More >>

[UPDATED, With Mouse Response] Lawsuit: Disney Encodes Its Workers' Social Security Numbers on ID Cards, Exposes Them to Identity Theft

​UPDATED, 1:59 p.m.: About 20 Disneyland workers stood outside the driveway that leads into the Grand Californian for a press conference announcing a class-action lawsuit against Disneyland. Although the suit portends to represent more than 20,000 Mouse minions, it was strictly a Unite HERE/progre ... More >>

Beach Volleyball Pro Suing Huntington Beach and Bankrupt AVP Pro Tour for Negligence

​While competing in a tournament at the Huntington Beach pier in June 2010, Olivia Waldowski dove for a ball and came down on a piece of wood submerged in the sand. End of her match, end of her tournament, and end of her season.Waldowski had to go to the hospital for stitches for the injury, and i ... More >>

Treasure Hunters Roadshow

Holiday Inn San Clemente

Add Another Lawsuit to the List for Oil Company Operating in Brea

Ted SoquiPalm trees burst into flames in nearby Yorba Linda. To see more images from the 2008 devastation, click here.​The flames of Brea's 2008 landfill fire (which you may remember eventually contributed to the Freeway Complex Fire) may have been long extinguished but the problems of BreitBurn M ... More >>

Jim Bellino, Housewives Hubby, Sued For Fraud

BravoJim and Alexis Bellino​More real problems for the stars of The Real Housewives of Orange County.  Jim Bellino, hubby of Housewife Alexis, is being sued for fraud, deceit, wrongful foreclosure, breach of written contracts and other accusations, the Register reports.Shashi Tejpaul and Gail ... More >>

Fees Charged Students in Tustin and Long Beach Cited in ACLU Lawsuit Against State

​Fees charged to public school students in Tustin and Long Beach are part of the evidence the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is citing in a class action lawsuit filed today against the state of California and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.The suit contends the state is violating the Californ ... More >>

OC Federal Judge Rebuked in Defective Land Rover Cases

Bad geometry?​Bad news for Land Rover.A federal appeals panel this morning reversed the ruling of an Orange County-based federal judge who had denied class action status in a consumer protection case against the British manufacturer, which allegedly sold defective vehicles.According to the Ninth C ... More >>

Jose Antonio Franco, Freed Mentally Retarded Immigrant, Part of ACLU Lawsuit Against Feds

​As we told you here, five days after the American Civil Liberties Union filed a petition in March against the federal government for locking up Jose Antonio Franco in a Santa Ana detention facility, officials released the mentally retarded immigrant who had been living in Costa Mesa ... More >>

As Lake Forest Marijuana Dispensary Owner Gets Prison Time, Federal Suit is Filed to Guarantee Patient Access

​As a Lake Forest medical marijuana dispensary owner and manager were being convicted today of selling and possessing cannabis, a Mission Viejo law firm was announcing a federal lawsuit aimed at barring authorities from denying patients access to Costa Mesa and Lake Forest dispensaries.

Supposedly Broke Orly Taitz Appeals Santa Ana Case

John Gilhooley / OC Weekly​When she's not posting copies of the President's late mother's social security card and asking newly elected Republican senator Scott Brown to sign on her lawsuit against Barack Obama, Laguna Niguel's Orly Taitz has lately taken to peppering her blog with statements like ... More >>

The Greatest Hits of the Taitz Dismissal

​Judge David O. Carter today threw out Dr. Orly Taitz's Barnett v. Obama lawsuit against President Obama. This was the lawsuit filed with dozens of plaintiffs, in Santa Ana Federal court, with a judge that seemed to listen patiently to the legal theories of Taitz and co-counsel Gary Kreep.Read the ... More >>

Tran, Harman and Mansoor: Abuse 'Em and They Won't Sue You

Van Tran, Tom Harman and Allan Mansoor--together at last.​If state Sen. Tom Harman (R-Huntington Beach), Assemblyman Van Tran (R-Costa Mesa) and Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor get hit by a reckless driver as they pull into South Coast Plaza later this morning, do not expect them or their insurance ... More >>

Tales Of Suicide And Tyranny From Orly Taitz In Santa Ana

​Whew, that was a long one. Laguna Niguel dentist/lawyer Orly Taitz, along with her co-counsel/nemesis Gary Kreep, spent a couple hours this morning in the Santa Ana Ronald Reagan Federal Building and Courthouse arguing why Judge David O. Carter shouldn't throw their case against Barack Obama out ... More >>

New Complications In the IHHI Saga

Court Orders Guardian for Octomom's Kids

​Ocotomom Nadya Suleman's dreams of reality television show cash-ins crumbled today after a federal judge ordered that a guardian be appointed to oversee the financial interests of her kids. The ruling comes just two days after she'd signed a deal that would earn each of her pups $250 a day to sta ... More >>

More Fun With the Queen Mary of Orange Coun...uh...Long Beach

First off, an "Ahoy, matey!" with a cherry on top to "Nice try," who justifiably mocks my bleary-eyed muffing of the photo selection for Speaking of Abandoned Ships, Save the Queen [Mary] Can't Save Itself. I'm next to positive the correct barnacle collector is shown here. And I disagree with Nice t ... More >>

More Blast From the Past Fraud Allegations in Irvine Election

This examines a fraud case from the past involving a big donor to, ironically enough, Irvine Citizens for Ethics in Government, the independent committee against Irvine's Measure R, which asks residents to give a vote of approval to the Irvine City Council's planning of the Great Park on the old El ... More >>

Delinquent Mike

Boy, Oh, Boy!

Ex-Rohrabacher aide may have to pay for boy sex

Marilyn Manson Sued By Ex-Bandmate

A lawsuit against Marilyn Manson was filed earlier this afternoon in Los Angeles Superior Court. Keyboardist Stephan Bier (a.k.a. “Madonna Wayne Gacy”) claims Manson filched millions of dollars from the band's earnings, squandering the money on his lavish lifestyle. According to the New York P ... More >>

Bad News for Ladies' Night at Clubs/Bars

Yesterday, the California Supreme Court ruled that businesses charging one sex less for, say, entry or drinks cannot escape legal liability if the discriminated person fails to protest at the time. In July 2002, Marc Angelucci, Edgar Pacas, Elton Campbell and Jeff Kent were charged $20 entrance fe ... More >>

Tased and Not Confused

To lawyer in OC jailhouse-tasing incident, missing footage is no shocker

Wheels of Fortune

State court rules on profitable wheelchair access lawsuits

King of County Pedophiles

A conversation with a police report on admitted pederast Eleuterio Ramos

Not Not Guilty

Dr. K quietly settles suits involving faked AIDS drugs

Lawyers, Monks and Money

Fee decree may 'chill' enviro lawsuits

Anti-Nuclear War

Linda McLandrich says she lost her husband to San Onofre but swears she wont lose again

Argyros Vietnam War Rages On

Evidence suggests Bushs ambassador-designee continues to overcharge, shortchange and falsely bill OC apartment tenants

The Bullet-Proof HMO

How the federal government helps shield health-maintenance organizations from negligence suits