Abdul Arian / Facebook

It was a crazy police chase. The last breaths of 19-year-old Abdul Arian were caught on tape on April 11, 2012.

He exited his unmarked, ex-police car in the middle of the 101 freeway in Woodland Hills, faced several officers, crouched and appeared to assume what cops described as a "shooting stance." Thinking he had a gun, officers squeezed off 120 rounds.

He didn't have a gun. And so his family sued the department and the city -- for $120 million:

More »

Tanaka

A white-power gang operating inside the L.A. County jails had ties to sheriff's officials charged with running the lockups -- ties that led up as far as Undersheriff Paul Tanaka.

That, at least, is one of the shocking allegations in a lawsuit filed in L.A. federal court this week. The plaintiffs are two deputies who worked the jails. Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, however, dismissed the idea that Tanaka and other law enforcers were associates of a Vikings cop gang allied with white supremacist inmates. He told the Weekly:

More »

courtesy of Milan Sabata

Dino M. Zaffina now owes more than $115,000 to his opponents' legal team.

Dino M. Zaffina's case against the Southern California Darts Association officially collapsed last week -- a little more than two years after Zaffina attempted to seize the organization's name for himself.

Not only did a federal judge issue a permanent injunction barring Zaffina from ever again using the name, but he ordered him to either destroy or turn over all the marketing materials he'd created using it. He also ordered the one-eyed Hollywood soundman to pay $115,705 in legal fees, plus court costs.

Such awards are only made in "exceptional" cases -- instances in which a judge believes someone is "willfully infringing" on an organization's trademark.

More »

Courtesy of Delassus estate

Larry Delassus at Little Company of Mary Hospital with a therapy dog from Love On 4 Paws.

Attorney Anthony Trujillo sits at his desk overlooking the Pacific Ocean, clicking through hundreds of files on his computer. Each relates to his late friend and client, Larry Delassus, who died of heart failure in a Torrance courtroom in December as he sat in a wheelchair watching Trujillo argue a negligence and discrimination case on his behalf against banking giant Wells Fargo.

Now, Trujillo and Delassus' close friend Debbie Popovich say they will file a wrongful death claim in April against Wells Fargo and its tax service provider, CoreLogic. (CoreLogic was listed as First American Real Estate Tax Service in court documents until recently.)

On March 21, Trujillo will request an extension in his discrimination case from Superior Court Judge Laura C. Ellison, who had tentatively sided with Wells Fargo the day before Delassus collapsed in her courtroom. The tragic events set off a storm of complaints against Wells Fargo and the judge when L.A. Weekly published its article "Wells Fargo Typo Victim Dies in Court." On April 18, Popovich will ask a probate judge to name her the special administrator of Delassus' modest estate, so someone can act on his behalf.

More »

Courtesy of Alice Wei

A fan's digital painting depicting a "Navi" from Cameron's Avatar

James Cameron must turn over to his former employee Eric Ryder the drafts of Cameron's screenplay for the blockbuster Avatar, in a partial victory for the unknown author handed down today by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Alan Rosenfield.

Rosenfield, (a rare local who admits he didn't see Avatar) denied Ryder's other legal efforts -- to view any screenplays or documents pertaining to an Avatar sequel set for 2015. Information about the sequel is considered a trade secret. Should Cameron be worried about Ryder's suit -- the latest in a long string of lawsuits by writers claiming that famed movies were stolen from them? James Cameron stated in a sworn declaration:

More »

Giovanni Ramirez had some of the superficial signs: Recent neck tattoos, a thuggish demeanor and an alleged gang background.

But he wasn't the guy, a fact the LAPD had to admit after it had arrested Ramirez for the horrific Dodger Stadium beating of Brian Stow. He was arrested because it appeared, maybe, that he resembled a sketch of one of the suspects.

That mistake won't mean cash for Ramirez. At least not for now:

More »

Anais.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been made aware of as many as six deaths and 18 hospitalizations that might be linked to drinking the high-caffeine energy drink Monster, which has its corporate offices in Corona. (Monster disputes any links.)

It turns out one of those deaths involved a 14-year-old Maryland girl, Anais Fournier, who was hospitalized after drinking two large cans of Monster.

Her family announced a lawsuit this week against the Southern California makers of the drink:

More »

Konstantin Stepanov / Flickr

Updated at the bottom with strong allegations from an ACLU attorney.

For some inmates L.A. County Jail is like the "Hotel California" -- You can check-out any time you like / But you can never leave.

At least that's what the ACLU of Southern California claims in a lawsuit announced today. The group is suing the L.A. County Sheriff's Department (LASD) for holding onto "tens of thousands" of folks "for days beyond their release date" as a result of federal immigration holds.

Now, you might say, sure, but if the feds want to keep 'em behind bars, then that's legit:

More »

NBC Los Angeles (screen grab)

Capt. Joseph Hiltner, the commander in charge of the LAPD San Fernando Valley division area where a handcuffed woman was slammed by two officers in an incident caught on video, is headed to court over his demotion, his attorney tells the Weekly.

