August 2005 E-newsletter

Welcome to the Law Library's New Director! After a long search, the San Diego County Public Law Library's Board of Trustees has hired a new Director of Libraries. Mr. Robert E. Riger will officially come aboard on August 29th. He has more than twenty years library experience in academic, law firm, and county law libraries. Most recently he was the Director of the Miami-Dade County Law Library in Florida and the past president of the South Florida Chapter of the American Association of Law Libraries. Mr. Riger received his M.S. in Library and Information Science from the Pratt Institute in New York in 1980, and was elected to Beta Phi Mu, the International Library Science Honor Society. He also has a B.A. in History from Pace University in New York City.

2005 Witkin Award Winners Announced! Each year, the Law Library Justice Foundation presents the Bernard E. Witkin, Esq. Award to honor members of the San Diego legal community for civic leadership and excellence in the teaching, practice, enactment, or adjudication of the law. This year, we are honoring four individuals: Justice Judith McConnell- Administrative Presiding Justice, California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District. Michael H. Dessent, Professor of Law, Dean Emeritus, California Western School of Law. Jay W. Jeffcoat, Partner, Piper Rudnick Gray Cary. Charles R. Dyer, retired Director of Libraries, San Diego County Public Law Library. We will have a short biography of one of our honorees published in our e-newsletter each month leading up to the Awards Dinner on November 16 2005 at the Prado Restaurant. This month, we feature Justice Judith McConnell. Presiding Justice Judith McConnell and took office upon her confirmation October 3, 2001. On September 29, 2003, she was appointed by the Chief Justice as Administrative Presiding Justice of the Fourth Appellate District. She served for 23 years as a trial judge in San Diego (21 years on the Superior Court and 2 years on the Municipal Court). Her colleagues on the Superior Court twice elected her Presiding Judge. She also served as Presiding Judge of the Juvenile Court and Supervising Judge of the family, appellate, and civil law and motion departments during her tenure on the Superior Court. During Justice McConnell's judicial career, she has worked to improve the court system through better case management and to make the courts more accessible to the public. In addition, Justice McConnell served two terms on the California Judicial Council, the rule making body for the state courts, and chaired the council's Superior Court and Planning committees. She was a member of the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Jury System Improvement, the Commission on the Future of the Courts, and the Advisory Committee on Gender Bias in the Courts. She also served on the governing board for the California Center for Judicial Education and Research. She currently chairs the Judicial Council's Task Force on Judicial Ethics Issues. In 2001, Justice McConnell was named Jurist of the Year by the California Judicial Council. In 1999, she was the first recipient of the Benjamin Aranda Access to Justice Award presented jointly by the California Judicial Council, the California Judges Association and the State Bar of California. Justice McConnell received a J.D. degree in 1969 from the University of California, Boalt Hall School of Law, and a B.A. degree in 1966 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was awarded Phi Beta Kappa. Justice McConnell began her legal career in San Diego in 1969 with the State of California, Department of Transportation. She served as a trial attorney in the Department's Legal Division until 1976, when she entered private practice. Look for the biography of the another Witkin Award winner next month!

Propositions Qualified for the Nov. 8 Special Election Although eight propositions originally qualified for the November 8th Special Election, two have been removed by court order. A short summary of each is available here. Here is a listing of the propositions along with links to arguments for and against them: Proposition 73- Termination of Minor's Pregnancy, Waiting Period and Parental Notification. Arugments for and against. Proposition 74- Public School Teachers, Waiting Period for Permanent Status, Dismissal. Arguments for and against. Proposition 75- Public Employee Union Dues, Required Employee Consent for Political Contributions. Arguments for and against. Proposition 76- School Funding. State Spending. Arguments for and against. Proposition 77- Removed by court order, but could reappear on the ballot. Proposition 78- Prescription Drugs. Discounts. Arguments for and against. Proposition 79- Prescription Drug Discounts. State-Negotiated Rebates. Arguments for and against. Proposition 80- The Repeal of Electricity Deregulation and Blackout Prevention Act. Removed by court order, then put back on the ballot by the California Supreme Court. Here is a summary of the proposition.

Stu's Views Cartoon is Back!! After a short break, Stu's Views cartoons are back! These are cartoons by a local lawyer, and geared for lawyers. Stu is an entertainment lawyer here in San Diego who represents mostly visual arts creators. This month his cartoon "honors" former WorldCom CEO Ebbers and his 25 year sentence for fraud.

