August 2004 E-Newsletter - San Diego County Public Law Library

Propositions on 3 Strikes, Stem Cell, B&P 17000 Qualify for November Ballot Fourteen propositions will appear on November's general election ballot. The one that looks to be the most hotly contested is Proposition 66. It proposes to reform California's 3 Strikes law which is considered the toughest in the nation. Prop 66 proposes to revamp our Three Strikes law so that it conforms to those in place in other states. Predictibly, many law enforcement associations oppose Prop 66 while civil rights groups support support it. Another proposition which will probably generate a lot of publicity is Proposition 71- Stem Cell Research. There are already webpages up urging voters to vote yes or no on this proposition and you can bet the media blitz in October will be intense. The last proposition which I predict will spark a lot of controversy is Proposition 69 DNA Samples. This proposition is already facing opposition by civil libertarians and privacy rights groups and support from public safety groups, lawmakers, and victims rights organizations.

Support the Law Library- Get Tickets for Witkin Dinner The Law Library's annual fundraising event, the 2004 Bernard E. Witkin, Esq., Awards Dinner, will be held September 23, 2004, at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina East Tower, 1380 Harbor Island Drive, San Diego, CA 92101. The Cocktail Reception will begin at 5:00 p.m., and the Dinner and Awards Program will begin at 6:00 p.m. The Witkin Awards Dinner is the Law Library's primary fund raiser, and proceeds of the event are used to purchase books and materials for law practitioners for the San Diego County Public Law Library, in keeping with the life and writings of Bernard E. Witkin, Esq. Each year the San Diego County Law Library Justice Foundation uses this event to acknowledge and honor members of the San Diego legal community for civic leadership and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment or adjudication of the law while raising money for the San Diego County Public Law Library. This year's winners are Sister Sally Furay, Judge James R. Milliken, and Alan R. Perry, Esq. Past winner Judith Copeland will serve as Master of Ceremonies. This fund raising dinner is particularly important to the Law Library this year since budget cuts have forced us to slash $85,000 from our book purchasing budget. Ticket prices are $90.00 per person. Sponsored tables of eight may be purchased for $1,000. Corporate donors and table sponsors will receive ads in the program guide and are mentioned in our press releases. You can make your reservations online or contact the library at (619) 531-3904 or witkindinner@sdcpll.org for more information.

More Weird Lawsuits and Initiative 1059 We've all heard of ridiculous lawsuits which leaves one shaking ones head in wonder at the sheer chutzpah of the litigant. In fact, there is a group out there called " Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse" which chronicles some of the most ridiculous lawsuits and discusses the impact frivolous litigation has on the legal system. Another site, discusses cases where people sue each other over getting turned down for dates and children sue their parents because they were born ugly! Can such suits be stopped? Perhaps. Initiative 1059 on the November ballot, if passed, would require the losing party and their attorney to pay the costs of the prevailing party in a frivolous civil suit. Further, judges would be required to "give written explanation for dismissing or continuing case when party claims opponent's court filing is frivolous, and to notify State Bar if judge sanctions attorney or law firm for frivolous filing, with cost of notification paid by sanctioned attorney or firm. State Bar must recommend discipline if three sanction notices received against same attorney or law firm within five year period." However, this initiative would not be applicable to small claims actions. This might slow down the number and kinds of ridiculous suits, but I'm not holding my breath.

New Books - August 2004 Here is a list of some of our newest acquisitions. Please note that while some of these books are located only at our Main Library, books that circulate can be sent to our branches upon a request from the branch. Building Trial Notebooks by Leonard H. Bucklin, 2004. Available at Main Library KF8915.B83 B85 2004. California Civil Procedure Before Trial, 4th ed. Continuing Education of the Bar, 2004. Available at all locations at KFC995.C34 2004. California Workers' Compensation Practice, 4th Ed. Continuing Education of the Bar, 2004. Available at all locations at KFC592.S93 2004. Copyright Registration Practice, 2d ed., Thomson/West, 2004. Available at Main Library at KF3004 .H39 2004. Federal Postconviction Remedies and Relief Handbook for Practitioners: with Forms, 2004 ed., by Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Thomson/West, 2004. Available at Main Library at KF9690.z95 W572 2004. Forming California Common Interest Developments by Helene Z. Fransz, Continuing Education of the Bar, 2004. Available at all locations at KFC144.5.F73 2004. Hud Housing Programs: Tenants' Rights, 3rd ed., the National Housing Law Project, 2004. Available at Main Library at KF5729 .H83 2004. Internet Law and Practice in California by Clara Ruyan Martin, Continuing Education of the Bar, 2004. Available at all locations at KFC540.M37 2004. Manual of Federal Practice Forms, 2d ed., by Richard A. Givens. Available at Main Library at KF8840 .G58 2003. Matthew Bender Practice Guide. California Civil Discovery : Planning, Privileges, Tools by Paul R. Kiesel. Lexisnexis/Matthew Bender, 2003. Available at Main Library at KFC1020 .M38. Matthew Bender Practice Guide. California Pretrial Civil Procedure by Paul R. Kiesel, Lexisnexis/Matthew Bender, 2003. Available at all locations at KFC1020 .M384.

