Investigate THIS !

~ when legal research goes awry ~

2005-09-13T22:46:00.000-07:00

The Taubman Center for Public Policy has just released its 2005 report on State and Federal E-Government, an analysis of 1,620 state and federal government sites. This annual study of the features, advances and limitations of the websites had some especially valuable conclusions related to the Federal courts and legal research.

One of the disturbing aspects of the study reports that federal government websites have a number of quality control issues, such as broken links, missing titles and missing keywords. If your legal research at the court sites fails you, this may be why.

Using the random sample of 5,000 pages from each federal agency, the jurisdiction with the largest number of missing titles was the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals 2,710), followed by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals (2,023), 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (1,472), the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals (1,418), and the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals (1,375).

The site with the largest number of missing keywords was the National Labor Relations Board (5,003), followed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (5,001), and the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals.

The award for the largest number of missing descriptions goes to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The site with the largest number of broken links: 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (1,641).

~ getting good background on your employees ~

2005-08-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Just what is an employment background check anyway? Federal law circumscribes the extent and nature of background information that can be gathered on employees by outside companies. In The Truth Behind Standard Criminal Checks, the author offers a good, brief overview of the intersection of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) restrictions on developing criminal history, the limitations inherent in the data and data providers, with the necessity to pursue less conventional means, such as a review of Internet-derived information.

~ California Supreme Court answers trial by jury issue ~

2005-08-20T13:57:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't portend a trusting relationship if, at the outset, your business partner asked you to sign away your right to a jury trial. And now the California Supreme Court agrees. Read the article

~ background screening - add blogging to the checklist ~

2005-08-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Changes in technology may add a twist to considerations of employment background investigations. How about adding to the mix a review of your employee's blogging history? You may want to know if your potential new hire indiscreetly spouted off about their prior employer. Read on

~ internet information brokers could get attorneys into hot water ~

2005-07-13T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission seeking an investigation into the web-based businesses that sell telephone toll records. There is no explicit policy or statute violated when parties sell or obtain telephone call logs without a subpoena. In fact, the U. S. Court Of Appeals, 6th Circuit ruled in favor of the defendants in a case in which an information broker (Action Research Group, Mike Lee), hired by a private investigator, impersonated a telephone company subscriber (Clemons) and obtained that subscriber's toll numbers via fax.[2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 23547,*;82 Fed. Appx. 436ROGER CLEMONS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RANDALL WALLER, A ACTION AUTOLINER d/b/a ACTION RESEARCH GROUP, KARL HALL, and MERIDIAN RESOURCES & INVESTIGATIONS, Defendants-Appellees. No. 02-5342] Read at LexisOne (free registration required)

In one of many news stories, EPIC suggests that they have their eyes on attorneys who may be buying this information on the Internet, not just the brokers.

Hoofnagle said EPIC also plans to file complaints with state attorneys general, state regulators of private investigators and attorney bar association ethical committees, because it believes law firms are among the most frequent clients of the online investigation firms.

I've cautioned clients [Law Technology News, July 2005, Cut to the Chase: A primer for using public records databases] (free registration) about purchasing any data obtained by a click of the mouse, not just in order to avoid grey areas of the law, but because you'll waste money on information that is usually stale or inaccurate. And don't even think it meets any standard of due diligence.

Email me for a pdf of the article.

~ washington state appellate court decision on due diligence in locating heirs to an estate ~

2005-07-07T16:22:00.000-07:00

Not surprisingly, the Court of Appeals upheld the trial court ruling that due diligence must be conducted to locate beneficiaries. Court of Appeals Division I, State of Washington, Docket Number: 54647-3-I, Title of Case: In re the estate of: Martin Little, File Date: 06/06/2005.

We agree with the trial court. Allocating the burden of proof to the executor is more consistent with the executor's role as an 'officer of the court and a fiduciary for the heirs'. Hesthagen, 78 Wn.2d at 941. Because the executor has the fiduciary duty to identify and notify those who are statutorily entitled to receive notice, it logically follows that in the event of a later challenge based on lack of notice, the executor will have the burden of showing that he used reasonable diligence to discharge his duty. Otherwise, and especially where the executor of an estate has a beneficial interest in it, the sense of fiduciary duty might easily give way to a temptation to conduct a superficial search or none at all.11 We conclude that evidence showing how Vannoy could have located the nieces and nephews was not a prerequisite for reopening the estate for lack of notice to them. Vannoy, whose 'best presentation' below included no evidence that he was diligent, was correctly found to have breached his duty to identify and notify these heirs of Martin Little. As a consequence, the decisions made in the probate are void as to these heirs. The court did not err in ordering the reopening of the estate. Affirmed. Vannoy's request for attorney fees on appeal is denied.

~ michigan appellate digest - by major topics ~

2005-07-04T18:18:00.000-07:00

The Michigan Court of Appeals website has this shortcut topical list with links to case summaries.

~ what's bloggin' on Justice O'Connor and the future of the supreme court ~

2005-07-01T10:42:00.000-07:00

Jurist claims President Bush will wait until after July 8 to offer an O'Connor replacement. O'Connor dismisses her importance as a swing vote on the Court suggesting she was just "open to persuasion", according to this Washington Post story.

Not as surprising a move as it seems, at least to the White House, which was circulating a list of possible female candidates last week. I think you can surmise who might be hot based on these biographical summaries. And then...the nomination process...

balkanization points to the bitter fight ahead, more contentious because of O'Connor's pivotal role on the Court. The problems inherent in a Gonzales nomination and Supreme Court statistics you don't need to know are all at SouthernAppeal.

Supreme Court

~ give your client the experience of her life ~

2005-06-26T16:21:00.000-07:00

Small Firm Business has a marketing article, How to Really Set Yourself Apart From the Competition, which is a bit thin in ideas, but one important message is underscored: as a provider of services you are selling an experience. The client lands, or perhaps stays, on your doorstep, not because you're the best in the field but because of the quality of your customer service. It's obvious but a good reminder.

~ missouri employers - take note ~

2005-06-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

A recently enacted Missouri statute places explicit requirements on employers when requesting employee social security numbers.

Employers may avoid running afoul of the state statute by asking job hunters to send their applications — with Social Security numbers — by fax or postal service.
Read the article [free registration required; bypass with bobross@pbs.org/happy3]

~ expand your autopsy knowledge ~

2005-06-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

Stop in for a virtual visit to an autopsy and find out what you didn't learn in law school. Not safe for viewing before lunch. Or after.

~ indiana court recognizes a google search as part of due diligence ~

2005-06-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

The notion of due diligence in locating a party with an interest in the matter being litigated is somewhat inspecific. InternetCases reports on the Indiana Appellate Opinion that identified a Google search as a component of a diligent search.

