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LOS ANGELES (AP) — A judge has allowed Michael Avenatti to be temporarily freed from a federal jail in New York City and to ride out the coronavirus scare at a friend's house in Los Angeles.

April 11 (Reuters) - The convicted celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti has been granted temporary freedom from a New York City jail by a California federal judge who said the spread of the novel coronavirus was a compelling reason to release him. In an order late on Friday, U.S. District Judge James Selna said Avenatti, who represented adult film actress Stormy Daniels in lawsuits against U.S. President Donald Trump, may stay at a friend's home during the 90-day release period. Avenatti, 49, must first be quarantined for 14 days at a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility, to ensure he does not...

A federal judge in Los Angeles has rejected a plea from prominent convicted lawyer Michael Avenatti to be released from jail because of the risk he could contract the coronavirus. U.S. District Court Judge James Selna turned aside Avenatti’s claims that a bout he had with pneumonia last September puts him in grave danger if COVID-19 begins to rampage through federal prisons like the Manhattan detention center where he’s currently locked up. Avenatti, who was convicted by a New York federal court jury last month on charges of trying to extort shoemaking giant Nike and is facing other federal charges...

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) -- A federal judge expects the first lawsuit to go to trial in a massive class action against Toyota Motor Corp. over a sudden acceleration problem that led the company to recall 14 million cars will involve a crash that killed a Utah couple. U.S. District Judge James Selna told attorneys Friday that the case of Paul Van Alfen and Charlene Jones Lloyd - whose Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010 - will go to trial in early 2013. The case will be the first of several bellwether lawsuits, intended to determine...

A federal judge in California said Friday that he will deny another request from Toyota Motor Corp. to dismiss lawsuits filed by car owners who claim sudden-acceleration defects caused the value of their vehicles to drop. U.S. District Judge James Selna said in a 30-page ruling that the lawsuits have enough merit to move forward. "Taking these allegations as true, as the court must at the pleading stage, they establish an economic loss," Selna wrote. "Plaintiffs bargained for safe, defect-free vehicles, but instead received unsafe, defective vehicles. A vehicle with a defect is worth less than one without a defect."...