SacLaw Savvy

California’s Primary Election is Tuesday, June 5. Not sure if you’re registered? Check your status online at:  http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/registration-status/.   Need to update your address or change your party designation? Just fill out a new registration form. Voter registration form must be postmarked by May 21.   You can print a registration form from the Secretary of State’s website  at https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/register-to-vote/ or pick one up at the county elections office, U.S. Post Office, or public library (not the Law Library!).

More information about voter registration is available at http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_faq.htm.

The California State Bar Task Force on Admissions Regula­tion Reform is exploring whether applicants should receive  a specified amount of practical skills training before being admitted to practice in California.  On April 9 Bar Trustees approved the 21-member Task Force, which will investigate whether to require preadmission training; how much training should be required and how long applicants would have to spend as trainees; training content and how it would improve new lawyers’ competence level; and whether to require a uniform practical skills curriculum or to permit a variety of skills training.  

The study is part of the “Five-Year Strategic Plan” the Bar released as part of the legislatively-mandated reform process that reshaped the organization and directed its leaders to do a better job of protecting the public.  See S.B. 163 (codified at California Business & Professions Code §§ 6000 et seq. (the “State Bar Act”).

The Task Force is scheduled to issue its recommendations in December 2013.

It is that time of year again, when the farmers market at Cesar Chavez Park (10^th and J) returns!  This California Certified Farmers Market is open Wednesdays, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM, seasonally from May – October.

A California Certified Farmers’ Market is a location approved by a county’s Agricultural Commissioner where farmers sell produce they grow themselves. California Certified Farmers’ Markets are operated under regulations established by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

To find other local Certified Farmers Markets, the California Federation of Certified Farmers’ Markets has more information about farmers’ markets and a list of certified markets throughout the State.  You can search by city or county.

As part of the Sacramento courts’ celebration of Law Day, the Family Law Self-Help Center will hold a free legal clinic on Friday, May 4, from 12:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Call ahead to make an appointment (916-875-1403) for a free 20 minute consultation from a lawyer in any of the following topics:

• Dissolution of Marriage
• Legal Separation or Annulment
• Child Custody and Visitation
• Property Division
• Guardianship (Probate)
• Child, Spousal/Partner or Family Support
• Parentage
• Enforcement of Family Law Orders/Judgments

Drop-in clients will be accepted only after appointment clients have been served.

To qualify for the free consultation, you must meet the Income Eligibility Guidelines and you must not have an attorney.

You can always come to the Sacramento County Public Law Library to research your questions, but this is a great opportunity to talk with a lawyer who can help get you started.

Today, May 1^st, has been designated as “Law Day” by the American Bar Association. This year’s theme is “No courts, no justice, no freedom.”

In celebration, the City Attorney’s office will host a Law Day event, 10am-1pm on Wednesday, May 2nd.  The event will feature Hon. Laurie M. Earl, Presiding Judge, speaking at noon, followed by a mock trial at 12:15, both in the Historic City Hall Council Chambers.  A vendor fair will be set up in the Plaza between Historic City Hall and New City Hall. The Law Library will have a booth – stop by and say “hi!”

If while visiting the law library, you find a broken parking meter, go ahead and park your vehicle. Just make sure that you call 311 and report the broken meter.  When you do call, have the parking meter number handy. You can usually find this number on the pole of the coin-operated single-space meters and on the Pay and Display stations.

The operator taking the report will give you a work order number that you can refer to later if you are given a parking ticket.

Read the Sacramento Bee article for more information.

The article ”Debtors seethe, sue over collector tactics,” on the front page of today’s Sacramento Bee really resonated with us this morning.  We hear stories like the ones reported in the Bee almost every day–accounts of debt collectors using abusive and profane telephone language, stalking debtors, harrassing them at work and even threatening violence.   

As reported in the Bee, however, the law gives victims of debt collection abuse a way to fight back.  The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act , 15 U.S.C sec. 1692 et. seq., prohibits such unfair debt collection practices, and allows a successful plaintiff to collect, in addition to actual damages, “statutory” damages of $1,000 per incident plus court costs and attorneys fees. California’s debt collection statute, the Rosenthal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, California Civil Code sec. 1788 et. seq., provides similar relief.  Senate Bill 890, introduced by Mark Leno (Dem., San Fransisco), passed by the Senate in January and now in the Assembly, would establish the “Fair Debt Buyers Practices Act,” ensuring that debt buyers substantiate the ownership and validity of the debts they attempt to collect and prohibiting debt buyers from suing to collect a debt if the statute of limitations has expired.

 If you would like to read more about these laws and find out how you can stop being a victim of unfair debt collection tactics, please visit the Law Library.  We’d be happy to help you!

We get quite a few questions about finding the “legislative intent” behind a law. Legislative intent can (sometimes!) be determined by creating a legislative history on the law in question—looking at the debates, comments, changes between drafts, and other information about the bill’s history from introduction to signature. Legislative intent can be used to clarify an ambiguous law, or apply a law to an unforeseen situation.

To help people with these questions, we created a “Legislative History” step-by-step guide.  We have just updated the guide with all-new examples and illustrations.

While much of the in-depth information can be found in more archival libraries, such as the California State Library’s law library, the Sacramento County Public Law Library has enough information to do a basic history on laws passed since 1968, and get key information (bill numbers and statute citations) for all California laws. In fact, using our guide, you can find much of this information on the Internet for free! Take a look, and as always, let us know any comments or feedback.

We’ve revamped the binders at our public computer terminals to make them easier for our patrons to use. These binders provide the information you need to get started with the research databases available on the library’s computers. For each of our subscription databases, we cover all the basics like how to run a search, where to click to print, and how to save or email your results.  These instructions were designed to allow you easily learn the steps for common tasks.

We’ve also tracked down the best user guides from each database publisher, and included those in the binders. These guides provide great tips and techniques for enhancing your searches and making the most of each of our online subscriptions.

California Code of Civil Procedure §582.5 allows a judgment debtor in a limited civil case (where the amount demanded is $25,000 or less) to ask the court for an order allowing the judgment to be paid in installments. This request may be granted for “good cause” at any time after the judgment, even if the judgment debtor never answered the complaint. In determining the amount of the installment payments, a court considers the same factors it would consider in reviewing a request for a claim of exemption, including the judgment debtor’s source and amount of income and his or her expenses.

A request for a judgment to be paid in installments is made through a written motion. A “motion” is a request made in a case asking the court to issue an order of some sort. There is no Judicial Council form for making a motion; instead, the motion must be typed on 28-line pleading paper. A Motion to Pay Judgment in Installments generally consists of five parts: Notice of Motion; Motion; Points and Authorities; Declaration; and [Proposed] Order.

Read the rest of this entry »