Our June issue of Oregon Litigation and Arbitration Reports (Jury Verdicts Northwest) just arrived and once again I counted – out of 22 verdicts reported on, 9 (NINE!) were “Rear end” accidents. ALL 9 plaintiffs recovered damages. Back up and slow down (you’ll save gas too). Channel someone who is cool, calm, and in control. The Car Guys will approve – and no one is more cool than they are.
City of Portland recently formed Motorcycle and Scooter (not Libby) Citizen Advisory Committee is seeking members. Web announcement here – deadline is July 16th!
Our very own Brian Doyle, in his Special to the Oregonian article in Sunday’s paper (July 8th)book section, “In case of a reading emergency, pop the trunk” gets today’s (7/9/07) hit on Library Link of the Day. I’d even considered blogging about it myself so Library Link of the Day saves me from having to figure out what the “hook” would be. (And their LL of the D (archive links at bottom of the LLD page) for Sunday is a story for my own profession, “Cultural Images of Librarians.” A nice companion to the Saturday New York Times story (7/7/07) on the “Hipper Crowd of Shushers.”
Doyle’s is a terrific Sunday story and the only thing that surprised me was how surprised he was at how many people kept books in their trunks. Of course I’m always surprised when people say, “I thought I was the only one,” whether about something they did, ate, saw, or felt. If it makes you feel any better, you’re not the only one with angst, heartburn, grief, shame, joy, or any other emotion or condition you can think or feel.
It’s the small stuff that comes out and bites you when you’re not looking and I count on my favorite blogs to keep me informed, not to mention looking sideways and backwards.
PI Buzz brings me a dangerous dog registry and Oregon mortuary disciplinary actions and Robert Ambrogi brings me a contact lens solution recall blog link.
This link from Shlep to the Montana Public Service Law web site (and their June 19th Corky and Petunia story), brings these thoughts to mind.
We in the law librarian community have always served pro se litigants AND lawyers both of whom can get a bit stroppy, but lately I’m seeing more frustration on both sides. They, and the judiciary, need to duke it out themselves (there is only so much librarians can fix), but they can’t say there isn’t terrific information on the web (e.g. here , and here, and here), and in the law library, for both sides. I always recommend to my pro se litigants who plan to “go to court” (traffic court, small claims, jury trial, etc.) that, among other things they need to do, they should make sure to sit in on someone else’s trial or hearing to see what goes on. I’m amazed at how many find that a novel (but good) idea. Definitely a “duh!” But we all have our blind spots (heaven knows I do).
As for those attorneys who are up against pro se litigants. My heart goes out to you but it is an opportunity for you to talk to your colleagues and the court and the bar association to figure out how to make it work. Pro se litigants aren’t going away. Some states offer more help than others to their pro se litigants. In Oregon, there is help in family court cases, but not much elsewhere in the judicial system and most non-attorneys have to rely on the Oregon State Bar and Legal Aid web pages for information (and the law library of course). It’s a public service opportunity waiting for attorneys and judges to take it on.
Compiling a legislative history is not as dull as it sounds. Sure there is some slogging but the treasure troves are often off those beaten paths. If you want to research the history of an Oregon statute, here are some hints:
1) Don’t forget the beaten path: you still need to read through the legislative journals and calendars, minutes, exhibits, tracings, and in fact, all of these basic resources are incredibly useful preparation for searching further afield. I like the legislative history guides you can find at Oregon’s law school libraries and one of them might do the trick for you: University of Oregon, Lewis & Clark, and Willamette.
2) Be methodical: I’ve created my own Oregon legislative history checklist / cheat sheet (link also from our web page) that you can look at here. It has served me well. If you like it, but want to tweak it for your own needs, email me and I’ll send you a word processed version you can make your own.
Here’s the 7th edition of the “Jailhouse Lawyers’ Manual.” Thanks to Tom Mighell at the July 1st edition of his Internet Legal Research Weekly, which you can subscribe to from his Inter-Alia blog.
Oregon Legal Research Blog