Jan 2004 E-newsletter- San Diego County Public Law Library

A New Year's Gift for You- FREE MCLE Credits! Welcome to the New Year! Just when you think all the gift giving is over, we have a gift for our current members- FREE PARTICIPATORY MCLE CREDITS! Thanks once again to the Superior Court, which is co-sponsoring these events, the Main location of the Law Library will offer free screenings of MCLE videos along with handout materials that are eligible for participatory credit! The North County Branch will also be having two screenings of videos for self-study credit. Videos will cover required topics like legal ethics, detection/prevention of substance abuse, and elimination of bias in the legal profession. Remember, MCLE requirements are due January 31st, so we will be having seminars throughout Janurary as well as a "Catch Up Day" on the 30th at the Main location. These seminars are open only to current members of the Law Library. A maximum of 20 participants per session will be allowed at Main and 10 participants per session at North County. Preregistration is required. Sign up by calling Main at (619) 531-3900 or North County at (760) 940-4386. Participants are welcome to bring a sack lunch to the sessions. While food and drink are not usually allowed in the library, special exceptions are made for these events. If you would rather listen to audio tapes for self-study MCLE credit, go here to see the titles the Law Library offers. California attorneys can fulfill up to half of their MCLE requirements with self-study credits. Only current members may check out these materials.

New Laws for 2004 Many new laws came into effect on January 1st. Some of the them have been in the news, but some of them haven't been discussed too much. One is AB 1301 which can send parents to jail for a year and fine them up to $1,000 if they allow teenage drinking in their homes but only if it then leads to a traffic accident (new section Section 25658.2 in the Business and Professions Code). The San Diego Municipal Code section 56.62 which was added in 2003 is actually stricter than this new law. This municipal code prohibits anyone from hosting a party at their home where three or more minors are present and alcohol is being consumed by any minor. However, this is only an infraction. El Cajon's Municipal Code section 9.30.030 is even tougher, prohibiting any adult from having a party where anyone under the age of twenty-one who possesses or consumes any alcoholic beverage. In the employment law realm, SB 796 has been dubbed the "sue-your-boss" bill. It allows employees to file civil actions for violations of the Labor Code, if the Labor and Workforce Development Agency does not do so. In addition, the aggrieved employee would be authorized to recover attorney's fees and costs and, in some cases, penalties. Additionally, for any violation of the code for which no civil penalty is otherwise established, the bill would establish a civil penalty. However, no penalty is established for any failure to act by the Labor and Workplace Development Agency. Another new law, AB 196, makes it illegal to discriminate against transgendered persons in housing or employment. The new law does allow employers to ask employees to conform to "reasonable workplace appearance, grooming, and dress standards consistent with state and federal law, provided that employees are allowed to appear or dress consistently with their gender identity." California is the fourth state in the nation to enact such a law, according to the sponsor of the bill, Assemblymember Mark Leno (D-San Francisco). AB 1525 gives residents of common interest developments, like condominiums, the right to post or display signs, flags, banners or other noncommercial signs on their own property unless the posting or display would violate a local, state, or federal law. However, the bill would permit a common interest development association to prohibit signs, posters, flags, or banners that exceed specified sizes.

New Civil Jury Instructions Now Available On-Line Finally!! The newly revised civil jury instructions are now available on-line in full text. The instructions are all together in a single document in .pdf format and the document is over 2200 pages long, so have some patience with the downloading time. Also available is a Civil Jury Instructions Resource Center which has an FAQ section, correlation tables for the new Judicial Council instructions and verdict forms to the BAJI instructions, and rules of court that pertain to the new instructions.

CCH Health/Human Resources Titles Now Available The Law Library has expanded its collection to include on-line access to Health and Human Resource legal materials published by Commerce Clearing House (CCH)! This subscription allows you to access health and human resources publications by CCH quickly and cost effectively. Click here to see a listing of titles. This product is available at all locations of the Law Library but you must be in the library to access it. You can download the information to a disk or print out your research at .20 cents a page.

Closed Jan. 20th for MLK Day In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, all locations of the Law Library will be closed on Jan. 19th. Normal hours will resume on Tuesday, Jan. 20th. Go here to see a listing of other 2004 holiday closure dates.