Bays does not necessarily establish the minimum that should be required for a showing of due diligence in locating a missing litigant. We do note that there is no evidence in this case of a public records or internet search for Groce or the use of a skip-trace service to find him. In fact, we discovered, upon entering "Joe Groce Indiana" into the Google™ search engine, an address for Groce that differed from either address used in this case, as well as an apparent obituary for Groce’s mother that listed numerous surviving relatives who might have known his whereabouts. Link to the opinion

~ settle down -but not so fast ~

2005-06-09T17:12:00.000-07:00

The ABA Journal reports on a possible case of an arm-twisting settlement in the Los Angeles County Archdiocese sex abuse cases.

In an appeal by the church’s insurers, the California Court of Appeal in Los Angeles vacated the settlement judge’s written orders. Noting that it hadn’t been informed of the settlement, the court said the judge had “exceeded his authority by making factual findings and otherwise preparing a coercive order in violation of the fundamental principles governing mediation proceedings.” Travelers Casualty and Surety Co. v. Superior Court, 126 Cal. App. 4th 1131 (Feb. 15).

The ADR folks argue for cooperation rather than coercion and make a case for incorporating this approach into the code regulating judicial ethics.

~ state by state guide to medical statutes of limitation ~

2005-06-09T15:46:00.000-07:00

The National Conference of State Legislatures recently revised their chart, STATE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE TORT LAWS, which lists relevant code citations related to:
Statutes of Limitation
Limits on Damage Awards
Pre-trial Screening and Arbitration
Joint and Several Liability
Expert Witnesses

~ get thee to the nearest shredder ~

2005-06-03T14:54:00.000-07:00

It seems that this is one of those words of caution and matter of law that we can't reiterate too frequently: institute a document destruction policy and implement it consistently.

A new federal rule that took effect Wednesday requires all businesses and individuals to destroy private consumer information obtained from credit bureaus and other information providers in determining whether to grant credit, hire employees or rent an apartment. Read an article

And from the geek corner. Companies are finding a niche in document destruction.

~ online legal dictionary helps you find, define and substitute words and phrases ~

2005-05-18T22:22:00.000-07:00

The People's Law Dictionary is now free and searchable online. Search computing, medical and financial terms also.

~ more tips for those with memory problems ~

2005-05-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

Firms Shorten Monikers to Give Them a Marketing Edge

~ too much knowledge can lead to imprecise memory ~

2005-05-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

The less you know, the better you remember certain details. Accuracy in recall can be hampered by the intelligent adult tendency to categorize.

"There seems to be an inverse relationship between the ability to categorize and the ability to remember details," Sloutsky said. "If you're very attentive to details - like the children in this experiment - you can't create categories. But without ignoring the details, we would be unable to categorize."
First, they found that there is a gradual decrease in recognition memory from children to adults - there is no large jump that occurs as people approach adulthood. Secondly, the study shows that it is "lack of knowledge - not something specific to children - that helps make recognition memory more accurate." That's why adults had accurate, child-like memory in the experiment in which they were tested using the imaginary animals. Read the article

This may be an argument to select jurors whose purported knowledge is far afield from the case facts in order to impress upon them your viewpoint!

~ law journal articles on the internet ~

2005-05-14T17:40:00.000-07:00

Full text search of law journals on the Internet.

~ Counting Questions: Adding Up High Court Outcomes ~

2005-05-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

It seems that the scientific method can be applied to detecting the outcome of Supreme Court decisions. Perhaps, lowly observers of the Court's oral arguments may decipher the inner workings of the Justices' minds before they do.

In a new study entitled "The Illusion of Devil's Advocacy: How the Justices of the Supreme Court Foreshadow their Decisions During Oral Argument," Sarah Shullman came up with a surprisingly simple and accurate way of predicting outcomes based on the number and tenor of oral argument questions by justices.

After seven of the 10 cases she studied were decided, Shullman looked for correlations -- and found them. In all of the cases, the justices in aggregate asked more questions, and more hostile questions, of the party that ultimately lost the case.

Shullman acknowledges that her sample was small, but the methodology has already been tested since she did her study. John Roberts Jr., one of the masters of the trade before taking the bench in 2003, used her theory for a talk he gave on oral advocacy before the Supreme Court Historical Society last year. Picking 14 oral arguments from the 1980 term and 14 from the 2003 term, Roberts found that in fact the most questions went to the losing party in 24 of the 28 cases -- an 86 percent rate of accuracy. "The secret to successful advocacy," Roberts deadpanned in conclusion, "is simply to get the Court to ask your opponent more questions."

If only trial courts allowed jurors to ask questions...

~ legal tips between meetings ~

2005-05-09T22:05:00.000-07:00

The Texas BAR provides the Ten Minute Mentor, a collection of topical presentations in audio or video. This is quickie MCLE. Scroll through the presentations, organized by theme, or search by keyword.

Here's an example presentation.

How to Obtain Health Information in Connection with Litigation and in Compliance with HIPAA by Cheryl Camin (1/05) Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP

~ police departments don't follow witness identification guidelines ~

2005-05-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

Mistaken eyewitness identifications helped convict nearly 80 percent of the 157 people nationwide who eventually were exonerated through DNA testing carried out by the New York-based Innocence Project. Other studies also have shown false eyewitness i.d.'s have led to unjust convictions.

Psychological experts on witness issues have found that inadequate, outmoded police procedures are a major part of the problem. Read all about it

~ find your way around the world ~

2005-05-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Time, date and telephone dialing codes for any city can be found at timeanddate.com.

~ find gold, cultivate clients, become a thought-leader or just make friends - the possibilities in legal marketing ~

2005-05-05T22:22:00.000-07:00

Legal marketing on the Internet is flying high in the form of the web log hosted by attorneys of all specialties. Like any dedicated marketing effort maintaining a blog is sometimes more than any hard working professional has the time to do. But if you're so inclined, read this starter article by one of the best known legal blawgers.

Blogging and the Bottom Line
Why blogging and syndication are the hottest tools in legal marketing

~ private investigators assist the public with access to personal information - listen to the NPR report: Private Eyes Cramped by Privacy Breach ~

2005-05-01T16:49:00.000-07:00

Larry Abramson has a report today on the NPR radio program, All Things Considered, that features interviews with several investigators (including me) highlighting the detrimental effect on the public of the new policy implemented by Choicepoint that masks portions of social security numbers, driver licenses and dates of birth.

