It Boggles the Mind

Lately, there has been a number of cases in the news about divorced parents killing their kids (and their estranged spouses).  In addition to that, I've been seeing an up-tick on the number of child abuse cases flowing through the courts.  What I want to know is when does beating on a little person get fun?  I mean you really have to think about that one.  It's your kid, for goodness sake.  Picture it, a thug of a guy (or a woman) sitting at the kitchen table looking over at their kid thinking...yep, I'm going to pound that kid until s/he snaps.  Forget that you're 5 times the size of the kid.  Forget that your kid loves you unconditionally.  Forget that, well, he's YOUR kid!  Yeah, I don't get it.

The thing is, there are more ways to abuse a child than just beating them.  Studies exist which examine children in orphanages.  In another study looking at children in Romania, scientists examined the institutional nature of orphanages and it's toll on the child mind. Then there is the unsubstantiated story about the Russian Baby Experiment.  Seems a

bunch of social "scientists" took a bunch of kids at an orphanage.  The first group they nurtured them and the other group they didn't - basically ignored them.  Yeah, they were fed and diapers changed but that's about it.  Doesn't take a "scientist" to figure out that the second group didn't live long or prosper.

Want information about child abuse (in all it's ugly forms), head on over to your local county law library and take a look at Legal Rights of Children (West), Handling Child Custody, Abuse, and Adoption Cases (West), and Children and the Law in a Nutshell (West). Yeah, they're a real eye opener.

You usually find what you're looking for

The other day as I was doing my Librarian mambo, I had a guy come into the library all banged up.  Seems he used to be the proud owner of a motorcycle.  Turns out as he was riding his bike up the freeway down between the lanes (you know how cyclists do that) some psycho opened their door resulting in a crashed bike and extensive injuries.  A personal injury attorney's dream come true!

The reason this story is on my blog is because this particular cyclist noted that this is the first time he had been in a "law" library. He noted that never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he'd have to visit in a law library.  Chuckling under my breath (because I hear this about 50 times a day), I lead him over to and had him reading Motorcycle Accident Reconstruction and Litigation (Lawyers & Judges Pub.), California Tort Damages (CEB), and AmJur Proof of Facts (West) in mere minutes.

Yep, people everyday don't realize how important "law" libraries are until they need one and we'll be ready when you do, too.

It's only going to get worse

There are sure a whole lot of misguided people in the world today.  Like those people who believe the email saying some guy in Africa will give them $10,000,000; or people who believe that you can look like a super model and still drink kegs of beer;  or people like those who believe that the politician who lied to you last election to get elected won't lie to you again; or people like those who believe that you really can get a living trust drawn up for $100.  Pipe dreams, all.

Most of the scams I see deal with people who paid thousands of dollars to an attorney only to have said attorney not do anything.  Just the other day I had a lady come into to our library.  Seems months before her father passed away, he had gone to a lawyer who had advertised that he could draw up a will, trust, and durable powers of attorney for only $150.

Problem is, when it came to enforcing provisions in the trust, the court rejected the whole thing and the estate went to probate.

Maybe you are asking yourself, "How can I protect myself from unscrupulous, opportunistic lawyers and legal types?"  Might I suggest you take a look at your state or county's bar association website?  Since I live in California, I might look at the California Bar Association's website (www.calbar.org) and look for an expert in estate planning.  

Another great website that can help you find expert attorneys is Hieros Gamos (http://www.hg.org/index.html).  HG.org is great for searching, among other things, lawyers and law practice listings in over 260 areas of practice!

Finally, another great resource for finding attorneys is the pay-for-play site Martindale.com (www.martindale.com).  Martindale.com is helpful because it is a peer-reviewed resource (meaning, good attorneys don't want to be associated with dead-beat attorneys so, if the attorney is no good, their peers will give them a low rating). 

So, next time you find yourself in a legal bind, take a deep breath and go talk to your local county law Librarian before you lay your money down.  You can bet we'll help get you going in the right direction.

Word of the Month for February 2013: Collections

I can't count the number of people who come into our law library looking to sue someone.  Someone slipped on a banana peal and was suing a supermarket.  Someone breached a contract.  Someone scammed an old couple out of their retirement nest egg.  Someone rammed into a new car.  Someone's kid beat up another person's kid at school.  Lots and lots of cases.  The problem is that 99.999% of the potential plaintiffs (i.e. the people who file the lawsuit) don't realize is that merely suing someone is not the end of their troubles.  Nope.  The trouble starts when they win their lawsuit.  It is the conclusion of the lawsuit that brings us our word of the month.

The word of this month is COLLECTIONS.  I remember years ago when I was working as a clerk for an area attorney.  We would win lawsuit after lawsuit but we could never collect because the defendants were often destitute deadbeats, or bankrupt businesses, or guys who owed money on spousal/child support.  We could never catch a break - until this one case which we won against a prominent local restaurant supplier and the best part was that

they had money.  Lots and lots of it.  We just had to get at it.

Back then, as a clerk for a lawyer, I was not the prominent, infinitely knowledgeable, mind-blowing law Librarian you see before you now.  No, I was a lowly law clerk struggling to learn the business of law.  What I did know is that I could go to my local county law library for help on darn near any topic imaginable.  So, with that bit of knowledge, I asked my local county law Librarian what resources they had on collections and he suggested I take a look at California Practice Guide: Enforcing Judgments and Debts (West), Debt Collection Practice in California (CEB), How to Collect when you win in a Lawsuit (Nolo Press), American Jurisprudence, 2d (look in the index under Executions and Enforcement of Judgments) (West), Collection Actions (NCLC), and AmJur Proof of Facts (look in the index under Collection of Debt) (West).

Yep, I may not have always been a wizened law Librarian but I've always known that I could rely on my friendly neighborhood law Librarian to help direct me to the right path (and now, you know it, too).