Estate Planning for Your Google Afterlife

A user of Google products like Gmail, Google+, cloud storage Drive, Picasa, and YouTube can use Google Account Manager to automatically delete his Gmail, Google+, cloud storage Drive, Picasa, and YouTube data after a set time period of inactivity OR to notify a trusted friend or relative that his data can be downloaded. That set period of inactivity set by the user could be attributed to many causes. Death is one reason for inactivity. The chosen person, or up to 10 people chosen by the user, would be notified of the user’s inactivity and if previously given permission by the now departed, they would have the opportunity to download the deceased’s data. The chosen person or persons could not take over the deceased’s accounts to send emails, post photos, or load YouTube videos from the deceased’s accounts, but the data would be available for download as indicated by the deceased.
If the deceased did not utilize Google Account Manager to provide for access to his accounts after his death, there is a procedure for an authorized representative of the deceased to gain access. It is a two step process involving establishing the representative’s identity and supplying the deceased’s death certificate in the first step. Only after completing the first step may the representative go on to the second step which requires a U.S. court order and/or submitting additional materials. Visit the Google website for further information.

Witkin Symposium – Learning from Ethical Nightmares in Famous Trials: How Similar Issues are Handled under Today’s Rules

Doron Weinberg, Judge Lise A Pearlman, Retired, and Steven A. Lewis are the panelists from noon to 2:00 pm in the Alameda County Conference Center, in the same building as the Alameda County Law Library, at 125 Twelfth Street at Oak Street in Oakland. This highly entertaining program, with 2 Hours of Ethics MCLE Credit, focuses in turn, on serious ethical issues raised in four extraordinary trials that made national headlines in the early 20th century. First, the Tennessee trial of Ed Johnson for rape, second the Georgia trial of Leo Frank for the murder of Mary Phagan, third Clarence Darrow’s last case, and fourth the New Jersey trial of Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby. In those days the rules of professional responsibility were rarely enforced. The panel then turns to current issues under our California rules in each of the areas of focus raised in the headline trials. Whether your practice is civil or criminal, you should find these cautionary tales informative and gain valuable lessons from the discussion of parallel ethical problems today. Call 510-272-6484 to register with Visa or Master Card. Lunch is included in the registration. Registration/sign in is from 11:30 a.m. to noon. More information is available in the flyer at http://www.acgov.org/law/WitkinLecture2013flyer.pdf

Our Facebook Future: How It May Serve Us!

While it just happened in the United States, service of process by Facebook has been happening in other countries for several years. It has been used in Australia, the United Kingdom and New Zealand when all other means of find the defendant(s) have not worked. Once the Facebook account owner has been verified,  a private message is sent with the documents attached.

Australia was the first country to use it in the case of MKM Capital v. Corbo in 2008. The defendants had moved, changed jobs and phone numbers. The plaintiffs were able to prove that the Facebook accounts they found were for the defendants because of the way they had “friended” each other and other identifiable information on the Facebook pages.

Courts are beginning to see the worth of this method of service in special situations.  Is service Twitter next?

The Texas Bar Association Journal has an interesting article on this topic: Texas Bar Journal March 2010

WestLawNext Pinpoint Citations

Available only on WestLawNext, the pinpoint citation search allows the user to search directly for the page in case where the issue or citation the user is looking for is discussed.
To retrieve a specific page, simply type the citation with the pinpoint page as the final number instead of the first page of the case. If you are looking for a case with the citation of 131 S. Ct. 2541 and your pinpoint page is 2557, simply enter the citation as 131 S. Ct. 2557. The system will automatically take you to that page. A green arrow will show you where on the page your case is cited. However, as a matter of principle and good legal research, it is always important to read, or at skim, the entire case to make sure it really says what your pinpoint search appears to give you.
If you are already in a document, the “Go to” navigation button can take you to a specific page in the case.
An even more exciting new enhancement to WestLawNext  allows you to email the results to yourself and others removing the print or download to a flash drive at the Law Library.
Come in and try it. We’re always looking for feedback on our services, both at the reference desk and our online databases.