In the weeks after they announced major security breaches, data brokers like ChoicePoint and Lexis-Nexis have imposed restrictions on access to Americans' personal information. Some of their clients are no longer allowed access to social security and drivers license numbers. NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the affects this has had on private investigators, who have come to rely on personal data to solve cases. Listen to the story

~ federal legislation eyes employers ~

2005-04-26T13:21:00.000-07:00

Congress may make it tortious for employers to maintain parking lot video monitoring if employees regularly change in and out of their work clothes in their vehicles. Bet Congress didn't think of that!

H.R. 582 - To protect employees from invasion of privacy by employers by prohibiting certain video monitoring and audio monitoring of employees by their employers, and for other purposes.
Summary: An employer may not engage in video monitoring or
audio monitoring of an employee of the employer when the
employee is in a restroom facility, dressing room, or any
other area in which it is reasonable to expect employees
of the employer to change clothing.
Status: Feb 2, 2005: Referred to House Government Reform

~ learning to ask questions is good for business and can raise the status of your law practice ~

2005-04-20T10:51:00.000-07:00

The adage, "there's no such thing as a stupid question" may run counter to the culture of the legal world where one is supposed to be all knowing. This stance may obstruct the attorney's ability to elicit and respond to the clients' needs and to let them know you've heard their concerns. This issue and how to effectively conquer your resistance to question asking is explored by an attorney and marketer.

Attorney Carolyn Elefant offers an obvious piece of advise that we all overlook. Don't wait until the last minute to ask your question or to get reassurance on a strategy. I'm struck by how frequently attorneys will wait until the eve of a deadline to ask me to find a witness, conduct an interview or to gather a potentially critical piece of information. I gave useful timeline examples in an earlier post. It doesn't cost anything to call early in a case to get suggestions on an investigative strategy. Your trustworthy colleagues will be flattered to be approached by you on a question of law or procedure.

~ the California Senate considers a bill to eliminate all access to personal information ~

2005-04-17T16:55:00.000-07:00

private investigators could be prevented from providing witness information to attorneys

The California legislature is spinning out of earth's atmosphere in its attempt to ameliorate the misuse of personal data a la Choicepoint. State Senator Jackie Speier introduced SB 550, which has been re-referred to the Judiciary Committee. The broad language of the bill can be interpreted to apply to any information services enterprise.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 550, as amended, Speier. Data brokers.
(1) Existing law generally regulates a business that discloses personal information about a California resident to 3rd parties.

This bill would further regulate a data broker, which would be defined as a commercial entity that collects, assembles, or maintains personally identifiable information about a California resident for the sale or transmission of, or provision of access to, that information to any 3rd party.

The bill would amend SECTION 1. Title 1.805 (commencing with Section 1798.79), adding to Part 4 of Division 3 of the Civil Code. It defines data broker in such a way that many businesses, including private investigators, may not be able to gather information required for legal, litigation, due diligence and other business purposes. It states, in part:

1.805. DATA BROKERS
1798.79. For purposes of this title:
(a) "Data broker" means a commercial entity that collects, assembles, or maintains personally identifiable information about a California resident for the sale or transmission of, or the provision of access to, that information to any third party, whether that collection, assembly, or maintenance is performed by the data broker directly or by contract or subcontract with any other entity.

Doesn't this mean that the private investigator can't obtain the name, address or telephone number of a witness and pass that to their attorney-client?

Adding to the potential of a fraud layered upon the documented frauds, this bill proposes to let consumers decide the information about them that will be retained by data brokers, then to opt out of the databases all together.

1798.79.2. (a) Every individual may request that his or her personally identifiable information be excluded from any report prepared by a data broker. Every data broker shall establish a notification system, including, but not limited to, a toll‑free telephone number, through which an individual can provide notice to that broker that the individual's personally identifiable information shall be excluded therefor.

And then you'll have to tell your clients' that a background report on a witness will cost $3000, plus attorney's fees.....

SEC. 2. Section 1798.84 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1798.84.
(a) Any waiver of a provision of this title is contrary
to public policy and is void and unenforceable.
(b) Any customer or individual whose personal information is disclosed who is injured by a violation of this title may institute a civil action to recover damages.
(c) In addition, for a willful, intentional, or reckless violation of Section 1798.83, a customer may recover a civil penalty not to exceed three thousand dollars ($3,000) per violation; otherwise, the customer may recover a civil penalty of up to five hundred dollars ($500) per violation for a violation of Section 1798.83.

Read the bill. Contact Senator Speier.

~ winning defense strategies in 2004 ~

2005-04-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

The National Law Journal reports on the hurdles defense counsel have to overcome to arrive at a winning courtroom strategy:

plaintiff-friendly venues, astronomical damages at stake and the verdicts' potential effects on similar cases.

Topping the list of the 10 cases reviewed is Oracle's attempt to acquire PeopleSoft. Other defense approaches are highlighted through a personal injury case involving The Walt Disney Co.; IBM in a toxic tort suit; the acquittal of Tyco attorney Mark A. Belnick; and limitation of liability for World Trade Center insurers.

~ financial disclosure database of judges ~

2005-04-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

Judicial Watch has launched its searchable database of the financial disclosure reports of federal judges. Select the pdf reports by judge's name or specific court to reveal their associations, investments, reimbursements and gifts.

Judicial Watch has a bit of loftiness about its good works, in spite of offering this earth bound tool.

Judicial Watch is a non-profit, non-partisan public interest organization dedicated to reforming the legal and judicial systems and fighting government corruption. Judicial Watch is led by, Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, a well known conservative activist. Utilizing the court system in a creative manner, Judicial Watch seeks to expose corruption at all levels of government and to bring the perpetrators to justice.

judiciary databases

~ keep the records you're required to keep ~

2005-03-29T17:07:00.000-08:00

The Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal (yes, now we need a whole periodical dedicated to one regulation!) details the law related to document retention. The current issue topic, Preservation Perils: Updating Your Corporation's Document Retention Policy for the Digital Age tackles the vexing problem of staying on top of all those electronic records. The concern is not just retention but preservation, which is increasingly a problem as the storage media change.

At least 92 percent of all business information is generated in digital form.

The total number of electronic records produced on the planet is expected to double every 60 minutes over a 10-year period.

Approximately 1 in 20 companies have battled a workplace lawsuit triggered by employee email.

sarbanes-oxley regulation

~ business blogging - avoiding pitfalls ~

2005-03-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

Your corporate clients or their employees need these guidelines and tips to minimize exposure to litigation when blogging on the job.

~ privacy predicaments catch gumshoe's eye ~

2005-03-22T12:52:00.000-08:00

Finally, a media account of the field of investigations AND the topic of privacy that reflects well on all private investigators. The Contra Costa Times profiled yours truly, with a frontpage article titled, Privacy predicaments catch gumshoe's eye (free registration required!). The online version doesn't appear on the front page or even post the fabulous photo! [I can mail or email you a pdf version.]

