April 2005 E-Newsletter- San Diego County Public Law Library

Law Day Events at the Law Library Every year around May 1st, the San Diego County Public Law Library participates in Law Day. This year's theme is The American Jury: "We the People" in Action. How much do you know about juries? Take our quiz and find out! Events At the Main Library, Superior Court Judge David M. Gill will be the featured speaker for a free lecture from noon to 1 p.m. on Friday, April 29th. Judge Gill has been on the bench of San Diego's Superior Court for over a quarter of a century. He has seen many juries and has interesting stories to share about how juries work and what happens when they don't. Come join us for an interesting topic by an excellent speaker! An hour of MCLE credit will be available along with refreshments and prizes. Our East County location will have a free legal clinic courtesy of the Foothills Bar Association on Monday, May 2nd from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Light refreshments will be available. Prizes and give-aways will be part of the festive scene. A Loislaw representative will also be on hand to give free demonstrations of this database. On Friday, April 29th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the North County and South Bay locations will have an open house with games, prizes, and light refreshments.

Bar Activities for Law Week Several attorney bars around the county are planning some activities to celebrate Law Day or Law Week. Here's a listing of their activities (available at press time). San Diego County Bar Association -for a full listing of SDCBA's Law Week activities, go to http://www.sdcba.org/cal/ and check out the May calendar. Saturday, April 30th - Free Law at Kobey's. From 7 a.m. - 3 p.m., attorneys will be available for free legal advice at Kobey's Swap Meet at the San Diego Sports Arena. Saturday, April 30th and Sunday, May 1st - Free information about entertainment law at the Guitar Center in La Mesa (8825 Murray Dr.) and also at Borders Books in downtown San Diego (668 6th Ave.). Monday, May 2nd - Elder Law seminars taking place at three locations in the county. Tuesday, May 3rd - Elder Law seminars taking place at three locations in the county. Wednesday, May 4th - SDCBA/KNSD Ask-A-Lawyer, 5 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. Call in for free legal advice! Wednesday, May 4th - Family Law Facilitator Program taking place at five court houses around the county. Wednesday, May 4th - Law Week Cocktail Reception, 5:00 pm, Airport Lounge (downtown in Little Italy). Thursday, May 5th - Elder Law seminars taking place at three locations in the county. Friday, May 6th - Law Week Luncheon starts at noon. North County Bar Association -for a full listing of BANSDC's activities, go to http://www.bansdc.org/. Photo, poster, and essay contests for grade school, junior and senior high school students. The theme is "The Right to a Trial by Jury." Cash prizes will be awarded to the winners. Direct questions to Mary Cervantes at (760) 758-5833. May 19th - dinner meeting featuring speaker Mark Mazarella on his work as a jury consultant. Also at this dinner, the prizes for the essay, poster, and photo contests will be awarded.

Living Wills- Where's Yours? With the Terry Schiavo case on everyone's mind, it seems like all we hear about lately is living wills. National Public Radio ran a story on living wills recently and Nolo Press has even published a book on it called "Medical Directives & Powers of Attorney for California." We have this book at all our locations and it includes valuable information along with printed forms and a form CD-ROM. The California Hospital Association offers a free online form in English and Spanish. Another option is to order a kit (form and wallet info card) from the California Medical Association. Their site has a useful FAQ section too. I ordered some of sets of their forms last year for my family and me. We all agreed the forms were easy to understand and use. The form is available in both English and Spanish for $5 each. If you have loved ones in another state, this list points them to advanced health care directive laws in other states.

Security in the Courthouse After the March slayings of a judge and court personnel in Georgia, many people who regularly visit the courthouses around San Diego county have been feeling a little nervous. Security in the San Diego courthouse was increased immediately after the courthouse shootings and at least one San Diego court is undergoing a security makeover. Courthouses have often been the scene of violence and many judges say that they are not surprised at this incident. What may surprise you is that if you are caught in the crossfire in a California courthouse, neither the state, the county nor the sheriff is responsible. "WHAT!" you might exclaim. "How can that be?" Here's how: In 2002, the California Supreme court ruled in Zelig v. County of Los Angeles, (2002) 27 Cal. 4th 1112 that if someone is shot while in a courthouse, the county, state and sheriff are not liable. "Although the government may assume responsibility for providing adequate police protection against third party violence, this does not create a legal duty that normally will give rise to civil liability. In California and in other jurisdictions, public entities are not liable for failing to protect individuals against crime," the court wrote. So, according to the Supreme Court of California, you need to stay alert at the courthouse and make sure you get out of the way if someone starts shooting. Hmm....hazardous combat pay anyone?

