-- Deepa Bharath BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS...

-- Deepa Bharath

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

Trial in bar brawl set to begin Monday

A criminal trial for eight people arrested during a bar brawl at

El Torito Grill more than a year ago is set to begin Monday at Harbor

Justice Center.

Police said the alleged midnight melee broke out during a birthday

party and involved physical fights among several people. It took more

than a dozen police officers to quell the fight, officials said.

The defendants face charges including obstruction of justice and

resisting arrest.

Lorena Maae, who has been charged with obstruction of justice,

said the people in the bar were only defending themselves from the

police.

“It was my husband’s birthday party,” she said. “We were all

friends and family there. Why would we beat ourselves up?”

Newport Woman wins tobacco suit

A Los Angeles jury on Thursday awarded a 64-year-old Newport Beach

woman, who is terminally ill with lung cancer, $850,000 in a case

against tobacco giant Philip Morris.

Betty Bullock received the compensatory damages based on her

complaint that Philip Morris committed fraud, was negligent, made a

defective product and failed to warn its users before 1969, said her

attorney Michael Piuze.

The case is still not over, he said. The penalty phase of the

trial will begin Tuesday to determine punitive damages. Piuze said

his client has been smoking from the time she was 17 years old.

Bullock, who could not come to court because of her deteriorating

health, testified on videotape, he said.