Thanks to Dan Laidman, the reporter, who obligated me to spend hours with him at cafes, drinking coffee. On the issue of privacy...

"I definitely encourage people to take action to protect their access to information," she said.
A key theme of the blogs is that privacy concerns should not lead to the across-the-board restriction of information. Thompson says there is a distinction between a licensed investigator's work and that of a firm like ChoicePoint, the data-gathering company currently embroiled in scandal because it apparently sold personal information -- including data on some 30,000 Californians -- to criminals posing as legitimate businesses.

Thompson notes that when she tracks someone down at another's request, such as a birth parent or former romantic partner, she gives the client's contact information to the person she finds and not the other way around.

"If people want to make a bridge," she said, "we act as intermediaries."

Yesterday the New York Times ran a piece titled, Investigators Argue for Access to Private Data, that gave some visibility to the investigator's point of view on the current debate on restriction of commercial records.

Blogs that mention this article: The Open Society Paradox

~ too much employee turnover at law firms and businesses ~

2005-03-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Al Nye the Lawyer Guy brought to my attention a useful series on employee turnover at lawfirms, at Alan Maven's site. Lowering employee "churn" is dependent primarily on the company's or law office's relationship with its managers.

When the store managers were better chosen, better equipped and better encouraged, they provided an environment where the overall employee churn dropped by a third.

The analysis is derived from the functioning of Domino's Pizza but Mavens nicely draws a parallel to lawfirms and asks readers to provide any experience to the contrary.

And yet law firms do almost nothing in terms of training, equipping and rewarding their partners in terms of their roles as managers of associates and employees. In fact, I don't think I am aware of ever having heard of a firm that had, as part of their partnership track, a requirement that associates undergo any kind of training in personnel, project or group management.

Ron Hyndman, a Canadian attorney, adds a cynical comment, no doubt drawn from his own observations within a large firm.

The incentive to manage well just isn't there. Their incentive, as they see it, is to do whatever it takes to jack up earnings today, so that they increase the draw tomorrow. "The long term? heck, in the long term we're all dead."

~ electronic discovery - some of what you need to know ~

2005-03-19T22:31:00.000-08:00

Electronic discovery is hot. And so are its errors.

According to a survey of recent published decisions, negligent e-discovery conduct has been sanctioned in all 12 federal judicial circuits. The potential sting of that statistic is somewhat eased by the realization that those sanctions have generally been limited to assessments of attorneys’ fees and costs, rather than case-killing pleading strikes or testimony preclusion.

The three most common errors are preventable: putting a hold on destruction of documents, establishing a system to implement discovery requests and promptly reporting problems to the court.

Keep up with news, issues and products related to e-discovery at this site. The current issue of Business Law Today has an article on how to properly preserve and dispose of data. Electronic data discovery issues are addressed in a series of articles in this ALM supplement.

~ free good advise for your law practice ~

2005-03-19T21:51:00.000-08:00

There can never be enough good advise. Especially if you're free to pick and choose. MyShingle explores the nitty gritty of evaluating a new client and factors to examine to determine if they or their case have just the right mix.

You may not want to reinvent yourself, as this article suggests but you might find some fresh ways of looking at marketing.

Graze through the Top 12 Hurdles of small practice marketing. Each dilemma is addressed by a different expert. Here's the list.

Why Marketing Is So Difficult*
12. "I prefer to focus on my work."
11. "It is not the fun part of the practice of law."
10. "There is such intense competition."
9. "I have a very narrow specialty practice."
8. "Modesty."
7. "Lack of follow through."
6. "It doesn't come naturally. I'm not trained to think in this area."
5. "Potential clients already have satisfactory counsel relationships."
4. "I"m lazy, inert and insecure."
3. "No time, no money, no contacts."
2. "Only poor people know me."
1. "It requires more congeniality than I'm used to."

Get added to the free ezine of the lawyer who's a marketing guru.

~ ChoicePoint then Westlaw then... ~

2005-03-05T14:09:00.000-08:00

I previously reported on the ChoicePoint debacle, which is now spilling over into the data collection companies that primarily serve attorneys. Now is the time for The American Bar Association, the Trial Lawyers and hundreds of other associations of attorneys to join with investigators and the information industry to voice our shared concerns for halting identity theft while maintaining our access to databases with social security numbers, for legitimate legal and business activity. Here's some of the pending Federal legislation that impacts the legal field.

Westlaw on hot seat after ChoicePoint's security woes
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Westlaw finds itself in the middle of an intensely
growing debate over consumer identity theft and the safety of personal information, following the disclosure last month by financial data warehouse ChoicePoint of a massive security breach affecting thousands of people.

~ on the agenda of the Supreme Court ~

2005-02-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

The 10 Commandments, the death penalty and Title IX are just a few of the light hors d'oeuvres on the plate of the Supreme Court this term.

~ legal sites of value to lawyers ~

2005-02-27T21:40:00.000-08:00

NetLitigation describes its site as, "Designed for e-businesses and netizens as well as lawyers, netlitigation.com is a tool for understanding how legal relationships and disputes are being transformed in the rapidly evolving information economy. " Includes case law in subject categories.

"Blawg Republic provides a digest view of the latest news and commentary from the legal blogging community." Easy to search site with a range of legal news sources.

Jurist Legal News and Research has breaking legal news including the legal angle on international events. Search case law here too.

On the Docket is a site devoted to Supreme Court news.

May It Please the Court is one of the most widely read (and listened to) legal weblogs. He also has an extensive list of links to other legal sites.

~ what's so wrong with a little tort? ~

2005-02-27T12:22:00.000-08:00

The phrase "tort reform" is sounding a bit like "media elite", and all those empty, push-button phrases. When the cruel, hollow echo can't get anymore cynical, along comes Molly to put doomsday in perspective.

The point of tort deform is not to save business from a non-existent "flood" of frivolous lawsuits. The flood is just as phony as the Social Security "crisis." It's a fight between big business and the trial lawyers, and as the African proverb says, "When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers." We're the grass in this titanic clash of special interests. What we stand to lose is the great America right to sue the bastards. What business calls tort "reform" just means the doors of the courthouse will be shut to average citizens. You cannot get justice.

Tom Paine pieces together the contradictions between what the no-torters say and what they do.

The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 actually offers litigants coupons. It seems that those who have actually analyzed malpractice claims don't see eye-to-eye with Bush.

~ a digest of pending Supreme Court cases ~

2005-02-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

Pending Supreme Court cases are summarized, with a link to the Argument summary and key questions. Muehler V. Mena poses the issue of whether officers "violate the Fourth Amendment if they lawfully detain an individual and ask that person questions about criminal activity without probable cause".

I've added the link to the Oyez Project's recent Supreme Court Arguments, in the sidebar.

