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

Google and Gogol, via Samuelson

"The [Google] Book Search agreement is not really a settlement of a dispute over whether scanning books to index them is fair use. It is a major restructuring of the book industry’s future without meaningful government oversight."

Pamela Samuelson, the Richard M. Sherman Distinguished Professor of Law and Information at UC Berkeley, argues against the recent settlement.

Check it out here.

Indictments handed down in Bailey murders

A grand jury yesterday voted to indict Yusuf Ali Bey IV, the scion of the defunct Your Black Muslim Bakery, for ordering the killings of journalist Chauncey Bailey and two other men in 2007.

Prosecutors are likely to bring the case with special circumstances, allowing them to seek the death penalty against Bey IV. He allegedly told two of his followers that in exchange for killing Bailey, he would teach them how to file fraudulent loan applications that could reap hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Another man, Antoine Arelus Mackey, 23, is also to be charged.

The indictments are based largely on the testimony of Devaughndre Broussard, 21, Bailey's admitted killer. According to LeRue Grim, Broussard's lawyer, the existing charges against him will be amended to include charges for the killing of another man, Odell Roberson. Broussard will then plead guilty to two counts of voluntary manslaughter, one for each slaying. He will receive a set sentence of about 25 years in exchange for his admissions and testimony.

Click here for the full story.

Oakland council finds a real friend in potential medical marijuana revenue

Oakland's City Council last week approved a 1.8% tax on medicinal marijuana sold in the city. Medical-marijuana advocates say if voters pass the proposal in a July election, Oakland would become the nation's first city to directly tax the drug.

Prospects for such a tax were made brighter in February, when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the federal government would no longer raid state-approved dispensaries.

California is one of 13 states that have legalized medical marijuana, allowing it to be sold to people with a doctor's recommendation. It is relatively easy for anyone over 18 years old to obtain such a doctor's note. Advocates estimate there are 200,000 or more approved medical-marijuana users in California. Users already pay a sales tax on the drug.

The city of 400,000 residents is facing an $83 million shortfall in a $455 million budget.

Full story at Wall Street Journal.

Attorney general wants court order to reform Maywood PD

After a 16-month investigation that revealed "gross misconduct and widespread abuse" by the Maywood Police Department, California Attorney Gen. Jerry Brown announced yesterday that he would seek a court order to impose reforms on the troubled force.

His comments coincided with the release of a 30-page report that detailed the findings of the investigation into the tiny department, which polices the densely populated cities of Maywood and Cudahy southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The report's authors faulted the Maywood City Council for failing to hold the Police Department accountable.

If Brown convinces a judge to grant the reform order, it would be the only one in effect in California, said Scott Gerber, a spokesman for the attorney general.

Full story at LATimes.com.

New Los Angeles partner for labor law firm

Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP announced today that Dan M. Forman has joined the firm's Los Angeles office as a partner. Mr. Forman is an AV rated trial lawyer who represents employers throughout California in litigation and provides advice and counsel to California employers on human resource issues.

Prior to joining Carlton DiSante & Freudenberger LLP, Mr. Forman was a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP where he focused on complex commercial litigation and labor and employment law. Mr. Forman frequently drafts employment and arbitration agreements, handbooks, policies, and advises about the enforceability of confidentiality and trade secret agreements, including covenants not to compete, collective bargaining, insurance issues, violence in the workplace, termination of employment and severance, WARN Act, accommodation, discipline, leaves and a wide range of wage and hour issues.

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Potential terrorism foiler program a civil rights minefield

A new system to report suspicious activities that officials say could uncover terrorism plots is being embraced by a growing number of law-enforcement agencies, as civil liberties groups focus on the program's potential for violation of individual rights.

In Los Angeles, as well as in nearly a dozen other cities, officers are filling out terror tip sheets if they run across activities in their routines that seem out of place, like someone buying police or firefighter uniforms, taking pictures of a power plant or espousing extremist views.

Ultimately, state and federal officials intend to have a nationwide reporting system in place by 2014, using a standardized system of codes for suspicious behaviors for a network of databases to be used to predict acts of terrorism.

