Shlep has a post (from 12/18) with lots of good links on the subject, “holiday hell week at family courts.” Let’s hope not, but … prepare for some heartbreak. We provide law library services to a lot of local juvenile and family law attorneys – it’s a tough job, not unlike walking a tightrope high above a canyon, with a child in each arm.
OSB recently published 2006 revisions to their “Creditors’ Rights and Remedies” and “Oregon Uniform Civil Jury Instructions” CLE manuals/deskbooks (could I start a movement to STOP calling them CLEs and start calling them, maybe, practice guides or something like that? We all get a little testy after the 43,598th time saying, “the MANUAL, you know, the DESKBOOK, you know, the LOOSELEAF, NOT the CLE coursebook.’ Sigh.
Both the Oregonian and the Portland Tribune have stories today (and in the past, of course) about Measure 37 (M37) developments. There seems to be some surprise that it’s not the little guy who is filing M37 complaints, though there is some of that. Duh (that’s librarian-ese for Uh huh). Just about any county law librarian could have told them this shortly after M37 passed. We prepared for an influx of ordinary people with M37 questions and instead, nothin’. It occurred to us in very short order that most of the M37 filers were people with lawyers, and in some cases, people with big law firm lawyers. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing (if I had a M37 claim, I’d probably hire an attorney), but why voters and the head of Portland’s M37 program thought it was a “mom & pop” do-it-yourself game, I’ll never know:
“It’s a whole new ball game,” Dearth said. “It’s not the mom and pop, Dorothy English-style claim anymore.” [Chris Dearth, head of Portland’s M37 program] [Quoted from the Portland Tribune story.]
The Oregonian had a nice story today on neighborhood mediation services, “Neighbor got your goat? Time to call in a mediator.” They link to Resolutions Northwest for more information. Some Oregon cities, e.g. Hillsboro and Beaverton, have local mediation services in place and in Portland, some neighborhood associations can also help out or refer to professionals. These are terrific places to begin to resolve disputes – save the courthouse for later if necessary.
“From a nothin’ to a somthin'” (and one day I’ll tell you where that quote comes from – and laugh and laugh you will). I used to think we had almost nothing on Condo law in Oregon and now we have a bounty of resources. If you put the word “condo” in the search box at the top of this blog you will see links to most or even all, and any future condo postings I might make. I now have two more resources to add to this collection:
1) The Official HOA Handbook, A. Richard Vial, editor, (Northwest HOA Law Center, 2003)
2) Oregon Nonprofit Corporation Handbook (use the index to find some very useful information on HOAs)
The latest issue (Fall 2006, vol. 25, no.3) of Litigation Journal (published by the OSB Litigation Section) has, among other informative articles, one by Erick J. Haynie, entitled, “The Lis Pendens Doctrine inOregon: Caging the Golden Goose in Real Estate Litigation.”
If you need an alternative to all that holiday music, try Sarah Kaltsounis’ “The School of Rock: Learn Criminal Law by Listening to the Radio.” (Linked to via Trial Ad Notes where you will also find a link to a great story about the use of therapy dogs in a prosecutor’s office.)
If you’re going to work as an independent contractor, by all means read up on the subject and make sure you understand your rights and obligations. Your local public library will have lots of books on the subject (depending, of course, on the size of your local public library), but also check out the Oregon Gov sites, here and here. Oh, and there is also this from the IRS and lots of practical information from our favorite self-help legal publisher, Nolo Press.
There is something to be said for being a new (or relatively new) state resident. We can find wonder in things like this final report from the Public Commission on the Oregon Legislature. Wonky is as wonky does. Just don’t get me started on Mayor Potter’s Charter Revision Commission 🙂
It’s a’snowin’ and a’blowin’ here in Oregon something fierce, but we’ll always have Mozart. Now you can download it all. And if you lose your ‘lectrical power, just start humming.
