Litigation Section

I am the great-great-great-granddaughter of Isadora Thompson, a Black woman who survived chattel slavery in the United States, and died free. In 1855, Isadora was listed in the property inventory of Baker Boswell Degraffenreid, one of the largest slaveholders in Fayette County, Tennessee. When Baker Degraffenreid’s daughter, Sarah, married Dr. Solomon Green, Baker’s wedding gift to his daughter consisted of various land holdings as well as 14 human beings, including Isadora. Baker drew up a "Deed of Gift" attempting to convey the women, men, and children, and their issue, to Sarah, as separate property, out of reach of her husband. Read more

"A rather interesting case has been commenced in the Superior Court of this city," reported the Cincinnati Enquirer in 1870, "out of the custom of slavery, now supposed to be extinct." The plaintiff, Henrietta Wood, a former resident of Cincinnati, had sued Zebulon Ward, alleging she had been abducted by Ward’s slave trading agent, and delivered to Kentucky from Cincinnati, the place where she had enjoyed her "sweet taste of liberty." She was then reenslaved in Kentucky and sold to subsequent plantation owners, "remaining there in the bonds of slavery until her shackles were knocked off by the lamented Mr. Lincoln." She asked for $20,000 in damages, including years of lost wages. Read more

It is an honor and a privilege to be the Chair of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association during one of the most consequential moments in American history. There are three major challenges facing the legal community and, more broadly, our society. First, we are living through the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the worst global pandemic in the past 100 years. Second, we are facing the most devastating economic crisis to hit the United States since the Great Depression. Third, we are living in a critical moment in the struggle for racial justice, civil rights, diversity, and inclusion. The way that we respond to these challenges could result in life or death consequences that could last for generations. Read more

It has long been held that "[t]he vagaries of eyewitness identification are well known and the annals of criminal law are rife with instances of mistaken identification." Read more

Benjamin G. Shatz, Los Angeles, Editor-in-Chief Marc D. Alexander, Santa Ana Brian P. Barrow, Long Beach Kathryn M. Davis, Pasadena Paul J. Dubow, San Francisco Read more

Litigation Update is a monthly publication with case summaries of recent state and federal appellate opinions. The cases are selected and the summaries drafted by Justice Eileen Moore of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Three. Read more

It is an honor and a privilege to be the Chair of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association during one of the most consequential moments in American history. There are three major challenges facing the legal community and, more broadly, our society. Read more

A monthly publication of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association. Read more

Since 1987, the Litigation Section’s premiere publication has been “California Litigation: The Journal of the Litigation Section,” which publishes three issues a year (Spring, Summer, and Fall) containing roughly a dozen articles of interest to California litigators. Read more

A monthly publication of the Litigation Section of the California Lawyers Association. Read more