A federal appellate panel ruled on Thursday that a San Francisco judge abused his discretion by ordering the release of a video recording of the trial over California’s Proposition 8, saying that he ignored a promise upon which supporters of the ban on gay marriage relied.

A lawyer’s defamation claims against an ex-client who went online to accuse him of a “horrific fraud” can move forward, a San Francisco judge has ruled. Judge James McBride said Elliott Blumberg crossed the line in essentially accusing malpractice lawyer William Gwire of a crime.

A federal judge denied attorney fees on Wednesday to a wireless industry group that won a partial injunction against a San Francisco ordinance requiring cellphone retailers to disseminate information about potential health risks.

For the second time in five months — and this time for good — a San Francisco federal district court judge has tossed Samsung’s antitrust claims against Panasonic over a patent licensing deal involving secure digital memory cards.

With collections slowing and contingency fee cases back East not showing much immediate promise, Howrey’s trustee is pushing to set San Francisco collections litigator Joel Adler loose in the case. Adler earned high marks recently for bringing $6 million into the Heller estate.