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

Rosalind Tyson to head SEC's L.A. regional office

Rosalind Tyson was named head of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Los Angeles regional office, The Recorder reported.

The selection of Tyson, who started as acting regional director at the L.A. Regional Office* last summer, shows that the SEC is happy with the office's performance, insiders told The Recorder.

But her selection is unique since she from the examination side - she was associate regional director for examinations from 1993 to 2007.

Regional heads usually come from the enforcement side of the office, former SEC lawyers told The Recorder.

SEC Press Release

*The Los Angeles Regional Office covers Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and Hawai'i.

Are viewer contests on reality shows illegal lotteries?

A pending court decision in California could split with a recent Georgia ruling in determining whether interactive games on reality television shows constitute illegal lotteries, The National Law Journal reported.

In California, eight class actions were against producers of reality television shows in the past year over viewer contests on some episodes. While viewers can participate in the contests online for free, lawsuits claim the games are illegal lotteries because people who participate by phone are charged 99 cents to send their vote via text message.

Meanwhile, the Georgia Supreme Court recently found the games to be illegal under that state's lotteries law.

Read the full NLJ story here

California appeals court upholds $941,000 legal malpractice verdict against Wilson Elser

A California appeals court has upheld a $941,000 legal malpractice verdict against Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, but has thrown out $1.7 million of the original award given to the firm's former client.

The California Court of Appeal, Second District, on May 28 affirmed the $941,000 award to Cal-City Construction, a company that had hired Wilson Elser after the Los Angeles Unified School District removed the company from one construction project and refused to make payments on another.

According to the decision, Wilson Elser had advised the construction company to walk off the job on the second project. However, prior to the construction company's breach of contract trial against the school district, the law firm told the client that it should not have walked off the job, and that its only option was to settle under unfavorable terms.

In the malpractice action against Wilson Elser, the jury found the law firm liable for $2.5 million in damages, which included $941,000 in damages related to the adverse settlement and $1.7 million for lost future profits.

But the appeals court found that the construction company's evidence of lost profits was "speculative and uncertain," and that the lower court should have granted the law firm a partial judgment-notwithstanding-the-verdict motion at trial.

Thomas Hyland, managing partner of Wilson Elser's New York office, said the firm was evaluating the decision.

"We are disappointed that any part of the verdict against our firm was affirmed, but we are pleased that the majority of claim has been knocked out," Hyland said.

Wilson Elser has about 800 attorneys in 20 offices.

-- Leigh Jones

Attorney General tells high court to ignore requests to delay same-sex marriage

The state attorney general's office told the California Supreme Court to ignore requests by conservative legal groups to rehear or stay the decision on same-sex marriage until November, Cal Law's Legal Pad reported.

The California Attorney General's Office, which argued against same-sex marriage in In Re Marriage Cases, said in a brief that the case is over and that the office plans to vigorously defend to the high court's decision.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Christopher Krueger wrote in the brief that the Alliance Defense Fund failed to provide a basis for rehearing and that a stay would be unprecedented, mixing judicial and political processes, and would temporary implement a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage before its even voted on.

Same-sex couples will be able to get married on June 17, unless the filing of a petition could delay it by up to two months, court officials told the Los Angeles Times.

"Foes, in court, seek to delay gay marriages," San Francisco Chronicle

Emily Graham named director of civil central staff at state high court

The state high court named Emily Graham as the director of the court's civil central staff, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported.

The director oversees 14 attorneys who help the high court, as it decides which cases to take, and prepares memoranda on petitions for review and related filings in civil matters, MetNews reported.

Graham has been a member of the staff for 19 years.

Study finds disabled inmates discriminated against by Sheriff's Department

A recent study concludes that the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is violating the Americans with Disabilities Act in its treatment of disabled inmates, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The 31-page study, commissioned by the ACLU of Southern California and the Disability Rights Legal Center, included interviews with nearly 70 inmates over several months and alleges that disabled prisoners endure widespread and pervasive violations.

Lawyers at the ACLU and DRLC announced that they were filing a lawsuit today, accompanied by lawyers from Heller Ehrman and Hadsell Stormer. The plaintiffs in the case aren't seeking damages, only for jails to comply with the ADA, KPCC Public Radio reported.

Sheriff Lee Baca told the L.A. Times that the problems were not easily fixed and commented that the ACLU provides good critiques but no solutions.

The ACLU claims in a press release that the lawsuit was a last resort after months of talks with the Sheriff's Department,  during which they say "attorneys for the inmates proposed a framework for short- and medium-term changes that addressed the worst access barriers, plus a 90-day evaluation of all programs." They say county officials were unwilling to agree to the proposed changes.

LISTEN: "Inmates with Disabilities Sue L.A. County Sheriff," KPCC Public Radio

High court appears to side against doctors in lesbian insemination case

The California Supreme Court indicated during oral arguments yesterday that it would find that doctors can't claim their religious beliefs as a reason to deny medical services to gay, bisexual and lesbian people, The Recorder reported.

The Los Angeles Times reporter covering the case also got that vibe.

The case, S142892, started nine years ago when a woman sued two Vista doctors for refusing to provide intrauterine insemination nine years ago. The woman alleged the doctors discriminated against her for being a lesbian, while the doctors claimed that they were discriminating based on marital status, not sexual orientation. They claimed their Christian faith didn't allow them inseminate an unmarried woman and that marital discrimination was not yet barred by state law when the woman was their patient.

San Diego Superior Court sided with the woman, but the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed.

The ruling is due in 90 days.

WATCH: Oral Arguments in S142892, California Channel

LISTEN: "Doctors Refuse to Artificially Inseminate a Lesbian Patient," KPCC Public Radio

Family of man accused in pro-surfer killing sues Pacific Law Center

The Pacific Law Center is being accused of fraud and unlawful business practices by the family of one of the men charged in the death of a professional surfer, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The family's suit claims that the firm pressured them to pay a $175,000 retainer after allegedly telling them that Seth Cravens, one of five men accused in the death of Emery Kauanui, would be released from jail within days of his May 2007 arrest and that the case would be dismissed after getting certain hospital records.

In December, Cravens was still in jail and the family fired the firm and requested a refund, which was denied.

Calif. Senate passes pay parity bill for state attorneys

The state Senate passed a bill on that aims to increase the pay for California's 3,400 state-employed attorneys, Cal Law's Legal Pad reported.

SB 1718, which passed with a 34-4 vote on Tuesday, requires the Department of Personnel Administration to survey the salaries of lawyers in other public agencies each year - hoping that it would help their case if it showed a disparity in pay between state lawyers and other public agencies.

The state attorneys' union hoped this new version of the bill would have a better chance at becoming law than the original version, which would have linked state lawyers salaries to the average earned by people with similar jobs in 20 public agencies.

Aguirre plans to sue public utility over wildfires

San Diego City Attorney Mike Aguirre plans to ask the City Council to sue a San Diego Gas & Electric Co. for up to $20 million in damages for last fall's wildfires, 10 News reported.

Meanwhile, the company has a pending claim that the city share the liability in the eight lawsuits against it over damages related to the wildfires, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.