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May 2009 Newsletter |
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May Library CLOSURES
All branches of the Law Library will be CLOSED on the following days:- Friday, May 15th, for an all-day staff training.
Normal hours of operation will resume on Monday, May 18th.
- Monday, May 25th, in recognition of Memorial Day.
Normal hours of operation will resume on Tuesday, May 26th.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, Union veterans established "Decoration Day" as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of soldiers killed in the war with flowers.
It was not until after World War I that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress and set for the last Monday in May.
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Economic Recovery:
Federal, State & Local Information
by Tina J.
FEDERAL
On February 17th, 2009, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in an "effort to jumpstart our economy." In the short-term, the Act should create or save 3-4 million jobs and provide more than $150 billion to help households affected by the economic crisis. The Act is supposed to provide long-term help, as well, such as modernizing our healthcare and infrastructure, improving educational opportunites and promoting clean energy technology and provide tax relief.
The President pledged to keep the government's economic recovery efforts open to the public by committing to greater transparency and accountability about the funds. As a result, a new federal government website was launched, so the public can see just how their tax dollars are being spent.
Recovery.gov features tools and information about available funds, grant and awards contracts, and "projections for how, when and where the funds will be spent," including graphical data and timelines to track the funds.
To learn more and stay informed, sign up for email updates on the federal website.
CALIFORNIA
Approximately $85 billion of the federal government's economic stimulus funding has been allocated for California. To help manage the incoming funds, Governor Schwarzenegger created the California Federal Economic Stimulus Task Force. The Task Force will track the federal money given to our state and keep Californians informed about its allocation.
To assist the Task Force, the Governor established recovery.ca.gov. This site provides Californians with information about how much stimulus funding we're estimated to receive and where it will be spent.
You can sign up for email updates or subscribe to their RSS feed to stay up to date.
SAN DIEGO
Onvia established a free beta website, recovery.org, to "bring unprecedented transparency and accountability to recovery spending and ensure that every business regardless of size has equal access to the projects associated with the recovery efforts."
This site provides state-specific information about fund distribution, including information by county. It even breaks down the data into groups for businesses, taxpayers and the government, with data and graphs of information on national funding.
Click here to see what's happening in San Diego County.
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Featured New Resource &
New Materials Added to the Collection
by Isabel E.
Featured new resource
this month is:
California Franchise Law and Practice
This CEB book is the only book specific to California franchise law and practice. Franchising is big business in California. With the 1970 enactment of the California Franchise Investment Law in the Corporations Code, sections 3100-3516, California became the first state to regulate the sale of business franchises.
This book is useful to attorneys representing franchisors who wish to offer or sell franchises in California, attorneys representing franchisees who wish to purchase California franchises, and to attorneys involved in franchise-related litigation.
New Materials Added to the Collection
The Law Library regularly adds new materials to its collection. To see new books added to the collection in the last month, CLICK HERE.
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Upcoming Classes for May & June
Pre-registration is required for all classes, as seating is limited. Please sign up by calling the appropriate branch location.
Participants may bring lunch.
For a complete description of the classes and the most up-to-date information, visit SDCPLL's Calendar of Events.
The following classes are free to Law Library members and $5 for non-members.
MAY
South Bay Branch (619) 691-4929
Main Branch (619) 531-3900
JUNE
North County Branch (760) 940-4386
South Bay Branch (619) 691-4929
Main Branch (619) 531-3900*MCLE Participatory Credit hour(s) available for these classes.
The San Diego County Public Law Library is a
State Bar approved MCLE provider.
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Find Out What is Happening
with Your Superior Court Case
by Isabel E.
All San Diego Superior Court Probate and Civil cases, including Small Claims, initiated on or after January 1, 2008, include a Register of Actions. The Register of Actions is comprised of filing and scheduling information for a specific case. An example of a "filing" would be the filing of a complaint, petition or motion. An example of "scheduling" information would be the hearing date, time, and department.
The court clerk enters all court proceedings onto the Register of Actions, which is then available for viewing online.