Informative blogs that primarily comment on court cases and direct the reader to case analysis can be found here and here.

~ web theft of proprietary database ~

2005-02-19T08:57:00.000-08:00

Martindale-Hubbell has filed suit against John Does accessing their site www.lawyers.com, in violation of the terms of use for the site. A similar database has not appeared on the market but copyright restrictions would apply. Three internet users accessed over 400, 000 attorney profiles in one month.

~ RFID - Future litigation ~

2005-02-18T09:42:00.000-08:00

Mark Roberti, editor of the RFID Journal suggests that the retail use of RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags may expose retailers to invasion of privacy torts. The tags now in use by major consumer outlets to track the movement of goods, could potentially be associated with personal data in the retailers' database.

EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) interviewed executives on the commercial use of RFID tags. Roland Edwards of Global Communications admitted that, "Personal information is not stored on chip but is likely associated in store databases."

The penetration of this technology in the retail market, from tracking goods to associating those goods with specific customers will be driven by the big arm twisters, Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense.

RFID may also penetrate the legal world through the need to manage litigation.

~ technology for law firms ~

2005-02-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

The ALM Law Technology News released the online poll winners of the best law firm technology vendors. The Common Scold was there.

~ the email privilege ~

2005-02-12T11:20:00.000-08:00

From the chambers of da judge I have procured this piece published by Rebeccca Foote of Ford Marrin Esposito Witmeyer & Gleser, L.L.P which offers an analysis of the application of the privileged communication through email.

The Federal Communications Act of 1934 (“FCA”) prohibits unauthorized publication or interception of radio or telephone communications. While the FCA does not explicitly address modern forms of non-voice electronic communications, support for the confidentiality of email has been found in law which was designed to protect cellular telephone communications, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986. Using language broad enough to include email communications, the ECPA prohibits “intentionally intercept[ing], endeavor[ing] to intercept, or procur[ing] any other person to intercept or endeavor to intercept, any wire, oral, or electronic communication.” Additionally, the ECPA expressly states that “no otherwise privileged wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepted . . . shall lose its
privileged character.”Read article with case citations

~ free California case law searches ~

2005-02-11T10:35:00.000-08:00

Search all California official case law for free. Keyword and citation searches available.

~ class action worries ~

2005-02-11T08:18:00.000-08:00

The writer at Notes from the Legal Underground details the effect of the impending law, Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 that just passed the U.S. Senate.

~ Get clients without selling ~

2005-02-08T07:27:00.000-08:00

Get more work by keeping your current clients. Its easier and more productive to satisfy the needs of existing clients then to kindle a new relationship. One of the primary complaints clients have about their attorneys is that they don't anticipate the clients' needs. A survey by Sage Legal Marketing was reported in The Law Marketing Portal.

92% of our respondents reported that their law firms did not anticipate their legal needs, and as a result when something came up they would start the buying process all over again. This is the foremost reason law firms do not enjoy the long-term, taken for granted relationships they once did with prime clients. Read the article

On the other hand, the Internet has become one of the first places potential clients go to find you, or find out if they want to work with you. In 2004, the 2nd most searched term for professional services in the Google Local search was attorney.

~ coming clean: common mistakes made by lawyers ~

2005-02-07T13:50:00.000-08:00

A very productive and visible lawyer in the online discussion community, Carolyn Elefant, writes in the current issue of law.com, about the small and egregious mistakes made by lawyers, and how to make amends.

~ electronic records storage becomes the norm ~

2005-02-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Increasingly, documentation retained by public and private entities is being stored only in electronic format.

Some public agencies are selling the public records to private vendors but denying the public the same access to those records for free.

~ Michigan Supreme Court rules private investigations is not stalking ~

2005-01-27T14:28:00.000-08:00

From the hallowed Supreme Court of Michigan, via the Detroit Free Press:

A private investigator's surveillance for an insurance company does not constitute harassment under the state's anti-stalking law, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. Read the full story

The Court of Appeals' ruling included this analysis of the state stalking statute:

The civil stalking statute, MCL 600.2954, creates a civil cause of action for victims of stalking as defined by the criminal stalking statute, MCL 750.411h, regardless whether the alleged stalker is charged or convicted under the equivalent criminal stalking statute. According to MCL 750.411h(1)(d), "stalking" is the "wilful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable person to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, intimidated, threatened, harassed, or molested." The term "harassment" as used in subsection 411h(1)(d) is defined as: . . . conduct directed toward a victim that includes, but is not limited to, repeated or continued unconsented contact that would cause a reasonable individual to suffer emotional distress and that actually causes the victim to suffer emotional distress. Harassment does not include constitutionally protected activity or conduct that serves a legitimate purpose. [MCL 750.411h(1)(c).] {Emphasis is mine.}

You have to wonder what planet the Court of Appeals was on when it determined that the surveillance was NOT serving a legitimate purpose. Here's some more of the Appeals Court's insightful conclusions:

After the first surveillance was thwarted when plaintiff made it clear that he did not consent to being followed by Conley, Conley nonetheless continued to appear within plaintiff’s sight until the police arrived. Once plaintiff detected Conley and Stovall in the second and fourth surveillances, a question of fact arose with respect to whether their continued appearance in his sight were unconsented contacts for purposes of the civil stalking claim. {Emphasis is mine.}

This made me laugh. How do these judges think we accomplish legitimate investigative goals when the subject is an adversary of our client? Walk up to him and say, "excuse me, I would like your consent to gather evidence that may undermine your claim"?

Thankfully the Michigan Supreme Court displayed better reasoning powers.

We conclude that surveillance by licensed private investigators that contributes to the goal of obtaining information, as permitted by the Private Detective License Act, MCL 338.822(b)(i)-(v), is conduct that serves a legitimate purpose.

Now, that was easy! Private investigators are being challenged in courts and legislatures in our pursuit of information through gathering documents and in observing human activity. This is where the demand for privacy rights has gotten out of hand. Private investigators are not observing for idle curiosity. We perform information gathering in legal cases for the purpose of establishing the legitimacy of a claim, not to intrude or make contact that creates emotional distress. But that hasn't stopped the litigious!

~ reality is just a blur ~

2005-01-27T13:01:00.000-08:00

Here's a curious finding from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, which I referred to in an earlier posting, that got me thinking about a serious problem. The Pew study findings reveal that only a small percentage of Internet "researchers" can tell the difference between returns on their search terms and the resulting advertisements. Slashdot noted this finding, citing a small story on it at the ABC News site.

The Pew Report makes this wry observation about fuzzy human logic:

Only 38% of users are aware of the distinction between paid or sponsored results and unpaid results. And only one in six say they can always tell which results are paid or sponsored and which are not. This finding is ironic, since nearly half of all users say they would stop using search engines if they thought engines were not being clear about how they presented paid results.

