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Like any career, being a law Librarian means that we are often called upon to do things that we really don't like doing. One of those things is having to listen to people who don't have a lawsuit, knowing that they don't have a lawsuit, and not being able to say to them, "YOU REALLY DON'T HAVE LAWSUIT!" This brings us to the guy who got mad because someone tried to kick him out of his local social club. Guy got miffed because a fellow member tried to kick guy out of the club over an event that occurred outside of a club meeting. OK, never a good thing to bag on someone, but what is done is done, right?   Well, maybe not so much done since guy went and filed a defamation action against the other guy. Years drag on and on and finally the case is ready to go to trial.  Guy insists that that he has a case and chews on my ear for hours and hours until I've had my fill and say, "ENOUGH! Hurt feelings do not (or should not) a lawsuit make.  Just be...

Did you know that any case that you find at your local county law library has been appealed?  Yep.  If the case was not appealed, your local county law library would not have any more access to it than you do (via a simple superior court records search).   In fact, the only place you could find a record of a non-appealed case is in the courthouse where the matter was heard OR, if the case is particularly sexy, it might wind up as a notation in O'Brien's Evaluator .  What is O'Brien's Evaluator?  It's a crystal ball of sorts that helps litigators determine if they have a case that will result in a win (and cash). Today's entry is one such case.  In the 2015 edition of O'Brien's, I found reference to  Triplett v. The Beverly Hills Hotel .  Crystal Triplett was a one time Communications Manager of The Beverly Hills Hotel ("Hotel"). Seems at one point, Ms. Triplett worked in Chicago and was offered employment in Los Angeles (to which she mo...

WARNING:   This blog post runs a bit deep and leans towards the dark side of how law stuff works.  So, if you're looking for light and fluffy, check out some of my other blog posts . Anyway, you know what I'm grateful for?  Well, among other things, I'm grateful for the fact that while I've been in the legal business for little over two decades (that's 20 years for you millennials), I've not had to actually litigate anything. Knock on wood but no one has sued me and I haven't had to sue anyone.   That's actually pretty impressive given that I live in the litigation capital of the world (i.e. California). Despite my good luck (so far), I have pity on people who come into my law library with problems.  Take, for example the guy that come in the other day.  He was embroiled in a family law matter and only recently his soon-to-be ex's lawyer filed a complaint for Joinder . Typically, when people seek Joinder in legal matters, it means that ...

Do you find satisfaction at work?   Do you like what you do? Have you ever thought, while sitting in your cubicle that you had found the perfect job? As a law Librarian, those thoughts have crossed my mind.  I mean, dig my gig, I do.  I really get into helping people find answers to funky legal questions.  Problem is that sometimes the answer to the question is not what is wanted.  When that happens, hell hath no fury. Take, for instance the lady who came in the other day.  Seems lady had sued for a sum of money in small claims court a while back - and she won! Drunk with success, lady waited a few years and decided to roll the dice again and file the same lawsuit against the same parties in a higher court (so she could get more money).  Imagine lady's chagrin when the defendant's serve her with a motion for demurrer  declaring that she can't sue them again for the same thing. She is floored and wants to know how to get a...

The other day I got notice that I HAD to report for jury duty.  Funny thing, that word "duty."  The court makes it sound like it's voluntary.  However, if you don't show up, you get tossed in jail - so how voluntary is that?!   I suspect it goes back to the days of indentured servitude where you were not a slave, persay, but you were still beholding to someone for paying your way over the Atlantic (so, you were less than a slave and were often treated worse). Thing is, I really don't like having to do something.  For example, the wife says, "Take out the garbage" or "Empty the dishwasher."   Yeah, I'll get to it eventually but what she's really saying is, "Take out the garbage.... NOW! "  Not when you want to do it, but NOW (as in right the @&#%!# NOW!!! ). It's more of a demand than a request and if I do it when I want to there will be hell to pay (eventually). This was all brought to my mind when a Guy...

As the old saying goes, " If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything. " A few days back, I picked up the LA Times to read an article: " Friend says he and Manafort were criminals " wherein Richard Gates testified that he and Paul Manafort (former Trump Campaign Manager) had engaged in criminal activities.  Note: The testimony was that Gates and Manafort conducted criminal activities - not Trump (which goes back to the Judge's comment a while back that this case against Manafort was a witch hunt and not a drive to arrive at justice. I hadn't gotten past the 4th paragraph when the word "TORTURE" popped in my head.  I mean, why would anyone admit to having committed criminal activity in a Federal case unless they were being coerced into confessing?  Or course, this brings us to the concept of "torture."  See, at least twice weekly, I have someone come into my library who has committed some kind of felony (t...

