The National Law Journal's L.A. Legal Pad

CA Supreme Court to review pension board case

The California Supreme Court will hear a case brought by six former San Diego City pension board members accused of conflict of interest for putting less money into the retirement system than required and increasing benefits in the future, KPBS reports. (LISTEN)

Retirement systems around the state urged the court to take the case, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

Prosecutors say it led to the $1 billion deficit in the retirement system. Defense lawyers say the prosecution is wrong, arguing that the law contains exemptions that make the board members action legal.

Prosecutors have an uphill battle when it's heard sometime next year, University of San Diego law professor Shaun Martin told the Union-Tribune.

Former Broadcom exec pleads guilty to obstruction of justice charge

Nancy Tullos, a former Broadcom Corp. vice president of human resources, agreed to plead guilty to obstruction of justice in the options backdating case in Santa Ana, Calif.

Tullos, 56, pleaded guilty to the single charge that accused her of telling a subordinate to delete an email that set the hire date of an engineer earlier than his actual employment to garner option price benefits.
Tullos agreed to cooperate with federal officials in a continuing investigation of alleged options backdating by Broadcom executives.  The change was roughly a $7 difference in the price of 120,000 options when the engineer was hired.

Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, retired last year in the midst of the backdating woes for the company that included an internal company investigation.

In January 2007 the Irvine, Calif. chipmaker disclosed it would take a $2.24 billion backdating charge, triple its original 2006 estimates.  Broadcom found in an internal investigation that 233 million company shares had been backdated.

Tullos' attorney Jason de Brettville, of Sullivan & Cromwell in Palo Alto, Calif., could not be reached for comment.

The guilty plea by a human resources official comes as a San Francisco jury considers the fate of Brocade Communications Inc.'s former vice president for human resources, Stephanie Jensen, accused of conspiracy to falsify books and records in a backdating case with that firm.

- Pamela A. MacLean

Sen. Boxer blocks OC Judge Rogan's nomination to the federal bench

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer is blocking the nomination of state Superior Court judge and former GOP Rep. James E. Rogan to the federal bench, the Associated Press reported.

Among other things, Boxer cites as a concern Rogan's lead role in former President Bill Clinton's impeachment when he was in the House of Representatives, representing Pasadena from 1997-2001.

Now a state judge in Orange County, Rogan's apparently been trying to apologize to Clinton, according to a Washington Post story yesterday.

He'll need Clinton's support since Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy makes a policy of allowing home-state senators to block judicial appointments.

Rogan was recommended by the Parsky Commission, which Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. and Boxer set up with the White House to recommends nominees for California's federal judicial vacancies.

Judge Rogan was the chief advisor to President George W. Bush and the Secretary of Commerce on all matters of intellectual property. Bush nominated him for the seat on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California last year and renominated him in January.

Lawyers busy with shelved nonunion work as strike continues

While the month-long writers' strike in Hollywood has slowed work for attorneys who draft television and film production deals, lawyers are busier than ever with nonunion work like reality television and internet content.

Read the full story here

Retired juvenile court judge to head Santa Ana tutoring center

Jack Mandel, retired juvenile court judge, will run a new tutoring and mentoring center for inner city youth.

The Nicholas Academic Center was started by Broadcom co-founder Henry Nicholas III. Mandel was picked the Santa Ana center because of his 10 years tutoring and helping Santa Ana teens get into four-year colleges, Nicholas told the Orange County Register.

The center aims to serve up to 60 students from Santa Ana high schools when it opens in January. Similar centers are planned for San Juan Capistrano and Echo Park.

Calif. associates still waiting for bonuses

Leaders at eight of the 10 leading West Coast firms have declined requests to talk about associate bonuses, The Recorder reports.

It's been weeks since firms announced bonuses for New York associates, but California firms usually wait until the year-end financial results are announced. Heller Ehrman's Robert Hubble says it's because bonuses are based on prior year performance.

While bonuses in California will likely be less, a consultant at Altman Weil says associates should enjoy what they get, before the credit crisis takes effect.

Read the full story here

Texas billionaire sues four class action firms for legal malpractice

Texas billionaire Sam Wyly is suing four class action law firms for legal malpractice, fraud, unjust enrichment and breach of fiduciary duty, Newsweek reported.

The suit, filed last week, claims that Milberg Weiss, Stull Stull, Schiffrin Barroway and Coughlin Stoia walked away from potentially billions of dollars by prematurely settling a shareholder class action against Computer Associates, who agreed to pay the law firms requested $40 million in legal fees.

Ninth Circuit: Talk with group therapist isn't confidential

A murder confession to group therapist is admissible when it's not entitled to confidentiality and not coerced, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (here).

Donald Edward Beaty's death sentence was upheld because of how and when he confessed to a therapist at an experimental group therapy session he opted to join. While participants signed a contract to keep group communications confidential, Beaty's speech was not privileged when he confessed to the therapist after all other participants in the group left, the court ruled. Also, there had been no prompt for him to confess by a state actor. Beaty was responding to a comment by a member of the group who brought up his alleged crime at the session, focused on gender relations between inmates.

Beaty was convicted of the 1984 murder and sexual assault of a 13-year-old newspaper carrier.

CA joins 11 states suing the EPA over toxic chemical excemption

California and 11 other states are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over a regulation that exempts over five thousand companies from publicly disclosing their use and emission of toxic chemicals.

The suit, filed in New York yesterday, claims the exemption is unlawful and causing irreparable injury to citizens. It calls for a return to the more stringent rules.

On Dec. 16, 2006, the EPA scaled back disclosure requirements for their Toxics Release Inventory, a public database on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities by some industry groups and federal facilities.

The EPA wrote that the new rule intended to ease the burden on smaller facilities that contribute less than 1% of total emission in the county. It's saved $6 million a year at about 6,700 facilities, EPA officials told the Los Angeles Times.

“The EPA is subverting a key public safety measure that helps communities protect themselves from toxic chemicals," said California Attorney General Jerry Brown in a press release.

The suit alleges the rule violates the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, increases by 10-fold the amount of chemical waste a facility can generate without having to report on it and weakens reporting requirements on the most dangerous toxic chemicals, like lead and mercury.

Writers go into 4th day of talks

The Writers Guild of America enters their fourth day of negotiations today over compensation for work aired on the Web, video iPods, cellphones and other new media.

There's a media blackout on the talks. But the fact that there is a talk is a reason for optimism TroyGould attorney Jonathan Handel, a former associate counsel to the Writers Guild, told Forbes yesterday. But Handel cautioned that if the writers don't make a deal soon, they may be pressured to accept the less favorable terms expected in an upcoming Directors Guild of America deal. The writers have been striking since November 5.

UCLA Anderson School of Management released a forecast report on the economic impact of the current WGA strike today estimating that the strike could cost the local economy $380 million - the report's author called earlier estimates of a $1 billion cost "grossly inflated."