Tag: Practice tips

Oregon Statutory Time Limitations Now Available

Posted on | by Linda Kruschke | 2 Comments on Oregon Statutory Time Limitations Now Available

The fifth edition of Oregon Statutory Time Limitations, published as a joint project of the Professional Liability Fund and OSB Legal Publications, is now available on the BarBooks™ online library. A hard copy will be provided to all PLF-covered attorneys by request. Keep an eye on your email inbox for an email from the PLF with information on how to obtain a copy.

The OSB Professional Liability Fund and OSB Legal Publications gratefully acknowledge the Editorial Review Board for their guidance and oversight in reorganizing, reviewing, and editing this book. Editorial Review Board members are Jeffrey M. Cheyne, Craig Cowley, Hon. Joel DeVore, Bruce C. Hamlin, Richard F. Liebman, Lisa J. Ludwig, Robert J. McGaughey, Alan L. Mitchell, Phillip C. Querin, Janet Schroer, Richard A. Slottee, and Brent G. Summers. We also acknowledge the many authors for their diligence and dedication in researching and writing their individual chapters.

This completely reorganized handbook has been expanded and now includes treatment of the following practice areas:

  1. Alternative Dispute Resolution
  2. Civil Procedure and Litigation
  3. Criminal Law
  4. Family and Juvenile
  5. Appellate Practice and Procedure; Writs
  6. Elder Law; Survival of Actions; Decedents’ Estates; Trusts
  7. Personal Injury and Property Damage
  8. Employment Law and Civil Rights
  9. Business Organizations
  10. Business Litigation
  11. Debtor-Creditor Issues; Unclaimed Property; Secured Transactions; Creditors’ Rights in Bankruptcy
  12. Consumer Law
  13. Residential Trust Deeds and Mortgages; Foreclosure
  14. Issues Arising under Contracts and Articles 2, 3, and 4 of the Uniform Commercial Code
  15. Real Estate and Landlord-Tenant Law
  16. Insurance
  17. Construction Law
  18. Judgments and Liens

The inclusion of a comprehensive index and tables of cases and statutes makes this 2014 edition of Oregon Statutory Time Limitations a useful and accessible handbook.

This handbook is a reference guide to many of the statutes, cases, and procedural rules containing time limitations that are relevant to the practice of law. Although the material in this handbook has been carefully researched and reviewed, it should not be relied on as a substitute for full examination of the statutes and cases on any issue. Readers should conduct their own appropriate legal research and consult original sources of authority.

And/Or

Posted on | by Linda Kruschke | 4 Comments on And/Or

By Ian Pisarcik, Legal Publications Attorney Editor

Lodged somewhere between income disparity and climate change on the list of greatest threats facing the nation is the use of and/or. I am kidding of course. But on any given afternoon you are likely to encounter one of our editors groping the wall muttering “say what you mean, say what you mean” in response to the unhinged use of this expression. It’s not just persnickety editors that have trouble with the expression¾okay, mostly it is, but the courts don’t like it either! The expression is responsible for two of the most biting lines ever written in an opinion:

[T]hat befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced verbal monstrosity, neither word nor phrase, the child of a brain of someone too lazy or too dull to express his precise meaning, or too dull to know what he did mean, now commonly used by lawyers in drafting legal documents, through carelessness or ignorance or as a cunning device to conceal rather than express meaning with view to furthering the interest of their clients.

Employers’ Mut. Liab. Ins. Co. of Wisconsin v. Tollefsen, 219 Wis 434, 263 NW 376, 377 (1935).

It is one of those inexcusable barbarisms which were sired by indolence and dammed by indifference, and has no more place in legal terminology than the vernacular of Uncle Remus has in Holy Writ. I am unable to divine how such senseless jargon becomes current. The coiner of it certainly had no appreciation for terse and concise law English.

Cochrane v. Florida E. Coast Ry. Co., 107 Fla 431, 435, 145 So 217 (1932).

The problem isn’t that and/or has no meaning; it does (one or the other or both). The problem is that it is ambiguous at best and flat-out wrong at worst. As Bryan Garner puts it, “about half the time, and/or really means or; about half the time, it means and.” For example, if a sign says “no food or drink allowed,” it certainly doesn’t mean that you can have both.

So how do you avoid this problem? The answer, as the muttering editor will tell you, is to simply say what you mean. If you mean or, say or; if you mean and, say and; if you mean one or the other or both, say just that. For example, the defendant may be charged with unlawful arrest or malicious prosecution, or both.

Otherwise, you will continue to risk the wrath of judges or attorney editors, or both.

What’s That Author Trying to Say?

Posted on | by Linda Kruschke | Leave a Comment on What’s That Author Trying to Say?

By Linda L. Kruschke, Director of Legal Publications

OSB Legal Publications contain several types of author commentary, including practice tips, queries, and caveats. But did you ever wonder what the differences are? Or if there is any rhyme or reason to the headings of our author commentary?

We do provide authors with guidelines on using the various categories of author commentary, and our Attorney Editors are trained to recognize which category is appropriate in a given situation. But even so, if you, the reader, don’t know the difference, all our efforts are in vain. So here, at last, is the definitive description of each category of author commentary in OSB publications. These descriptions are what we provide to our authors for guidance.

•    Caveat: Use a caveat to caution the reader about an exception to the rule stated in the text, a pitfall in practice not easily discerned from the substantive law, or a development in a separate but related area of the law that may contradict or render ineffectual the rule stated in the text.

•    Comment: Use a comment to point out your analysis or opinion on the rule stated in the text or to add a side issue.

•    Example: Use an example to provide a hypothetical situation that illustrates the rule stated in the text.

•    Note: Use a note to bring to the reader’s attention a point of law or other fact that deserves special emphasis, or that is not directly related to the law being discussed in the text but that may affect it.

•    Practice Tip: Use a practice tip to describe a practice-oriented suggestion.

•    Query: Use a query when raising a question about the point of law previously discussed in the text. The reader appreciates an author’s attempt to answer the query.

Is there another type of author commentary that would be helpful to you in your practice? If so, let us know by leaving a comment below. We will consider adding it to the list of descriptions we provide to our authors and encourage them to use it.