This disconnect between what people observe and what they think they observe got me reflecting on the widely noted fallibility of eyewitness testimony. One of the significant findings Elizabeth Loftus made was the weak correlation of confidence to accuracy. Even as event details deteriorate the witness maintains a high degree of confidence in the accuracy of their recall. James Doyle, Loftus' co-author of Eyewitness Testimony: Civil and Criminal writes here about the intersection of the psychological and legal work. A detailed, hands-on guide to working with this quandary in criminal defense matters is developed in a recent article by Lisa Steele, Trying Identification Cases.

~ Everyday Speed In the New Year ~

2005-01-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

Speed, speed, and more speed?

I know this doesn't apply to you but the increase in fines for speeding may affect someone you know or love. California will now impose a $750 fine, on a second conviction within three years, for driving over 100 mph. This amends Section 22348 of the Vehicle Code. The fine jumps to $1,000 per conviction for additional offenses committed within five years of the first two offenses. Just in case your foot weighs heavy on the pedal at the wrong time, you might want to consult the Nolo Press hot tips on how to beat a speeding ticket. If you feel a need to monitor your teenager's driving habits a little black box ("event data recorder") for cars is available as an add-on feature. California law provides that the black box data can only be accessed with permission of the owner or by court order. The owners manual for cars manufactured after July 2004 must disclose if an event data recorder is installed.

~ not your everyday search tool ~

2005-01-24T08:14:00.000-08:00

Everywhere there is Google. I bet most of you make your first sweep though the web maze starting with this popular search engine. I'll let you in on a few searcher secrets. Not all of the tools are available at the main screen. Here are a few other ones.

Google Personalized is still in beta but may help target your searches more precisely. The notion is to select from their broad categories, such as "law", "technology" or "small business", then enter your search terms. You can set the degree of personalization, which will add or eliminate links returned from your query.

If you want to select news or websites with particular keyword content, delivered to your email or in a browser, go to Google Alerts.

If you want to continually search across news, web pages, blogs, and video and image content you'll want to get a feed reader and start loading selective sites. Find out all about feeds from the Washington and Lee University School of Law. This is a great way to promote your own website. By placing some code in your website template you can get your readers to subscribe to the content at your site, without having to remember to go there. This IS the future of web based promotion. Don't be behind the curve.

Jay Rosen, Chair of Journalism at NYU, presents a succinct yet persuasive essay on the nudge online journalism is giving to traditional styles of information gathering. Increasingly, the locus of news content is the source of the news rather than the distributor.

Snooping on kids: Court rules, do it the old fashioned way

2005-01-24T07:28:00.000-08:00

Eavesdropping on your children's telephone conversations, not recording them but LISTENING to them, could get YOU in trouble with the Washington State Supreme Court. "...the primary issue before the high court was whether the use of an extension or speaker phone was considered eavesdropping. A secondary issue was whether there was an exception in the case of parents and their children." Read the complete decision

~ the law office far away ~

2005-01-17T10:23:00.000-08:00

A free program allows you to access the entire contents of your computer from a remote location. GoToMyPC has no installation software and can be set up in a matter of seconds. Wells Anderson reviews, in the current issue of ABA GP Solo Magazine, the latest easy to use, work-facilitating computer tools.

~ This Week At Work ~

2005-01-17T08:09:00.000-08:00

The future is naked. Middle school students advised that stripping, nude dancing is lucrative. And your parents wanted you to be a lawyer! Huh!

~ Who Let the Humans Out? ~

2005-01-17T07:48:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco politicos are legislating proper dog guardian (that's you, the human) behavior, as reported in The Political Dogs and Chronicle. A proposed ordinance outlines expected animal treatment related to shelter and refreshments. Alert fellow attorneys. We know what happened to the last San Francisco attorneys who didn't curb their dogs... Surely you haven't forgotten THAT!

the heat in boutique

2005-01-17T07:31:00.000-08:00

Boutique litigation is in. Personal injury is out. So sayeth the law trend meister, Bob Denny, reporting in the current ABA Law Practice Management. The sources for this "study" aren't clear and may not be scientific but it sure is fun to read. Writing for the solo and small firms, Carolyn Elephant talks of trends but mostly addresses concerns of lawyer entrepreneurs.

~ Hire The One Who Works for You ~ Investigators in Civil Cases

2005-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:00

Attorney Lee Milford offers tips to lawyers hiring private investigators. These are summary points he develops:

+ Investigators add value to a case by finding facts that protect your client from further harm.
+ Investigators can conduct pre acceptance case assessments to determine assets and develop background on opposing parties, and provide a profile of experts and witnesses.
+ Investigators access information, not available to the attorney, through specialty sources. They have skills in computer forensics and in deciphering a subjects' internet activity.

Read the article by selecting the highlighted link,"Read the complete post!"
Using Private Investigators in Civil Cases
By Lee Stapleton Milford

As a former federal prosecutor, I was used to working with federal agents. Indeed, cases reached the U.S. Attorney's Office for prosecution by way of a federal agent who had done the investigation. This was true whether the case was a simple arrest of an individual smuggling narcotics into the airport via another country, which requires very little investigation, or a complicated money laundering or healthcare fraud, which requires the expertise of more than one agency.

When I entered private practice and began doing commercial litigation and white-collar defense cases, it seemed intuitive and natural to continue to use investigators to handle certain aspects of my cases. I was, and continue to be, quite surprised that many litigators who have not had the benefit of working with investigators do not realize the added value that an investigator can bring to a case.

For instance, an extremely wealthy married man on the West Coast found himself in the midst of a breakup with an equally prominent married woman who had left her spouse for him. As these things often play out, she threatened to sue him for palimony, although she was no doubt getting a great deal of alimony from the husband she had left. She claimed not that she was going to be living on reduced means but that her heart was broken and she was not sure she could go on. The investigator, a soul of discretion, learned that the grieving but litigious girlfriend was going to take a trip to a sultry island, ostensibly to recuperate from the traumatic ending to her romance and to gear up for litigation. The investigator, also a lover of warm climes, took the flight after the girlfriend and checked into the same hotel. Within 36 hours he was back on the plane, armed with rolls of pictures of her frolicking with her tennis instructor. No more lawsuit and no leaks to the press, since she did not want to be embarrassed by her romance with a much younger man. The client was delighted not only that he did not have to face a messy lawsuit but also that the entire matter was dealt with privately.

An investigator hired prior to filing a lawsuit may save a lawyer and client a world of grief down the road. As a first step, an investigator will conduct an asset search so that an attorney can ascertain whether it makes sense to file a lawsuit. An investigator can also conduct background investigation on the potential opposing parties, including principals of corporate entities, and do pretext visits.