Ay Carumba! Spanish Legal Titles are Here! It is difficult to find legal information in Spanish, so you can imagine how excited we are to have the following books in our collection from Sphinx Publishing: Inmigracion a los EE. UU., paso a paso (United States immigration, step-by-step). Manual de beneficios del seguro social (Social Security benefits handbook) Como hacer su propio testamento (How to make your own will) Guia de inmigracion a los Estados Unidos (U.S.A. immigration guide).

"Feed the Need to Read" Book Drive >From July 27- September 7th, we will be participating in the San Diego County Bar Association Community Service Committee's 2nd Annual "Feed the Need to Read" book drive. We are looking for new and gently used books suitable for elementary and high school ages. The books will be benefit students at the following schools: City Tree Christian School, Washington Elementary, Cortez Hill Academy, S.D. Cooperative Charter School, and Our Lady's School. Other locations for the book drive are: San Diego County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Hwy, Room 402, Symphony Towers, 750 B Street at the Security Desk, and the San Diego County Bar Association Building, 1333 7th Ave. at the Information Desk. If you are unable to visit a drop zone, please visit the Wish List on Amazon.com and purchase a book. The books will automatically be delivered directly to the Bar Association Building.

New Judicial Council Forms Effective July 1, 2005, several new Judicial Council forms have been added and many more have been revised. The complete list is available here. Additionally, the local San Diego proof of service forms (CIV 9 & 9A) have been revoked and been replaced by the Judicial Council Forms. The court will no longer accept the local forms. For service of summons, use POS-010. For proof of personal service, use POS-020. For proof of service by mail, use POS-030. For proof of service for documents OTHER than summons and complaint, use POS-040.

E-Discovery MCLE Program in September Many of today's documents are created on computers and e-mail is now an integral part of doing business. During litigation, do you know what kind of digital documents you can demand? And how would you know if they have been altered? Come to this one hour MCLE program Sept. 20th from noon to 1 p.m. at the Main Law Library and hear computer expert Edward Pscheidt tell you how to get and use digital discovery. This program will also be offered at the North County branch on Sept. 22nd from noon to 1 p.m. Pscheidt is a computer forensics authority who provides litigation support through electronic evidence discovery and expert testimony in complex or hostile commercial litigation environments. This MCLE program is free for attorney members of the Law Library and $25 for attorney non-members. Space is limited. Call (760) 940-4386 to sign up for the North County session. Call (619) 531-3900 to register for the session at the Main Law Library.

August 2005 Legal Links How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With Email- a tongue-in-cheek list of ways to use email to annoy others. Are you guilty of any of these? Don't Count Out Law Librarians- from law.com, this article showcases the ways a law librarian can add to a firm's bottom line! Running With Lawyers- this blog discusses "the good, the bad, and the ugly of a life in the law. Mostly the ugly." The posts are funny, especially the rant about the over-used phrase "As I am sure you are aware...". Read with caution as the language is sometimes, ahem, strong.

"Used Car Bill of Rights" To Go into Effect July 1, 2006 California's Governor recently signed a new law ( AB 68) aimed at providing additional protections for consumers who purchase used vehicles. The law, which doesn't go into effect until July 1, 2006, is called "The Car Buyer's Bill of Rights" and applies only to used vehicle with a purchase price of less than $40,000. Motorcycles and off-highway motor vehicles are excluded from this bill. This new law has several features: Requires car dealers to offer a two-day cancellation option for used cars selling for less than $40,000. The maximum a dealer can charge for the option is $250. Defines specified standards under which a "certified" or similar term for used or pre-owned motor vehicles can be sold. Requires car dealers to tell consumers the lowest finance rate they qualify for. If the seller of a vehicle arranges a loan for the buyer, the seller must disclose the buyer's credit score as reported by an identified credit reporting agency. Requires that dealers cap their finance rate markups at 2.5 percent for loans up to 60 months and 2 percent for loans over 60 months. Requires that dealers must notify buyers of the cash price and the financing cost of any extra items, such as fabric protection or extended service contracts. Gets rid of hidden charges in auto loans by prohibiting a dealer from adding charges to the contract after negotiating the terms of a vehicle sale or lease. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor.