Legal Links- Jan. 2004 Some new legal links to start your year off right! RecallWarnings - Need to find out if the presents you gave (or received) have been recalled by the manufacturer? This is a great place to start! The most recent recalls are listed at the bottom of the opening page and you can browse by date, agency, or category. mylastemail.com- Most of us have some kind of estate planning in place for when we pass away, but how many of us have written down our passwords somewhere for our loved ones? Mylastemail.com allows you to send up to 5 e-mails to loved ones with all the info and sentiments that you meant to tell them about before the end, including passwords to your files. Cost is minimal- about $3 a year and messages can either be automatically generated and delivered or you can get a certificate from them to keep with your life insurance policy. Internet Law Wrap-Up for 2003- succinct guide to what happened in 2003 and what to expect in 2004 regarding spam, filtering, domain names, advertising, and illegal music downloading. Written by IP attorney and CNN tech law commentator and former news reporter Douglas M. Isenberg, this article covers all the bases. Also check out his web page Gigalaw.com which provides legal information for Internet and technology professionals, Internet entrepreneurs and the lawyers who serve them. Serial Killer or Computer Programmer? It can be hard to tell the difference, so a UK web designer and marketing exec decided to design a quiz so you can test your ability to discern which is which.

Jan 2004 Cartoon....New Year's Resolutions This cartoon is one of Stu's Views. 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.

The Helping Handbook for Fire Victims Morrison & Foerster, LLP has put together a 72 page booklet called the Helping Handbook for those affected by the 2003 Southern California wildfires. In addition to providing some basic legal information, the Helping Handbook also has links and phone numbers of organizations that provide a variety of services. Limited copies are available at each of our locations.

Legal Affairs Worth a Look If you haven't seen Legal Affairs, you are missing out. This bimonthly, nonpartisan magazine from the Yale Law School debuted in April 2002 and has won awards for its magazine feature writing. It has well-written articles about law, lawyers, how law affects society, and where the law is going. The January/February issue's cover story is an in-depth article about Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski that is absolutely fabulous! We are so impressed with it that the Main location of the Law Library now has a subscription, so come on over and see what the buzz is about! This article and a selection of others are available on the web. Be sure to read my favorite article this issue on the business and legal implications of mail-order marriages called Mrs. America.

New Books- Jan. 2004 Here is a list of some of our newest acquisitions. Please note that while some of these books are located only at Main, books that circulate can be sent to our branches upon a request from the branch. CALIFORNIA CRIMINAL DISCOVERY, 3rd ed., by L. Douglas Pipes and William E. Gagen Jr. LEXIS, 2003. Available at KFC1160.5 P57 2003 at all locations. CALIFORNIA DRUNK DRIVING LAW, 2nd ed., by Joshua M. Dale and Ed Kuwatch. James Publishing, 2003. Available at KFC477.Z9 K89 2003 at all locations. THE CRIMINAL LAWYER'S GUIDE TO IMMIGRATION LAW: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (includes supplement on the USA PATRIOT Act) by Robert James McWhirter. American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section, 2001. Available at KF4819.M391 2001 at all locations. GETTING PAID: HOW TO COLLECT FROM BANKRUPT DEBTORS by Stephen R. Elias. Nolo, 2003. Available KF1024.E45 2003 at Main, North County and East County. LANDIS ON MECHANICS OF PATENT CLAIM DRAFTING, 5th ed. by Robert C. Faber. Practising Law Institute, 2003. Available at KF3125.C5 L3 2003 at Main. PROBATE PROCEDURES MANUAL, 1st. ed. rev. by the California Court Association Publications Committee. California Court Association, 2002. Available at KFC205.A6 P76 2002 at Main, North County and East County.

Reference Question of the Month- Debt Collection We get some interesting questions at the reference desk and considering how much debt some of us got into over the holidays, this is a particularly pertinent question. Question: I recently received a collection letter from a company claiming that it was seeking payment on behalf of an un-named "1-900 company" for a pay-per-minute telephone call made from my house. I live alone and I have never called a 900 number, not even to talk to a psychic. They have added a $3.00 "service charge" to the bill, and say they will charge me an additional $9.00 a month until I pay. I'm tempted to just pay them to keep the bill from going up, even though I know I didn't make this call. Can they use this extortion to get me to pay a bill I don't owe? Answer: Wow- these people are violating a number of laws about debt collections! You need to know what you rights are and what you can do, so the California Department of Consumer Affairs has put together an excellent guide to dealing with debt collectors. It outlines the laws that debt collectors must follow as well as what laws apply to debtors. It also explains the two main laws that deal with debt collection practice, the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the California Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Don't do a thing until you read the guide and understand your rights!

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