Hiltner was swiftly transferred and demoted by LAPD Chief Charlie Beck after the video was unleashed by NBC Los Angeles Aug. 28.

At the time Beck accused Hiltner of being "severely deficient in his response" to the incident:

More »

Nicollette.

Nicollette Sheridan might be a hot older actress scorned, but was she a victim of wrongful termination when she was dropped from Desperate Housewives in 2009?

California's 2nd District Court of Appeal struck down her lawsuit against Touchstone Pictures today.

The main reason?

More »

Dino M. Zaffina

Pity Robert Racine.

The attorney, who is based in La Crescenta, has been representing Dino M. Zaffina in his battle with the Southern California Darts Association -- which began when the darts lovers failed to include Zaffina's middle initial in a write-up of their scores, and somehow resulted in Zaffina filing papers to take over the organization's legal incorporation. The two entities have been battling over the darts association name ever since.

Zaffina may now have to do it without a lawyer.

Today, attorney Racine filed papers asking to withdraw from the case, saying he has yet to be paid a dime from Zaffina. Shockingly, he also alleged that Zaffina has all but blackmailed him to keep him on the case -- and asked for the court to order that Zaffina stay at least 500 feet from his home and office.

More »

Giovanni Ramirez says his wrongful arrest has caused him "stress, emotional distress, mental anguish, and mental pain and suffering."

A sheepish apology from LAPD Chief Charlie Beck isn't good enough for former Dodger beating suspect Giovanni Ramirez, who was dramatically arrested in May 2011 for allegedly bashing in Giants fan Bryan Stow's head on Opening Day.

As we found two months later, Ramirez wasn't the guy who did it. The LAPD had rushed its high-profile investigation to the point of arresting some East L.A. gangster with a record who wasn't even at the baseball game...

More »

ABC7

Gail Anderson, center.

Well, this is bizarre: The former chief medical officer of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (a giant Torrance hospital run by the county) was paid over $400,000 to sit in his lavish Manhattan Beach home for the last year.

That's because Gail Anderson was unofficially fired by the L.A. County Department of Health Services in August 2011, and has been on paid leave ever since. According to his lawyer, Richard Carroll, the county's attitude has been...

More »

Walmart

Foes of the planned Walmart Neighborhood Mart in Chinatown held a big rally over the weekend that featured entertainment from Tom Morello and Ben Harper.

This week they've left the music behind, however, and taken things to court.

The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 770 announced today that they're suing the city of L.A. for allegedly failing ...

More »

Courtney Scaramella / Pinterest

A 23-year-old waitress named Courtney Scaramella is suing a Westwood bar for allegedly making her and other female employees wear short, school-girl-style plaid skirts at work.

The suit, which came to light over the weekend via the UCLA Daily Bruin, claims that O'Hara's bar manager Ronald "Ram" McDonnel enforced the dress code as a way of increasing profits, ostensibly from male drinkers.

At one point, the suit claims, Scaramella demonstrated how hard it was to bend down in the skirt:

More »

Abdul Arian / Facebook

That $120 million legal claim against the city in the case of Abdul Arian, a 19-year-old who was fatally shot on live television by LAPD officers in April, is now a $120 million lawsuit.

This after the city rejected the claim.

The suit, filed yesterday in L.A. Superior Court federal court, comes after the family's lawyer, Jeffrey M. Galen, says he obtained the coroner's toxicology report on Arian's body which, he states, shows the teen was not on any drugs:

More »

Ryan Lane

Popoff, left.

A bombshell of a lawsuit against a Fullerton bar claims that a manager made a false report to police in order to shoo homeless man Kelly Thomas away from the business.

Thomas, of course, was fatally beaten by cops that night last summer, leading to charges, including murder and involuntary manslaughter, against two Fullerton officers.

The suit names Slidebar Rock-N-Roll Kitchen owner and Lit guitarist Jeremy Popoff, saying that he was "obsessed with Slidebar's image."

More »

CBS LA

Ming Qu and Ying Wu were killed in Qu's BMW after a late night of studying.

L.A. police and politicians have been tripping over themselves to regain the public's confidence after two USC graduate students from China were murdered in a BMW outside their apartment near campus.

The mayor apologized profusely. The LAPD added 30 more officers to the Southwest Division. The City Attorney assigned a special city prosecutor to focus solely on cases around USC. University officials tried to throw money at the victims' parents "as a gesture of kindness and sympathy." But it wasn't enough to keep this thing out of court:

More »

Skechers

You bought a pair of Skechers Shape-ups and you still don't have Kim Kardashian's behind?

You could get a refund.

Really.

In announcing its settlement with the Manhattan Beach footwear company, the Federal Trade Commission cited the firm's marketing claim -- which was made, in part, via an endorsement deal with Kardashian -- that the shoes could ...

More »

Sarah!

Maybe Sarah Tressler was listening when we told her to come back to L.A. -- a stripping journalist would fit right in at the alt-lifestyle rag called LA Weekly.

The former LA CityBeat intern was back in town today to stand with her attorney, Gloria Allred, and announce a federal discrimination claim against the Houston Chronicle for firing her after they found out about her racy moonlighting gig.

Here are the deets:

More »