A client may ask a lawyer's advice about filing a theft of trade secrets lawsuit. Several employees have left his company, which manufactures desalinization modules, and the client is convinced that these employees stole his plans on how to construct desalinization modules. An investigator can approach the former employees and inquire whether they have desalinization units for sale. If they do, and they are the same as the closely guarded ones manufactured by the client, the lawsuit makes sense. After the suit is filed however, such pretextual visits are forbidden because of party opponent problems.

A word about confidentiality is in order at this point. If your client hires the investigator, anything the investigator learns in the course of the investigation is fair game for discovery. When you retain the investigator, however, the work product privilege generally applies, and what the investigator learns is not subject to discovery. But make sure you check the rules in your jurisdiction. Discoverability may be a function of whether the statement is verbatim and signed by the witness, or a draft of the investigator's notes interspersed with his or her impressions.

Litigation is often viewed as a battle of experts. One investigator extraordinaire discovered in one of the cases he worked on that the expert witness had a short fuse regarding challenges to his professional background. The expert, who had impeccable credentials and was potentially harmful to the case, was examined closely by counsel at a deposition. The witness became enraged when the lawyer questioned his credentials and much of his background. The expert walked out of the deposition in a snit, never to be heard from again. In another case that this investigator worked, deep research into the background of an expert real estate witness uncovered a case in which a federal judge had disallowed the witness's testimony because he had "lied."

Americans are hooked on something that is more addictive than cocaine: information. Think of how many billions of words a day are communicated via cell phones, hand-held information systems such as Blackberries, and e-mail. According to some figures, 83 percent of documents never make it to the printer. Many of us are far less guarded when we are communicating in cyberspace. To paraphrase Art Linkletter, people say the darnedest things, particularly when they think their words are lost in the ether, never to be recaptured. This is where a skilled computer forensic investigator is of great assistance.

It may be that an attorney wants to know whether a document exists, perhaps one that has never been printed. The computer forensics investigator can determine this as well. These computer-type techie cops have the ability to recover lost or destroyed evidence, assist with e-evidence gathering and analyses, and generally winnow a great deal of material into some sort of manageable form.

One such investigator describes his work as "acquisition, analyses, and presentation." He acquires the information from the computer and investigates the integrity of the system and information. Pursuant to the mandate given by the lawyer or client, he then analyzes the information. It might be a simple keyword search or attempting to determine whether intellectual property was stolen and passed on. The presentation part of his job comes with writing a report with findings in a useful format, discussing the findings with the attorney, and, if necessary, testifying in court.

Pricing for an investigator varies much like fees for lawyersit depends on the complexity of the work and the experience of the practitioner. Make sure you hire the right person for the job. Do not assume that, because you go to the super-deluxe investigative agency or to an accounting or law firm with an investigative component, you are getting the investigator with the perfect skill set for the job you need completed.

Do your own investigative work and find out about the investigator's background. How long has the person been doing investigative work? If she had a prior life in law enforcement, what did she do? I once went to a high-powered investigative agency to have assets tracked down. The managing director of the firm tried to foist off on me a retired federal agent who could not make a case when he was with the government, much less find well-hidden money. An uneducated consumer might have heard what agency this fellow had been with and assumed he was competent, but I happened to know better. Ask the investigative agency who will be working on your matter, and ask for the person's resume. Assuming the resume looks okay, ask to interview the person. Someone with good credentials might not have the people skills needed for the job.

I have seen poorly skilled investigators get involved in cases, with disastrous results. A prominent client once hired a well-known investigator to find out what his business partner was doing. The surveillance was subcontracted to someone who must have fallen asleep in the car while the partner was in a South Beach club partying: He missed a bar fight caused by the person he was supposed to be surveilling and other misconduct, and then he lost the guy. Insist that whoever does the surveillance necessary in your case has gotten some sleep before the assignment.

Great teams make great cases. Skilled lawyers and knowledgeable experts can make a good case better and turn a bad set of facts around. An experienced investigator will add to your knowledge base and insight, as well as save you time and money.

Lee Stapleton Milford is an associate editor of Litigation and a partner at Baker & McKenzie in Miami, Florida. This article was excerpted from a longer one appearing in Litigation, 30:3, Spring 2004, at page 18.

~ New Year Advise for Keeping Clients' Information Private ~

2005-01-10T09:58:00.000-08:00

Protecting Your Clients from Computer-Based Identity Theft

A recent final Federal Trade Commission Rule that is part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) of 2003, requires companies to protect consumers against unauthorized access to credit report derived information, through proper disposal of computer hard drives, as well as paper documentation.

The FACTA Rule applies to virtually every business and private employer in the U.S., according to an FTC press release, and requires businesses to comply by June 1, 2005, by implementing a document destruction policy.

"Penalties for violating the rule include actual damages, statutory damages up to $1,000 punitive damages per violation (with no cap on class action damages), attorneys' fees, and civil penalties up to $2,500. FTC final rule

Read the Treasury Department's digest of the FACTA process, and final determination. Read the pdf document

Related article from the ABA: Tips For Ethically Retiring Your Old Computers.
******************
Remote Seizing of Your Private Computer Data

You've experienced this annoying problem first hand: spyware on your computer that captures your web site viewing habits. You receive unwanted email on everything from improving your sex life to shady investment schemes. In a worse-case scenario, spyware can hijack personal data, like passwords, login details and credit card numbers.

A new California State law, Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act bans the installation of software that takes control of another computer. Companies and websites must disclose whether their systems will install spyware. Victims are able to seek up to $1,000 in damages.

Earthlink and Webroot found that 90% of PCs are infested with the surreptitious software and that, on average, each one is harbouring 28 separate spyware programs.

You, and your clients can get a measure of prevention by installing FREE anti-spyware programs, such as Spybot and Ad-Aware.

~ Protect Your Clients' Web Content ~

2005-01-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

News reports have commented on instances of web content from one site appearing on a competitor's, as if it was their own. Copyscape scours the Internet for your indexed web content that is showing up elsewhere. Just enter your site URL and receive "an alert" in your email when your indexed content drifts to another website. [Thanks to Tom Mighell of Internet Legal Research Weekly for alerting me to this site.] Kathy Biehl provides a succinct overview of ways to avoid copyright infringement on the Internet. Apparently, there's generally allot of theft of intellectual property, $45 billion worth in 1999, according to a study cited by attorney blogger J. Craig Williams.