Do you remember the movie Hall Pass ?  Basically, a straight to DVD mid-life crisis flick about two guys who are given a "hall pass" by their wives to do whatever they want for a week.  That's right, whatever they want .  What do you think is going to happen?!  What do you think the wives thought was going to happen?!? I suspect the wives figured their husbands would shake out their mid-life blues and get on with life (or realize that the marriage is over and to get on with their lives).  Either way, there are going to be problems with the granting of a "hall pass" in that one "someone" is going to have hurt feelings. Before we get too far into our story of the month, let's define the word of the month: CONNIVANCE .  According to Black's Law Dictionary, CONNIVANCE   is: the act of indulging or ignoring another's wrongdoing, esp. when action should be taken to prevent it.  Family Law .  A defense to divorce, one spouse's corru...

Have you ever run into someone who was looking for a lawsuit?  I'm betting you have but just didn't know it. Here's a tip: they are critical of everything and hang on your every word. Heck, they might even write down everything you say (and hold it against you later). Such was the scenario I had the other day. Lady comes in hotter than Arizona asphalt in August. Seems Lady's neighbor has a wiener dog that barks "all the time; day and night."   At wits end, Lady is mad as Hades, isn't going to take it anymore, and is looking to exact some righteous retribution against neighbor.   Right off the bat, I start thinking out loud and she starts writing down what I'm saying and demands I slow down. "Repeat what you just said," she screeched .   While most things that come out of my mouth is pure scripture, I'm not about to repeat anything that can be used against me and so I said I can't remember (which is kinda true; I mean, who...

I don't know when it started but do you remember when they started putting pictures of missing children on milk cartons?   Of course, most people (and politicians) ignore those things until it's their kid on the carton and then they're all frantic -  running around the neighborhood posting pictures of their kids on everything. I remember one lady at the shopping mall frantically looking for her little girl who had gone missing.  The kid was found in a toy store, but the image of that mother's frantic face was seared on my brain. This, of course, leads us to today's news about an illegal (ooopsy, "undocumented") alien who walked into a Walmart in Louisiana wielding a machete seeking to kidnap children.  You heard right - kidnap children. Seems Billy Yoe Buidier-Herrera walked up to a woman with two children and informed her that if she did not cooperate (i.e. let him kidnap her children), that he would kill her.  A struggle subsequently ensued ...

Remember the OJ Simpson trial?  I do.  I was in law school at the time and it was such a big deal that the law library set up a television for students to watch the proceedings. I remember watching the 15 m.p.h. police chase down the 405 freeway as OJ led the police on the SLOWEST get-away chases in the history of get-away chases.   I remember the subsequent circus/criminal trial in which the prosecution regularly got handed their heads for screwing up simple procedural matters (like not Shepardizing key cases).   I remember the infamous "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"  quote (that really was the stupidest line in the whole case).   I remember the day the verdict was handed down and OJ hugged his attorneys.  The persons OJ should have hugged was the prosecution.  They couldn't have bungled the case any worse than they did. Heck, I also remember thinking whether the prosecution had been bought off having just thrown...

Do you know how much it costs to have a case be appealed in a federal court of appeal?   In accordance with 28 U.S.C. § 1913, that cost is $500.  Not a lot but when you don't have it, it's a whole lot of what you don't have. Now, with all that it costs to take a case to appeal, imagine, if you will, you are sitting in your house, door closed, and the police knock on your front door.  Little, piggie, little piggie, let me come in they shout.   You say, "No dice, go away."  Your roommate, who is outside the house, tells the police that they can go in.   You, again, insist that no, the police can't come in.  Police ignore you, they break a window to reach the inside lock, open the door, taser you to the floor and start to search for contraband inside your house. Sound like fun?  Well, Ryan Bonivert didn't and after the police did all that to him, he filed a case against the City of Clarkston , the County of Asotin and t...

Today's news brings us the story of deceit and skulduggery. Seems Assemblyman Jim Frazier (a democrat representing the area of Oakley ) is proposing a bill ( AB 2353 ) in the California Assembly that would cut the limitation of actions for construction defect claims from 10 years to 5 years. See, there's this building called the Millennium Tower which is located in San Francisco. It is a 58-story luxury residential building (i.e. condos ) and it is sinking . Not only has it sunk 17 inches since its completion in 2008, but it's now leaning 14 inches towards a nearby skyscraper. The kicker is that the leaning and sinking weren't realized until year 7 (which, under Politician Frazier's bill, would have precluded any lawsuits against the developers). So, how might this apply to Joe Consumer (you know, people not living in the Millennium Tower)?  Say you bought a new home in California.  Let's say that 5 years and 1 day after you bought your house, you...

Do you know what a tool belt is used for?  It's to hold tools.  Tools like a hammer or measuring tape or a level.  You use tools to accomplish things - like saving time.  When you use a measuring tape to hammer a nail, you aren't saving time.  When you use a level to measure distance, you aren't saving time.  When you try to do your own research instead of using a Librarian who does this stuff every day, you're not saving time and you're just going to get frustrated. Wait, what?  See a while back, I got in to an argument with a buddy of mine.  He a real estate broker and he's really good at all things real estate.  He's spouting how worthless Librarians are and how he's the bees knees when it comes to all things research.  Sad, that he hasn't got anything better to do with his time than to try to do his job AND my job at the same time.   You know, I don't know beans about real estate.  When I bought my house, I...