Changes to the Appellate Rules- Priority Mail OK'd New appellate rules took effect Jan. 1, 2005. One of the major changes is that appellate briefs can now be sent "priority mail" instead of "certified mail." Previously, Rule 40(k) only allowed briefs to be sent via "certified mail." Advances by the Postal Service "priority mail" similar in cost but with a much faster delivery time. Thus, new Rule 40.1(b)(3)(a) allows briefs to be sent "priority or express mail..." or overnight. This brings this appellate rule into line with the rule for superior courts governing service of papers found in Rule 317 of the California Rules of Court and in the Code of Civil Procedure section 1005.

Non-Smoking Beaches Wave of the Future? If you are a smoker and are planning on basking on a beach in Hawaii or parts of California, you might want to think about leaving your cigarettes at home. Recently, Hawaii has been considering a state-wide ban on smoking on all public beaches or public parks. Additionally, the proposed law says if you do manage to sneak a smoke, cigarette butts would have the be thrown away in designated trash bins. Violators could be fined up to $250. In California, several beaches have already banned smoking from their shores. Solana Beach started the trend and a bill proposing a state-wide ban on smoking on the beaches failed by only 2 votes last year and has been reintroduced this year (AB 17). Many tourist destinations in California only allow smoking in designated areas and some have gone completely smoke-free. Within the city of San Diego Municipal Code, section 43.1001 and following contains most of the smoking laws for the city. However, other sections of the Municipal code also deal with smoking. For example, section 59.0202(a)(14) bans smoking in city sports facilities except in open air concourses at Qualcom Stadium and in posted designated smoking areas of Petco Park. Section 63.0102(b)(11) says not to throw a lighted cigar or cigarette on the ground in public park, plaza, or beach areas within the City of San Diego. What about unlit cigarettes? I suppose that must fall within section 63.0102(b)(8) which covers littering. In any case, it appears likely that in the next few years, smokers will need to include a nicotine patch in their beach bag with their sunblock.

April 2005 Legal Links Tax Cartoons - from Slate.com. April 15th isn't far away and maybe these cartoons will help remove the sting of sending so much $$ to Uncle Sam. Or not. IRS Horror Stories- Do you think you have trouble with the IRS? These stories come from 1998 hearings before the Senate finance committee detailing various tactics and abuses by the IRS. Fast forward to March 2004 and the publication of a very interesting book called Confessions of a Tax Collector. I read this book cover-to-cover and was, in turn, fascinated and appalled. How true is it? A book review by a CPA says it's right on the money. Don't read this before bedtime! Overtime Laws in CA- from the CA Department of Labor Standards. This FAQ answers basic overtime law questions and has links to the relevant laws. New laws regarding overtime have spawned many new lawsuits, according to labor lawyers. Minimum Wage Laws by State- from the Department of Labor. While this isn't a fancy database, it is really handy when you need the minimum wage information from a particular state.

Reference Question- Trial by Declaration? Q: I got a speeding ticket while I was on vacation up in nothern California. I don't want to have to make another trip up there just to show up in court. The cop mentioned something called a trial by declaration. Can you tell me what that is? A: Sure. California Vehicle Code section 40902 says that a traffic court trial can be conducted without actually having to show up. This is known as a trial by declaration. The Judicial Council of California has some standardized instructions and forms to make it easier for you to do. You simply fill out the forms, called a declaration, and submit them. The court reads them and makes a decision. This type of trial is allowed for someone who is accused of a non-alcohol related infraction. So all moving violations (speeding tickets) that don't involve alcohol are eligible for this type of trial. Best of all, if the judge decides against you, you can request a regular trial (called a "trial de novo") and appear in court. So you actually have two chances to win. You can read more about this type of trial and look at the forms in the book "Fight Your Ticket in California" by Nolo Press. We have this book at all locations of the library. Good luck with your trial!

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, Reference Librarian/ Head of Media Relations, at ahale@sdcll.org.