~ Easy Answers To All Your Questions ~

2005-01-10T07:08:00.000-08:00

The searchable database at The Straight Dope, answers "virtually everything of significance", according to the esteemed author. Most questions are good only for parties, more along the lines of, why is the sky blue? The author does answer essential legal questions such as, Will poppy-seed bagels cause you to fail a drug test? What does "the right to bear arms" really mean?

In a more serious vein, answers to many questions can be quickly answered by a FREE, 24/7 internet tool, AskNow, courtesy of the California State Library. A reference librarian is standing by.

Have you ever done an internet search to find out about a particular business sector or company? Where can you find reputable information on products, medical issues, reference topics and more? Give Answers.com a viewing. This site provides succinct, easily digestible responses to your questions and keyword searches. It does not return websites or a host of unrelated links. Just simple answers drawn from published sources. They also have a useful tool that can search keywords on the web and on your computer.

background research on witnesses and companies

2005-01-08T18:23:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you want to know if your client is on the up and up. Or you need to know about a company or its principals, along with witnesses and experts. You're familiar with getting your investigator on the public records trail. But these days the Internet must be culled. Including blogs, government websites, online news libraries and specialty sites. Electronically distributed information can contain admissions, profiles, and information that might just aid your client's lawsuit.

~ New Laws, New Mandates for Your Business Clients ~

2005-01-07T13:44:00.000-08:00

Businesses, with 50 or more employees, must educate supervisors about the laws regarding sexual harassment, every two years. What that means is open to interpretation because the law is not precise.

~ Tracking the news you choose ~

2004-12-05T09:45:00.000-08:00

Don't you just feel overwhelmed by the amount of information noise coming at you? The next best option to becoming a hermit is to subscribe to several news digest services. There are many search mechanisms that can filter information by keywords, so you get just the news you choose, dropped right in your email, as a toolbar on your browser, in a newsreader or at a web search engine that aggregates all your news sources.

A variety of easy to use aggregators search legal, professional, specialty and general interest news sites. Bizjournals searches can be narrowed by topic or region, limited by the keywords you supply. This service is available as a newsfeed or weekly emails.

Google Alerts tracks your topics in the news and on websites, which can be delivered to your email. If you have a My Yahoo page you can generate a specific list of topics, which Yahoo trolls for in the daily online newspapers. PubSub constantly scans blogs and news by keywords.

News aggregators allow the reader to specify search terms, then the aggregator crawls the news and blogs for those words or phrases, and delivers them in one document, a news reader. Hence YOUR news is aggregated, you don't have to go to multiple sites. Good for info junkies! Wired Magazine has a helpful summary article, for the technically disadvantaged.

If you're ready to check out the newsfeeder world take a look at these popular free aggregators from NewsMonster and NewsGator.

Content aggregators can also be incorporated as rolling news headlines on your web page.

Go to the Yahoo blog categories and see what's out there.

~ Few and far between - the decline in cases filed ~

2004-11-24T13:32:00.000-08:00

The Bureau of Justice Statistics released its updated report on the rate of civil filings. Not surprisingly, the conclusions don't comport with the current Bush administration claim of too many frivolous lawsuits.

Some of the current statistics reflect dramatic changes from the prior survey.

BJS describes the content of the report:

Examines general civil cases (torts, contracts, and real property) disposed of by bench or jury trial in the Nation’s 75 most populous counties in 2001.
Information reported includes the type of case, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. Link to full report

The abstract highlights the findings:

* During 2001 a jury decided almost 75% of the 12,000 tort, contract, and real property trials in the Nation's 75 largest counties. Judges adjudicated the remaining 24%. Tort cases (93%) were more likely than contract cases (43%) to be disposed of by jury trial.
* The 11,908 civil trials disposed of in 2001 represents a 47% decline from the 22,451 civil trials in these counties in 1992.
* In jury trials, the median award decreased from $65,000 in 1992 to $37,000 in 2001 in these counties.
* Two-thirds of disposed trials in 2001 involved tort claims, and about a third involved contractual issues.
* Overall, plaintiffs won in 55% of trials. Plaintiffs won more often in bench trials (65%) than in jury trials (53%), and in contract trials (65%) more than in tort (52%) or real property trials (38%).
* An estimated $4 billion in compensatory and punitive damages were awarded to plaintiff winners in civil trials. Juries awarded $3.9 billion to plaintiff winners while judges awarded $368 million. The median total award for plaintiff winners in tort trials was $27,000 and in contract trials $45,000.
* Punitive damages, estimated at $1.2 billion, were awarded to 6% of plaintiff winners in trials. The median punitive damage award was $50,000.
* Plaintiffs prevailed in about a fourth (27%) of medical malpractice trials. Half of the 311 plaintiffs who successfully litigated a medical malpractice claim won at least $422,000, and in nearly a third of these cases, the award was $1 million or more. Link to text version of full report

Timeline, what timeline???

2004-11-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, we all procrastinate, but really, looking for an answer to a problem on the eve of trial? Ya, that's this business. Investigators, at least good ones, are adept at thinking on our feet and responding in a crisis. But just in case you DO want to plan ahead, and get the most data, here's a timeline guide.

// Investigators can get court records from any geographic locale in which they are available. Here's the hitch. The courts determine WHEN those files are available. Closed cases are often in a warehouse, sometimes only accessed once a week. Due to budget cuts, some courts are open fewer hours and days. 2 week lead time usually covers this variability.

// Vital Records offices can easily take 2 months to respond to a request. All the money in the world can't get them to expedite this. But the same records can usually be obtained from the county in which they were filed, on the day of the request.

// FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) responses languish in the dark hole of whatever agency from which records are requested. A signed release or a subpoena can move this along. Otherwise, a 6 month thumb-twirling wait is usual. State Sunshine laws usually require the agency to reply more quickly.

// Police records (incident reports and calls for service) are available, in California, and many states, without a release, if requested for a legitimate business reason. The CPRA (California Public Records Act) specifies that these must be produced within 10 business days, or an explanatory denial must be issued. Sounds straightforward, right? Huh! I usually have to flood the police department, the district attorney and the city attorney with paper during those 10 days, ensuring that they know I know the law and will stop at no excuse to get a public record. Allow 2 weeks, or more.

// Investigate, find more. One piece of evidence tends to lead to others: the divorce reveals a criminal record in another county, a prior marriage, an out of state bankruptcy; an interview reveals bad acts that conflict with the subject's sworn statements (Noooo!). Investigate as soon as you take a case, or before (if you have some doubts about the client; if you're wondering if the target is as bad as your client portrays; when you need an asset status) and you may actually provide a better return for your client, or at least better protection.

____________________________

Federal Judge Financial Disclosure Reports

2004-01-07T14:00:00.000-08:00

Judicial Watch posts the financial disclosure reports for Supreme Court Justices and Appellate Court federal judges. Search a particular court or name of the judge.