Constitutional Cases
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Constitutional

2nd District Court of Appeal, Division One
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People v. Heaps — UCLA Gynecologist’s Convictions Reversed Where Trial Court’s Ex Parte Communications With Jury Deprived Defendant of Counsel

Second District reverses convictions of former UCLA gynecologic oncologist James Heaps, holding the trial court’s ex parte communications with the jury through a judicial assistant — without notifying counsel — deprived defendant of counsel at a critical stage and the prosecution failed to pro

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Cruz v. City of San Diego — S.D. Cal. Allows Wrongful-Death Claims Over Police Shooting of Incapacitated Suspect to Proceed in Part

In a Section 1983 wrongful-death action brought by the parents of a man fatally shot by San Diego police officers — including allegations that officers continued to fire shots into the decedent’s body after he was already incapacitated — the court granted in part and denied in part the city&#8

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Anthony v. Hubbard — S.D. Cal. Dismisses §1983 Suit Against Court of Appeal Clerk on Quasi-Judicial Immunity Grounds

The court dismissed without leave to amend a §1983 suit against a senior deputy clerk of the California Court of Appeal who allegedly refused filings, yelled, and issued unauthorized orders, ruling that quasi-judicial immunity bars damages claims and that §1983 itself bars injunctive relief against

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Markov v. Warden — S.D. Cal. Denies Bond Hearing for Russian Asylum-Seeker Held Seven Months Under § 1225(b)(1) Mandatory Detention

The court applied the six-factor Banda test and concluded that seven months of mandatory detention of a Russian asylum-seeker who had been found to have a credible fear of persecution did not yet violate due process or require a bond hearing.

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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Pogosian v. Bowen — C.D. Cal. Issues Preliminary Injunction Barring Re-Detention of Released Immigration Petitioner Without Procedural Protections

Central District of California enters a preliminary injunction barring federal immigration officials from re-detaining petitioner without complying with required procedures, holding the case is not moot under Nielsen v. Preap and that the Winter factors continue to support relief.

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Salazar Juarez v. Abdi — S.D. Cal. Allows Eighth Amendment Excessive-Force Claim Over ‘Hot Metal Plate’ Incident at RJD to Proceed

After IFP screening of an amended complaint by a state prisoner experiencing a mental-health crisis, the court allowed his Eighth Amendment excessive-force claim to proceed against two correctional officers who allegedly held him against a hot metal plate causing severe burns, but dismissed his deli

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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Sorto-Vasquez Kidd v. Wolf — C.D. Cal. Refuses to Stay Ruling Banning ICE “Knock and Talk” Home Arrests Pending Appeal

Central District of California denies the federal government’s motion to stay a partial final judgment that prohibits ICE from entering home curtilage to make warrantless arrests through “knock and talk” encounters, finding the government unlikely to succeed on appeal and unable to show irreparable

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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H.L. v. County of Los Angeles — C.D. Cal. Allows Jail Drug-Death Class Claims to Proceed Against Sheriff’s Deputies but Trims Medical-Care Claims

Central District of California allows the family of a man who died of a fentanyl overdose at Twin Towers to proceed against Sheriff’s deputies for deliberate indifference to dangerous jail conditions and against Los Angeles County for failing to train staff to stop drug smuggling, while dismissing m

Supreme Court
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City of Gilroy v. Superior Court — Public Records Act Allows Declaratory Relief Even After Records Are Disclosed, but Imposes No Three-Year Retention Duty

The California Supreme Court holds that requesters under the California Public Records Act can sometimes obtain declaratory relief even after the agency has produced everything responsive, but the statute does not impose a three-year duty to preserve records the agency has withheld as exempt.

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Ayala Perez v. Noem — S.D. Cal. Grants Habeas and Orders Immediate Release of Cuban Parolee Re-Detained Without Notice

The court granted habeas relief and ordered immediate release of a Cuban national who had been paroled into the United States and then re-detained at a master calendar hearing without the written notice of parole termination required by 8 C.F.R. § 212.5(e)(5) or any opportunity to be heard.

1st District Court of Appeal, Division Four
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In re Thai — Indeterminate-Life Inmates Not Constitutionally Entitled to Same Conduct Credits Toward Youth-Parole Eligibility as Toward Standard Parole

First District denies habeas relief, holding that CDCR may constitutionally permit only educational merit credits — and not other prison conduct credits — to advance an inmate’s youth-parole eligibility date under Penal Code section 3051.

U.S. District Court — Northern District of California
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Moore v. De La Cruz — N.D. Cal. dismisses habeas claim of free-standing actual innocence as not cognizable under Herrera

Judge Martínez-Olguín dismisses with prejudice the freestanding actual innocence claim in Maria Moore’s federal habeas petition challenging her California first-degree murder conviction with special circumstances, holding that the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet recognized a free-standing innocence c

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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Triumph Foods, LLC v. Bonta — C.D. Cal. Grants Motion to Intervene by Animal Welfare Groups in Proposition 12 Constitutional Challenge

Judge Christina Snyder granted motions to intervene by two animal welfare groups in Triumph Foods’ constitutional challenge to California’s Proposition 12 farm animal confinement law, while imposing conditions including coordinated joint filings, no discovery between intervenors and Triu

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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Hoang v. Noem — C.D. Cal. Grants TRO Ordering ICE to Release Vietnamese Detainee Subject to Pre-Existing Order of Supervision

Judge Josephine L. Staton granted a TRO ordering ICE to release a Vietnamese detainee at Adelanto subject to his prior Order of Supervision conditions, finding he satisfied the Winter factors. The court enjoined re-detention inconsistent with ICE regulations and set a preliminary injunction hearing

U.S. District Court — Central District of California
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Kisel v. Noem — C.D. Cal. Orders ICE to Show Cause on Belarus Detainee’s Indefinite Detention Beyond Zadvydas Six-Month Presumption

Judge Kenly Kiya Kato ordered ICE to show cause why a habeas petition should not be granted to a noncitizen detained nine months at Adelanto whom Belarus refuses to recognize as a citizen, finding the government’s bare assertion that it was ‘actively seeking travel documents’ insuf

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Stein v. City of San Diego — S.D. Cal. Dismisses Monell Claims Over Alleged SDPD Wrongful Arrest and False Police Report

The court dismissed three Monell municipal-liability claims against the City of San Diego based on a 2022 wrongful-arrest incident at Mission Beach, ruling that allegations of unrelated SDPD incidents did not establish a longstanding custom, that the failure-to-train theory required a pattern of sim

U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
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Tolentino v. Andes — S.D. Cal. Denies Habeas Stay-and-Abey as Moot After California Supreme Court Denies State Petition

After the California Supreme Court denied a state habeas petition while the federal stay-and-abey motion was pending, the magistrate judge denied the stay request as moot, finding that the petitioner had now fully exhausted his federal claims because they were substantially equivalent to claims pres

U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
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Redding v. Clendenin — E.D. Cal. Allows SVP Civil Detainee to Proceed on Conditions-of-Confinement Claim

Eastern District of California allows a civil detainee at DSH-Coalinga to proceed on his Fourteenth Amendment claim that the conditions of his confinement as a sexually violent predator are no less restrictive than those of prison inmates, while dismissing his challenge to the SVP treatment program

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