Service of Process by Facebook

Judge Engelmayer

In what may be the first service of process by Facebook approved by a judge in the United States,  U.S. District Judge Engelmayer in Federal Trade Commission v. PCCare 247 Inc. issued an order allowing the FTC to serve defendants in India using email and Facebook. The defendants in India allegedly tricked computer owners in the United States into sending money to the defendants to fix computers which were working and had no problems.Originally service of the summons and complaint were by email to defendants’ known email addresses, by Federal Express, and by personal service using a process server. FedEx had confirmed delivery to most defendants, and the process server had personally served all 5 defendants. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 (f)(1) and The Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters the summons, complaint and other documents were submitted to The Indian Central Authority which has not formally served the defendants nor replied to the FTC’s efforts to ascertain why not. Defendant Vikas was served in the United States with the summons and complaint. The defendants were represented by attorneys in the hearing on the preliminary injunction which was subsequently issued. The court had unfrozen some assets so the defendants could pay their attorneys. The attorneys were not paid so the court allowed the attorneys to withdraw.

The proposed means of service are not prohibited by international agreement and comport with due process. Evidence showed the Facebook accounts were registered with email addresses used by the defendants.

Do you think service by Facebook will increase rapidly?

New Addition to Rutter Group’s California Practice Guide: Civil Procedure Before Trial Series

First there was Civil Procedure Before Trial, then they spun off Statutes of Limitation and Forms . Now we have a new two volume subject specific “Claims and Defenses .” (KFC 1020 .W57)

While the original Civil Procedure Before Trial walks a person through the steps of a law suit, it doesn’t present subject specific information. You would have to use several other books to put that information together.

This new 2-volume set fills that gap by discussing topics like Harm to Persons, Harm to Economic Interests, Harm to Reputation and Privacy Interests, Fraud, Negligence, etc. Each of the 13 chapters discusses one area of law and provides elements of a claim, particular defenses, statute of limitations and remedies for each subject within the chapter. For example, the chapter on “Product Liability” has sub-areas of manufacturer defect, design defect, warning defect, negligence and breach of warranty. “Fraud” includes fraud and deceit, negligent misrepresentation and fraudulent transfers .
The set is available for use in the library. Come in and look it over.

New Books

Neighbor Disputes: Law and Litigation
Baxter, Todd W and Rubin, Kay F., CEB, 2013
KFC 141 .N4 5

This new title from California Education of the Bar (CEB) becomes a very useful tool in this treacherous area of law. When neighbors have problems, the results can be disastrous. While not perfect, mostly because there are no forms, the authors have managed to bring together a compendium of the most common issues between neighbors in one easy to use volume. It also includes some contemporary problems which have not been addressed before like solar and wind energy and home businesses. This is beyond the problems we usually think of: trees, encroachments, easements, fences, obstructed views, water rights, animals and noise, for example. Until now, there has been no good California treatise on these issues. This book solves that problem. Let’s hope in the future the authors and CEB decide to either incorporate sample forms or publish a companion volume with that information. Reviewed by Sheila Corman.

Understanding the Law Series (LexisNexis):
Understanding Property Law
Jonathon G. Sprankling,
2012KF 561 .S67 2012 Self-Help

This series is similar to the West’s Nutshell books in a larger physical format that is easier to read. “Property” here includes real and personal property with chapters covering topics as diverse as “Finders of Personal Property” to “Wild Animals” to “Intellectual Property”. The basics of real property are explained in chapters on the fundamentals of land title, adverse possession, nuisance, transfer at death, trespass, easements, zoning and more. The book also analyzes such cutting edge issues as current takings issues, the new Restatement (Third) of Property (Servitudes),

Understanding Constitutional Law
John B. Attanasio and Joel K. Goldstein, 2012
KF 4550 .Z9 R43 2012 Self-Help

While a foundational source on constitutional law, this guide’s value lies in bringing together analysis of relatively recent cases raising constitutional law issues. Much is made of “new justiciability decisions of the Roberts Court”. Many of the decisions included Involve “hot button” issues such as partial birth abortion, the Second Amendment, homosexuality, the Patriot Act, school desegregation, and religion.

