Jan/February 2006 Newsletter

New California Laws Listed below is a small selection of laws which were enacted during last year's legislative session and will be of interest to both the legal community and consumers. If the law did not take effect on January 1, 2006, the effective date will be listed. - AB 22 amends sections of the Civil Code to establish civil and criminal penalties for trafficking in human beings. - AB 68 amends and adds sections to the Civil Code, Revenue and Taxation Code and Vehicle Code to establish a Car Buyers Bill of Rights for the purchase of used cars. Dealers must offer an optional plan to allow them to cancel the sale within two days after the sale. (Effective July 1, 2006) AB 114 amends the Evidence Code to allow evidence of prior acts of child abuse in criminal cases involving physical child abuse, subject to an evidentiary hearing. - AB 1325 amends the Vehicle Code and increases the penalties for violation of the prohibition against speed contests where there is injury - AB 1474 amends the Vehicle Code and makes changes to the provisional licensing program that would impose additional operating restrictions on younger drivers. - SB 97 amends the Business and Professions Code and provides that a person who sends unsolicited commercial e-mail advertising shall be subject to misdemeanor criminal penalties if the message or "header" contains false or misleading information. - SB 644 amends the Business and Professions Code and prohibits a health care licentiate from obstructing a patient from obtaining prescribed drugs or devices, except under specified conditions

New Legal Clinic Debuts This Month The Law Library is pleased to announce a new partnership with the University of San Diego School of Law. Beginning on Tuesday, February 14, 2006, the Library will host a free walk-in legal clinic supervised and staffed by USD Law School faculty. Since 1971, the University of San Diego School of Law has provided a variety of legal clinics and other free legal services to the community. USD Legal Clinics provide training to upper-level law students who are supervised by a practicing attorney and are bound by the Rules of Professional Conduct established by the State Bar of California. The SDCPLL/USD Legal Clinics will be held at the Law Library's main location at 1105 Front Street, in downtown San Diego, from 1:30-3:30 p.m. on the following dates: Tuesday, February 14 Tuesday, February 21 Tuesday, February 28 Tuesday, March 7 Tuesday, March 21 Tuesday, March 28 Tuesday, April 4 Tuesday, April 11 Tuesday, April 18 Tuesday, April 25 Tuesday, May 2 The clinics will provide assistance on most civil matters, excluding family law. Those who meet previously established criteria may be referred for additional legal assistance. The clinic cannot provide assistance in criminal or bankruptcy cases. For additional information go to the Legal Clinics link on the Law Library website.

Public Access to Court Records Family Code § 2024.6 is dead. Passed as urgency legislation in 2004, the statute provided an easy procedure to seal any divorce record that contained the location or other identifying information about the assets and liabilities of the parties. Entire documents fell easily within the sweep of the sealing statute, even if only a small part of the document held protected information. On the plus side, the statute was designed to protect privacy, prevent identity theft, and forestall the kidnapping for ransom of rich children. On the minus side, it cut off public scrutiny of the workings of our courts and made it impossible to tell if the rich and famous (or the politically influential) are treated differently than everyone else. That momentous clash of personal privacy rights vying against First Amendment principles of open government came to a head recently in Burkle v. Burkle (Jan. 20, 2006, B181878) ___Cal.App.4th___ [2006 D.A.R. 808]. The court acknowledged that constitutionally guaranteed privacy rights supported the sealing statute, and the panel deferred to legislative findings on the risk of identity theft in the absence of sealing. Nevertheless, the court ruled that the statute was not narrowly tailored to serve the privacy interest it protected, nor was wholesale sealing the least restrictive means of protecting legitimate privacy concerns. The court invalidated the statute under the First Amendment, declining to interpret or reform its provisions to avoid the constitutional infirmity. Redaction of social security numbers from Family Court documents is still authorized under Family Code § 2024.5, and it is still possible to move for a sealing order under the constitutionally rigorous guidelines set out in Rule 243.1 of the California Rules of Court. Narrowly focused redaction is always preferable to wholesale sealing under that rule.