Library Closed Sept. 6th- Labor Day All locations of the San Diego County Public Law Library will be closed Monday, Sept. 6th in honor of Labor Day. The Main location of the Law Library will be open for its regular hours on Saturday, Sept. 4th.

US Courts Library Reopened! After a a thorough renovation of the heating, ventilation & air condition (HVAC) system in July, the library for the United States Courts, San Diego branch is now once again open. Remember, though, that only judges and those with valid federal bar cards are allowed to access this facility.

New- Cartoons in Color! This cartoon is one of Stu's Views, now in color! These are cartoons by a local lawyer, geared for lawyers. Stu is an entertainment lawyer here in San Diego who represents mostly visual arts creators. As he says in his bio on his home page, "Stu is the lawyer for cartoonists and the cartoonist for lawyers." See other cartoons by Stu at www.stus.com.

Mining for Secrets in your Word Documents A recent article in the July ABA Journal discussed how information called metadata can be mined from electronic documents to reveal more than the authors of the document may want you to see. Metadata has several definitions, but essentially it is information about how data is created electronically. Metadata from a Microsoft Word generated document includes, among other items, changes that have been made to a document, including deleted text, the names of the last 10 people to work on the document and who received copies of the document. There are several programs out there that strip metadata from documents, but the ABA article suggests that you can also strip metadata from your document by saving it in the Rich Text Format, or .rtf. Neither the ABA nor the California Bar Association have issued ethics opinions on peeking at metadata yet, and so far there aren't any malpractice cases involving leaking client information through metadata, but you can bet those are on the horizon.

August Legal Links- Public Record Databases Need to find personal information about someone? You will be amazed as to what is available online free. All the information is part of public records and available to anyone who wants to see it. Each of these links feature a mixture of free information as well as for-pay searches. The basic searches are free while the more indepth searches cost $$. Don't worry, though, as the for-pay portions have icons denoting if there is a charge. Try these links and see if you can find information on yourself. You might be surprised at what is out there! Public Record Database Access-Central Search Systems Merlin Information Services Public Records Online Directory

Reference Question of the Month- Finding Out Who's In Jail, Criminal Records Q: How do I find out if someone is in jail or prison? What if I am not sure if they are in state or federal prison? And can I do a criminal records search and find his criminal record? A: Your question has two parts so we will deal with them separately. First, the question about finding out whether someone is in jail or prison. While not all states put their inmate lists online, many do. One database, called Inmateplus.com allows you to search the inmate lists of 29 states. However, California is not one of those states that has its inmate locator online. Instead, you must call their inmate locator 24 hour hotline at (916) 445-6713. You must have either the inmate's CDC number, or the inmate's full name and date of birth to receive information. The Inmate Locator/ID Warrants will provide an inmate's location, mailing addresses and relevant phone numbers, but will not provide any future release date information. For new or transferring inmates, it can take up to seven business days to update location information. For county jails, you will need to contact each county and see if it has an online inmate locator. San Diego has an online locator along with instructions on how to contact a county inmate. If your friend is in federal prison, then you will need to use the federal prison locator which is located on the Federal Bureau of Prisons Federal Bureau of Prisons homepage. If your friend needs help with legal research, there are some law school clinics who serve prisoners. You can find that list, in .pdf form, here. The second question is whether you can do a national criminal records check and find someone's criminal record. The answer is no. There is no such thing as a national criminal records check that is available to the public. The only national database of such information is an FBI database called the NCIC (National Crime Information Center) and it is only accessible by those in law enforcement professions. There are some companies that perform criminal records checks as a part of a background check for a fee, such as Choicepoint and Accurate Background, but they don't cover all states and some don't check for misdemeanors, only felonies. However, you can find much of the information yourself by going to the county courthouse in each county where the person has lived and running your own search. Most of the courthouses have their records computerized so all you have to do it type in the person's last name. If they have been convicted of a crime, their name will appear along with a case number. Simply write down the case number and take it to the clerk at the counter and she/he will retrieve the case file for you to read since criminal records are available to the public.

We hope you've enjoyed our newsletter. We're hard at work on the next edition. In the meantime, please visit us online at: http://www.sdcpll.org/. And come see us in person at one of our locations. For locations and hours please click here: http://www.sdcpll.org/location.htm. For more information contact: Amy Hale-Janeke ahale@sdcll.org Media Coordinator / Reference Librarian (619) 531-3900