Understanding Disability Law
Mark C. Weber, 2012
KF 480 .W433 2012 Self-Help

Did you know that the largest minority in the United States are people with disabilities? Laws, regulations and cases have increased accordingly along with questions and controversies. For one attempting to learn about or research disability issues, this title is a “compact treatise” which analyzes these as related to disability discrimination in employment, education, public accommodations, by federal, state and local governments, housing, transportation and telecommunications. Constitutional issues of due process, equal protection and the Eighth Amendment arise particularly in cases of mental disabilities. The book discusses other laws as related to controversial and unresolved issues of disability rights, such as who is a person with a disability purposes of federal statutes. This is a useful starting guide to this complex area of the law.

Email or Download Content from WestlawNext- Free of Charge!

Patrons using WestlawNext at the law library now have the option of emailing results or saving to a flash drive, free of charge. Through the library’s WestlawNext subscription, users can access the full-text of state and federal primary materials, and many popular secondary sources, including Rutter Group practice guides, California Jurisprudence, American Jurisprudence, and American Law Reports. Content retrieved from WestlawNext can be saved or emailed as PDF files or Microsoft Word or WordPerfect documents.

Form templates found in California Law & Motion Model Forms, Civil Procedure Before Trial: FORMS, California Transactions Forms, Miller & Starr Forms, and West’s Legal Forms can be downloaded or emailed as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect documents for easy manipulation.

To download or email one or more documents from WestlawNext, locate the envelope icon in the upper-right hand corner or the document or chapter you are viewing. Click on the arrow to the right of the envelope icon to open the delivery options drop-down menu. Select “Download” to save the document(s) to a flash drive, or select “Email” to email the document(s) to your home or work email address.

Click here to support law library services by making a tax-deductible donation!

In the Neighborhood: Off the Grid with OMCA

On Fridays when you are leaving the Alameda County Law Library, stop at 10th and Oak Streets to pick up dinner at one of the many food trucks from Off the Grid. There’s music, some tables and chairs, and 1/2 off admission to the Oakland Museum of California with wine and beer by the koi pond from 5-9 p.m. Street parking and parking in the museum’s underground parking lot is available. Families, young people, and walkers of all ages from the neighborhoods near Lake Merritt come over and workers stop on their way to the Lake Merritt BART station. I enjoyed the BBQ pork from Sanguchon and plan to try another food truck next Friday. Off the Grid will be next to the museum every Friday evening through July 1, perhaps longer depending on the permit situation.

FL-980: New Form for Serving a Missing Spouse

The Judicial Council of California has created a simple, fill-in-the-blank form that allows one spouse to proceed with a divorce even if their husband or wife cannot be located. By filing an Application for Order for Publication or Posting (FL-980), the petitioning party requests the court’s permission to serve their spouse by publishing the summons in a newspaper of general circulation or by posting the summons in a location where the respondent is likely to receive actual notice. The petitioning party must disclose all prior attempts made to locate and serve the missing spouse, including visits to the respondent’s last known address and inquiries made to the respondent’s friends, family, and past and current employers.

If the judge determines that the petitioning party has made reasonable efforts to locate the respondent’s whereabouts and that the respondent cannot be served in a conventional manner, he or she will issue an Order for Publication or Posting (FL-982). The Order specifies how the petitioner may effect service on the respondent using one of these alternative methods.

The law library has several titles that provide in-depth information on service of process:

• The Registered Process Server’s Guide to Service of Process in California / by Tony Klein, Process Server Institute, c2008.

• Handling Service of Process (Serving Summons in Civil Proceedings)/ by Mark D. Lipton, Continuing Education of the Bar, c2009.