Online Resource of the Month Beginning with this issue, we will be highlighting one of our online resources available for patrons to use at any our four locations. While there is no charge for using these resources, there is a $.20 per page charge for printing. Some of our resources allow the user to e-mail the information. In addition, information may be saved to disk or an USB memory stick. This month we are highlighting Lexis. As one of the first online resources we offered to our patrons, Lexis coverage began with the ability to Shepardize, "Get a Document" and search for California materials. Since then, our access has been extended to include all states cases and codes. The database allows you to "Get a Document" by citation, docket number or case name. To make it easier to use, Lexis is set up to allow searching with "natural language." You don't need to use the Boolean operators, "and", "or" or "not." To "Shepardize," you must have the citation. However, you can "Get a Docket" and then click to Shepardize the case. Our coverage includes California select administration material, law reviews, legal newspapers and general news publications. In addition, Lexis is one of our databases which will allow you to e-mail yourself information. If you e-mail, be aware that the hyperlinks work only while in the Lexis database here in the Library. So make sure you print or save all the cases, articles, etc. before you leave. Remember, if you do not want to e-mail the results to yourself, you may also print or save the information. The Reference Staff would be happy to assist you in learning how to use Lexis. However, while they can give you general instruction on use of the system, they will not do the research for you. Stop by for a demonstration.

News From the North The Presiding Judge of the San Diego Superior Court Janis Sammartino has appointed Judge Marguerite "Marge" Wagner to the position of Supervising Judge of the North County court. Judge Wagner is the second woman to be appointed Supervising Judge of North County. She succeeds Judge Joan Weber, who was the first woman to hold that position. Judge Weber served a four-year term which ended December 2005. Judge Wagner is a familiar face in North County, having been one of the first women attorneys to practice in North County. Appointed to the Municipal Court in 1989 and to the Superior Court in 1994, Judge Wagner has served as Supervising Judge in Family Law Court and has recently presided over several high profile cases. There have been other changes to the North County bench as well. Judges Jeffrey Bostwick, Lorna Alksne and Yuri Hofmann have moved downtown. Judge John Einhorn has returned to the Vista court. Judge Carol Isackson from Juvenile court and Judge Earl Maas from downtown are also moving to the Vista court. Several judges have changed departments, so be sure to check the court's website for current information.

Link of the Month The Directory of Open Access Journals provides links to over 2,000 free online scholarly journals, 500 of which are searchable at the article level. Sponsored by the Lund University (Sweden) Libraries, the DOAJ is cross-disciplinary and includes 44 Law-related journals. Examples of law journals available through DOAJ include the Harvard Human Rights Journal, Rutgers Journal of Law and Religion and Stanford Technology Law Review. According to the DOAJ's "Questions and Answers" page, its journals comply with the Budapest Open Access Initiative principles whereby readers will not be charged for access and have the right to copy the articles. As with traditional scholarly or scientific journals, DOAJ notes the articles in its journals have been subject to peer-review or similar quality control standards. In addition to the legal journals, you might even have fun browsing journals in several of the other subject areas, such as science, arts and architecture, political science, history, education, and library and information science.

Reference Question of the Month Reference Question of the Month February 2006 Question: New Bankruptcy Form B22 A, Statement of Current Monthly Income and Means Test Calculation (Chapter 7) and Form B22C , Statement of Current Monthly Income and Calculation of Commitment Period and Disposable Income (Chapter 13) both make reference to terms such as Applicable median family income, IRS Standards for Allowable Living Expenses, IRS Housing and Utilities Standards, and IRS Transportation Standards, Ownership Costs. What do these terms mean and where can I find this information? Answer: The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Reform Act of 2005, the new bankruptcy law, became effective October 17, 2005. One way the new law effects filers is that they no longer have a choice of which type of bankruptcy to file. The bankruptcy type to file (Chapter 7 or Chapter 11) is determined by income and ability to repay creditors. The Means Test Calculation and IRS Standards are factors used by the IRS in determining which type of bankruptcy individuals can file. The term "means test" refers to the formula used to determine if the debtor's income is more or less than their state's median family income. The IRS Standards for housing and transportation are used for determining the amount of reasonable monthly living expenses debtors are allowed to claim. IRS Standards are based on data collected by the Census Bureau. This information can be found at www.usdoj.gov/ust under IMPORTANT NOTICES-MEANS TESTING INFORMATION: CENSUS BUREAU AND IRS DATA. This information can also be found in the Nolo Press publication, The New Bankruptcy, Will it Work for You? This title is available at all SDCPLL branches.

February is Black History Month To honor the celebration of African-Americans and their contributions to our country, we are providing some links to websites with either a local or legal emphasis. There is some extremely interesting information available through them. Enjoy it! Slaves and the Courts 1740-1860 San Diego BLAACK Pages ABA Black History Month Links

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