Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:01 — 27.5MB)
Bob answers listener questions about name changes, pet care, and making sure that you report the sale of your car.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 30:01 — 27.5MB)
Bob answers listener questions about name changes, pet care, and making sure that you report the sale of your car.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 53:06 — 48.6MB)
Bob interviews Washington Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander. They talk about Justice Gerry Alexander’s journey from Trial Attorney to becoming the longest standing Chief Justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, his upcoming retirement, and some history of Washington State.
Melanie Kirkpatrick reviews The Pledge in today’s Wall Street Journal (page A17). The book is by Jeffrey Owen Jones and Peter Meyer and looks like a fun historical tour of the Pledge of Allegiance, taking us from its 1892 Columbus Day origins to today’s relatively secure place in our schools. The Pledge expanded from 22 words to the current 31, was challenged unsuccessfully by Mennonites, successfully by Jehovah’s Witnesses, lost its raised-arm salute to Hitler, and withstood a Supreme Court challenge as recent as 2004. If you haven’t heard Mako Nakagawa’s story about how and where she learned the Pledge of Allegiance, stop by the Legal Line archives and take a listen. It’ll make you think. We’ll add The Pledge to the Recommended Reading List.
Today the Washington Supreme Court reached into our home computers and pulled out our metadata for public inspection. Metadata is hidden information about an electronic document. It can be very revealing (and sometimes embarrassing). For example, e-mail metadata might show dates the mail was sent, received, replied to or forwarded, as well as blind carbon copy information (how many of us have used the bcc function), and more. Today, in O’Neill v. City of Shoreline, the Court decided that metadata associated with a private citizen’s e-mail that was forwarded to the Shoreline Deputy Mayor was subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. This is a 5-4 decision – now tell me that your vote doesn’t count in electing our judges. Going further, the City is able to inspect the home computer of the Deputy Mayor in searching for the pesky metadata. The Court says that an inspection of the home computer is appropriate because the Deputy Mayor used her home computer for city business. The dissent argues, “I do not believe that what is contained on the hard drive of a public employee’s personal home computer, whether it is deemed ‘metadata’ or something else, is a public record.” The dissent offers us common sense. The majority provides a legal home invasion. What do you think?
Read the majority opinion at http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.disp&filename=823979MAJ and then review the dissent at http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/?fa=opinions.disp&filename=823979Di1
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:14 — 28.6MB)
Bob talks about having an up to date, properly prepared Power of Attorney as well as some other key Estate Planning tips including using a corporate trustee, and having your What About Me? filled out for a caretaker.