The number of court-approved securities class action settlements declined in 2010, sinking to the lowest number in more than 10 years, Cornerstone Research Inc. said in an annual report released Thursday.

There were 86 court-approved settlements during 2010, a 15% decline from 2009. Since 2001, the number of cases settled peaked at 119 during 2005, according to “Securities Class Action Settlements 2010 Review and Analysis.”

Cornerstone also found that the dollar value of all 2010 settlements dropped to $3.1 billion, down 17% from 2009.

The decline likely won’t continue, however, and a difficult economy may have helped reduce the number of approved settlements in 2010, Cornerstone said.

Gov. Jerry Brown said Monday he will ask a deeply divided California electorate to decide what they want from state government and how much they are willing to pay for it, bringing the state's fiscal crisis home to every Californian.

In unveiling the first spending plan of his administration, the Democratic governor called for personal sacrifices from every citizen while deep cuts are made to programs that many hold dear, such as universities, community colleges and medical care for the poor.

He also intends to ask residents to extend for five years a series of temporary sales, income and vehicle license taxes or risk a "drastic breakdown" in state government.

"Here's the problem: We're very divided ... My job is to find some common core here that we can agree on," Brown said. "I'm just going to lay out the facts. Whatever they decide, obviously will be the will."

His budget projects the deficit at $25.4 billion over the next 18 months.

To close it, Brown called for $12.5 billion in spending cuts, including reductions in welfare, social services and higher education, as well as $12 billion in funding shifts and new revenue if voters agree to extend taxes.

A federal appeals court in Chicago has denied imprisoned former Illinois Gov. George Ryan's request to be freed on bail so he can spend more time with his terminally ill wife.

The court on Monday rejected the emergency motion filed by Ryan's attorneys last week after Lura Lynn Ryan was taken to intensive care suffering complications from chemotherapy.

Prison authorities did escort the 76-year-old to see his wife for two hours the same day she was admitted to the hospital. Prosecutors cited that clandestine visit as one reason judges shouldn't grant Ryan's release.

Former Gov. James Thompson, a Ryan attorney, says the defense now will ask Democratic President Barack Obama to commute Ryan's sentence from 6 1/2 years to the three years the Republican's already served for his 2006 corruption conviction.

An appeals court panel has reversed the murder conviction of a mother accused of driving her teenage son and his friends to a Southern California park where a 13-year-old rival gang member was stabbed to death.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal panel ruled 2-1 on Monday that jurors in the case of 33-year-old Eva Daley were given an "impermissibly ambiguous" jury instruction during the 2008 trial.

Associate Justice Laurie D. Zelon wrote that case records don't show the jury based its verdict on a legally valid theory, so the conviction should be reversed.

Daley had been convicted of second-degree murder for the 2007 death of Jose Cano.

Prosecutors argued that Daley wanted revenge because Cano allegedly stabbed her son six months earlier.

As the Senate prepares to vote on whether Elena Kagan should fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, there remain a substantial number of other vacancies in the nation’s lower federal courts that urgently need filling.

Currently, there are about 100 vacancies in the lower federal courts. The American Bar Association says the lack of judges is affecting the efficiency and fairness of the justice system.

ABA President Carolyn B. Lamm said, “Our courts are already terribly strained at the federal level because of the caseload and the workload, and when you’re a hundred justices down…that’s a big gap.  We have speedy trial rules that require them to put criminal cases first.  As a result, all of the civil proceedings are put off and there is a real gap in terms of a significant delay as a result of the vacancies. It is edging toward a crisis not to have a full bench.”

Even if all the vacancies were filled, said Lamm, a significant number of new judgeships would still be necessary to handle caseload growth.  In fact, the Judicial Conference of the United States is recommending 67 new permanent and temporary judgeships. 

Beyond the existing 100 vacancies, more than 20 additional judges have announced that they will retire in the next several months. Since the start of the 111th Congress, President Obama has made 78 nominations to fill the empty seats, and the Senate has confirmed 36 of the nominees.  

Lamm noted that most nominees have moved through the Senate with little dissent and little delay.

When they finally are scheduled for a vote by the Senate, Lamm commented, “None of them have in fact engendered huge debate on the floor of the Senate….  No one has seen a pattern of inappropriate people being nominated; it is simply very slow and it really needs a full bipartisan effort to move these nominations. And quite frankly, it is becoming urgent,” said Lamm.