To find a Register of Actions for your case online, go to the Superior Court of California, County of San Diego website and click on the "Case Search" icon. Type in the Party Name or Case information and click on the case number hyperlink. This will direct you to the "View Case Detail" screen. If the case has a Register of Actions available, there will be a hyperlink at the top of the page. Click on this link to view the Register of Actions for that particular case.
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Enforcing Foreign-Country
Money Judgments in California
by Isabel E.
What law can you use to enforce a foreign-country money judgment in California?
The Full Faith and Credit clause in the U.S. Constitution requires that one U.S. State honor the judgment of another U.S. State. Neither the U.S. Constitution nor the federal statutes require that a foreign-country judgment be honored. Only State law covers enforcement of a foreign country judgment.
California adopted the Uniform Foreign Money Judgment Recognition Act in 1967, which was later overhauled into the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgment Recognition Act (UFCMJRA). The UFCMJRA applies to any actions that are filed on or after January 1, 2008, in California, which is codified in the California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 1713 et seq.
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Winners Announced: Attorney Survey Drawing
by Benita G.
From April 13-24, 2009, the San Diego County Public Law Library conducted an online attorney survey to determine the Law Library's relevancy to San Diego attorneys and to determine if our services and products meet the legal community's needs.
Over 200 attorneys participated in the survey and each attorney who provided their contact information was automatically entered into our drawing to win $50 gift cards.
A random drawing was held on May 6 and the lucky winners are:
Cory C. Caouette, Senior Immigration Counsel at BSIS, won the $50 Spa Tiki gift card.
James Grady, Partner at Gordon & Rees, LLP, won the $50 San Diego Restaurant gift card.
William Vincent DePaul Whelan, Partner in the Labor and Employment and Appellate Practice Groups at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, LLP, won the Billable Hour Company $50 gift card.
Thank you to all who participated in the survey and congratulations to the winners.
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From the Director
Renovations of Downtown Branch
Negotiations continue with the County this month regarding the renovation of our downtown Law Library. We are hoping to negotiate a "Memorandum of Understanding" that will pave the way for important construction plans and decisions that will impact the Library's future. Current economic conditions favor moving quickly on beginning construction to take advantage of lower costs. Even though we chose to renovate our current facility, rather than constructing a new building, there are many issues to be considered in the planning phase.
SDCBA Survey Results
We have completed our survey of the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) members regarding the Library's resources and services and how we are meeting this group's information needs. The Library received 235 responses and the results were tabulated and shared with the Library's Board at last weekend's Joint Board Retreat. Winners of a $50.00 gift card were drawn from survey participants and the names of the winners are announced in this issue.
I would like to thank our new County Bar Association Liaison, Tom Buchenau, and the SDCBA for their efforts and support in distributing this survey to the legal community. I would also like to thank our contacts at the specialty Bars for their efforts in getting our survey out to their members. These Library supporters include: Judge Kelety for the Probate Bar, Jeff Cawdrey at Gordon Rees and Kay Catherwood at Duane Morris for the Bankruptcy Bar, Bill Kammer at Solomon Ward and Jay Jeffcoat at DLR Piper for the law firms, and Don Sullivan at Qualcomm for In-house Counsel. This cooperative effort enabled us to reach an audience that we have never had access to before - those attorneys who are neither members nor users of our Library, either by choice or because of a lack of information about our services and resources.
Our survey showed that a significant number of SDCBA members are unaware of the fine services that we offer the public for free or low cost. To address our need to better promote our services and communicate our value to the legal community, our library has formed a marketing committee. This committee will examine a number of issues, offer recommendations, and consider the possibility of hiring a professional marketing consultant. Our library will also be reviewing the possibility of overhauling our membership borrowing rules, looking at new services to accommodate the needs of our patrons, and developing new opportunities where our library and the local bar associations can work together.
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Cartoon by Stu Rees
Stu's Views are "Cartoons About Law and Lawyers." Stu Rees is a local entertainment lawyer who represents mostly visual arts creators.
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We hope you've enjoyed our newsletter! If you are a guest and would like to subscribe, please CLICK HERE.
We're hard at work on the next edition. In the meantime, please visit us online at www.sdcpll.org or stop by one of our four locations.
For more information or to send comments about this newsletter, contact Tina Jagerson, Media Coordinator and South Bay Branch Manager.
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