Get Your Hotel Tax Refund First-- the good news. After only 15 short years, a question regarding the correct amount of hotel tax in unincorporated areas of San Diego County has been settled, and refunds are now available. Guests should have been charged 8% tax on their hotel rooms, not the 9% decided on by the 1990 County Board of Supervisors. An increase in hotel tax requires voter approval and there was no voter approval in this case. The bad news is that due to the statute of limitations, only guests who rented rooms since July 31, 2002, are eligible for a refund. Unfortunately, the amount of refund per night is very low-- only a $1 per night for a $100 hotel room. And you must have a receipt in order to claim a refund. If you meet all these requirements and want to take the time to claim your refund, check out the San Diego Tax Collector's web site for the form to download and fill out.

Reference Question of the Month: Eviction from a Boat- How Long Do I Get? Q. I live on a boat in the San Diego Bay. The marina is evicting me from my slip and they only gave me 30 days notice. I thought I remember somewhere that if you live on a boat, you get a 60 day notice. Can you help me figure this out? A. Maybe. Landlord/tenant laws on the water are rather murky. While there are several laws regarding floating homes, a boat is not necessarily a floating home. Floating home residents are governed by laws very similar to the laws that govern mobilehome park tenants and there are some special protections in place due to the expense and difficulty of moving a floating home, which is different than a boat. How do you know the difference between a floating home and a boat? Health and Safety Code section 18075.55 lists four characteristics that must be present in order to have a floating home: (1) It is designed and built to be used, or is modified to be used, as a stationary waterborne residential dwelling. (2) It has no mode of power of its own. (3) It is dependent for utilities upon a continuous utility linkage to a source originating on shore, and (4) It has a permanent continuous hookup to a shoreside sewage system. Floating Home Residency Law (FHRL) begins in Civil Code section 800. If you own the floating home, then you are supposed to be given 60 days notice in an eviction and a reason for termination of the tenancy (section 800.72). But if you are just renting or leasing the home, then you are not entitled to any special protections or notice times and regular rental laws apply. Once you have figured out that you are living on a boat, not a floating home, the next question is what type of time limits apply when you receive an eviction notice from the marina? In a 9th Circuit opinion, Hawaii Boating Assoc. v. Water Trans. Facilities, 651 F.2d 661, 665 footnote 5 (9th Cir. 1981), the court says as long as the marina gives notice to vacate an assigned space within the time specified in the contract between the marina and the boat owner, then the marina cannot be held liable. The court said: "A certain percentage of those with mooring privileges use their boats as their principal place of habitation. This does not, however, alter the 'recreational' character of the boat harbors. The liveaboard use is incidental to the 'recreational' aspect. It is clear that the harbors are not operated to provide cheap alternative housing..." On the other hand, a California case, Smith v. Municipal Court(1988) 202 Cal.App.3d 685, 690-691, says, "[T]he occupancy of a rental boat slip in navigable waters amounts to an occupancy of real property for purposes of unlawful detainer." Assuming the boat slip renter is a tenant under Smith, you might still be eligible for 60 days notice under Civil Code 1946.1(b) if you have rented the slip for a year or more. It's still an open question whether the San Diego " Tenants Right to Know Regulations" (San Diego Municipal Code § 98.0701 et seq.) apply to long-term live-aboard boat owners at a rented slip. The complication is that most marinas in San Diego Bay are under the jurisdiction of the Unified Port District. The Port District owns a lot of land that has hotels, the airport, and possibly some rental housing on it. If any of that property catches fire, we assume the City of San Diego would respond with its own fire trucks. So, maybe there is some overlapping jurisdiction. Cases are coming up, but they aren't likely to result in a published decision any time soon, because they are processed at the low end of the court hierarchy. Back in 1978, Los Angeles County enacted a liveaboard ordinance to protect boaters from arbitrary eviction, but the ordinance was declared unconstitutional at the trial level as an impairment of contract. The case went up on appeal -- but only on other issues. (See Interstate Marina Development Co. v. County of Los Angeles (1984) 155 Cal.App.3d 435, 442 & fns. 4-5.) So, there is no clear sailing in figuring out which laws apply to you. The answer here may be to take a close look at the contract you signed with the marina and then contact a lawyer who is a specialist in admiralty law (law of the sea). Good luck! (thanks to Michael Kaye, reference librarian, for research on this topic.)

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