SacLaw Savvy

Check out these new additions to our library!

Audio Visual Titles

 California Print Titles

.	California Practice Guide: Family Law Forms Rutter Group KFC115 .H642 2011

National Print Titles

	Brady on Bank Checks and Funds Transfers A.S. Pratt & Sons KF961.F6 B3
	Disability Discrimination and the Workplace BNA Books KF3469.Z95 S87 2011
	Nolo’s Essential Guide to Child Custody and Support Nolo Press KF547. D67 2011
	Quicken Willmaker Plus 2012: Book & Software Kit Nolo Press KF750 .W55 2011
	Workplace Harassment Law BNA Books KF3467 .L56 2012

The Law Library will be moving in the last part of February to our new location at 609 9 St. The exact date will depend on when the renovations are done, and the crews are working hard to get all the changes made. 

A particularly dramatic change took place on January 17, when the facade covering the outside of the building was removed. Before:

By the end of the day, the sun was shining through the newly-exposed windows:

 What a difference!

An inside view, before:

and after:

The Law Library has a neat new tool available to our patrons. Our BookScan Station™ has arrived! This system allows you to scan pages from books or other documents and save them to a USB drive.  You can save in either .pdf or Microsoft Word™ formats.  The MS Word format allows for easy editing of the forms and documents you scan. PDF is a nice alternative if you prefer to avoid the mounds of paper legal research can create.

The BookScan Station is located in the copier room on the first floor of the library. Like photocopying, scanning is 15 cents per page. The system is very user-friendly, but please feel free to ask for help if you’re ready to try out the new machine!

Sacramento County finished the redistricting process that balances the population in each of the Supervisors’ districts.  Redistricting is required every ten years and the new supervisorial district maps became official on November 3rd.

Find out which Supervisor represents you  by entering your street address and zip code at this website.

For each “wish list” item (always needed items such as peanut butter, macaroni and cheese packages, etc.) donated, patrons were entered in a drawing to win a selection of self-help legal books. 

Please join us next year for our Fifth Annual Food Drive!

We are pleased to announce the first in our new series of podcasts, “Ask the County Law Librarian,” based on questions received from patrons and answered in our weekly column in the Sacramento Press.

Today’s podcast, written and read by director Coral Henning, answers the question of how to access online accounts such as Facebook and Twitter after the death of a family member.

For more “Ask the County Law Librarian” topics, visit our page at the Sacramento Press and subscribe to this podcast!

Digital Afterlife [ 2:54 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Small claims court is a great option for disputes over relatively small amounts of money. It’s much, much  faster  than bringing a civil case in superior court. Neither party can be represented by an attorney, making it less expensive and less formal, as well. And now, it’s even more attractive: the limit on how much an individual can demand rose from $7,500 to $10,000 on January 1 (California Senate Bill 221).

Not every case qualifies for the $10,000 maximum. The Judicial Council’s website explains:

In general, a natural person (an individual) cannot ask for more than $10,000 in a claim. Businesses and other entities (like government entities) cannot ask for more than $5,000. This limit on businesses does not apply to sole proprietors, who are treated as natural persons.  You can file as many claims as you want for up to $2,500 each. But you can only file 2 claims in a calendar year that ask for more than $2,500. 

There are some exceptions to the $10,000 limit for individuals:

•  If you are filing a claim for bodily injuries as a result of a car accident against a person who has car insurance that includes a “duty to defend,” you can only sue that person for $7,500.  
• Also, as a natural person, you can only sue a guarantor for up to $6,500 ($2,500 if they do not charge for the guarantee). A “guarantor” is a person or company that promises to be responsible for what another person owes. (If you are an entity other than a natural person and the guarantor charges for its services, you may file a claim for up to $4,000.)
• But, you can sue the Registrar of the Contractors (the executive officer of the Contractors State License Board) as a guarantor for up to $10,000.  

Collections agencies cannot sue in small claims court to collect on debts that are assigned to them.

If you are interested in filing a small claims lawsuit in California, you can get free assistance from your county’s small claims advisor. You may also be interested in a self-help book such as Nolo Press’s Everybody’s Guide to Small Claims Court in California, available at major bookstores, www.nolo.com, or at the law library. There is also a useful free book, The Small Claims Court: A Guide to Its Practical Use,  from the California Department of Consumer Resources.

Note: Limited Hours

Until further notice, the Civil Self Help Center will not conduct an Answer-Contract Workshop on Mondays. Hours for other services may also be limited.

As always, appointments are made in person at 8:25 am. For more information, visit our website (http://www.saclaw.org/pages/civil-self-help-center.aspx) or give us a call at 916-874-6012.

The new year means new laws. Hundreds of new laws went into effect January 1, 2012. These new laws will affect nearly all Californians, and cover all topics, including motorists, schools, real estate and employment.  A full list of all new laws is available at http://leginfo.ca.gov/pdf/BillsEnactedReport2011.pdf

And remember, changes to the law means changes to Judicial Council forms.  Be sure you’re using the most current versions of the JC forms – you can get them all online at http://courts.ca.gov/forms.htm.

The library will be open Friday, December 30, from 8:00am – 4:00pm, and will re-open on Tuesday January 3 for our normal hours of 8:00am -8:00pm.

Have a safe holiday!