The ACLU and Muslim-American groups in the area view the new program with suspicion.

Commander Joan T. McNamara, assistant commander of the counterterrorism bureau, has said the Los Angeles program has not foiled any terrorism plots, but 67 of the reports had been referred to the local Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Full story at New York Times.

Court of Appeal beckons review for former Fisher & Phillips partner

Reversing a trial court, the California 4th District Court of Appeal ruled on April 27 that Robert J. Bekken is entitled to have a state court review a 2006 arbitration award that favored the law firm in a dispute that began after Bekken left it in 2004.

The appeals court found that under recent California case law the parties could lawfully arrange in their arbitration agreement governed by the Federal Arbitration Act to have a court determine whether error had marred the proceeding.

Bekken, a former partner in the Irvine, Calif., office of Fisher & Phillips, had practiced at the law firm for 37 years. He withdrew from the partnership in 2004. In January 2006, he demanded arbitration of several claims, including unfair competition, fraud, defamation, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of contract.

Retired U.S. District Court Judge Gary Taylor presided over the arbitration proceeding, which involved more than 30 witnesses and 1,000 exhibits, according to the recent decision. He denied all of Bekken's requests and assessed his tax costs at $85,067. A lower court later confirmed the award and granted Fisher & Phillips $52,610 in attorney's fees.

Full story at NLJ.com.

Court of Appeals socks it to Long Beach PTA in airport expansion hearing

The city of Long Beach has tried to expand the Long Beach Airport terminal and build a new parking garage since 2006, only to see its efforts stymied by legal challenges over the findings of a required environmental impact report. City officials say that due to Long Beach's strict airport noise ordinance, the project won't increase the number of flights.  But they cite the necessity to meet the needs of an increasing volume of flights and passengers.

The Long Beach Unified School District, later joined by the PTA, sued the city, claiming that the environmental report didn't take into account the noise and pollution impacts of a possible increase in the number of flights that they said could arise as a result of the airport expansion. An Orange County judge ruled in favor of the city in February 2008, but the PTA alone appealed the decision.

On Monday, a three-justice panel California Court of Appeals for the 4th District asked critical questions of both parties' arguments during an hour-long hearing, which seemed to especially target the PTA. A ruling is expected within 90 days.

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Court of Appeal rules church takeover attempt unlawful

Iglesia Evangelica Latina Church announced that the California Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, ruled today in the case of Iglesia Evangelica Latina, Inc., et al., vs. Southern Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God, et al., that the Southern Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God acted unlawfully when it tried to take over an historic Spanish-speaking church, caused a former pastor to sign a deed transferring all of the church’s property to the denomination, and then locked out hundreds of member families.

Due to some internal disagreements in 2005 and 2006, the church consulted the District for help.  The District then took over the corporation and its property.  After a three day trial in September 2007, the Los Angeles Superior Court ruled in favor of the District, and then the church retained the law firm of Payne & Fears LLP to appeal the ruling.

In its 29 page decision, the California Court of Appeal overturned the Superior Court’s ruling, rejecting the District’s claim that the Assemblies of God could disregard Iglesia Evangelica’s rights as a California religious corporation.  The Court also ruled that the District’s receipt of Iglesia Evangelica’s church property from one of its pastors was unlawful.

The decision sends the case back to the Los Angeles Superior Court and orders that the lower court enter judgment in favor of Iglesia Evangelica’s on all of the legal claims in the case, except two where a trial will decide Iglesia Evangelica’s claim that the District took personal property and funds from the church.

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Dreier connection contributes to Mason Miller collapse

Marc Dreier, founder and managing partner of Dreier LLP, was charged in December with securities and wire fraud stemming from an alleged investment fraud that led to $400 million in losses and the collapse of his New York firm.

Mason Miller, a boutique transactional entertainment firm with ties to Dreier, has dissolved as its name partners, John Mason and Darrell Miller, have joined separate law firms.

Dreier was a partner at Mason Miller. As such, he supplied its four lawyers with administrative costs, equipment and files, but the firm operated independently by having its own budget, cash flow and staff.

Mason said that Dreier's collapse contributed to his firm's dissolution.

Full story at NLJ.com.