Wisconsin State Law Library

What's New – Connie Von Der Heide

Libraries Closed January 16

WSLL, MLRC and DCLRC will all be closed on Monday, January 16 in observance of the Martin Luther King, Jr. state holiday.

Gilson Glasier

After Hours Service

Start the New Year right with a subscription to the State Law Library's After Hours service, available to attorneys licensed to practice in Wisconsin. Subscribers to this convenient service have access to the Wisconsin State Law Library from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. After Hours subscriptions run on the calendar year, so subscribe today for the best value. Details and application form are available on our After Hours Access page.

Longest-serving State (Law) Librarian inducted into Wis. Library Hall of Fame

Gilson G. Glasier, who served as Wisconsin's State Librarian from 1906 to 1956, was posthumously inducted into the Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame during the Wisconsin Library Association's awards and honors banquet in Milwaukee November 3, 2011.

During his nearly 51 years of service, Mr. Glasier made many important contributions to both the law librarian and legal professions, as outlined in his Hall of Fame biography and this article from our August 2011 issue.

The Wisconsin Library Hall of Fame is administered by the Wisconsin Library Heritage Center, a program of the Wisconsin Library Association Foundation.

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This Just In… – Pete Boll

Updated! Neighboring property owners, by Jacqueline P. Hand and James C. Smith
West Publishing, 1988 with 2011-2012 cumulative supplement
WSLL Call Number: KF 639 .H36 1988

This handy, one-volume treatise examines issues and new developments in neighboring property law, discussing land use, rights, and federal, state, and local regulations. How the modern legal system shapes and circumscribes the relative rights of landowners is also examined. Hand and Smith provide citations to leading authorities, analyze important modern cases with footnotes suggesting further research materials, and discuss numerous specialized areas affecting the field including nuisance, trespass, support of land and improvements, airspace, adverse possession and boundary disputes, agreements among neighbors, private enforcement of zoning, state environmental legislation, enforcement of federal environmental statutes, water rights, condominiums, cooperatives, and timesharing.

The cumulative supplement discusses recent developments in:

• Easements implied from prior use
• Easements by necessity
• Private condemnation of right of way
• Prescriptive easements

Updated! Public accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act: compliance and litigation manual, 2011-2012 edition, by Anne Marie Estevez, Athalia E. lujo, and John d. Bosco
West Publishing, 2011
WSLL Call Number: KF 5709.3 .S43

This manual presents the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in easy-to-understand language, making it a very useful resource for ensuring compliance or handling litigation. Along with a comprehensive review of ADA standards and litigation issues, it provides practical guidance in applying Title III of the law (public accommodations). Key topics covered include ADA requirements, entities covered by and exempted from Title III, constitutional challenges to Title III, barrier removal, new construction and alterations, auxiliary aids, federal certification, tax considerations, and enforcement. Handy features include a 50-state survey of state laws relating to public accommodation of disabled persons; the full text of the ADA for quick reference; and the ADA Accessibility Guidelines and Uniform Federal Accessibility Standards, with illustrations.

New developments and materials included in the 2011-2012 edition include:

• The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted a motion to dismiss by Facebook, Inc. in a Title III claim, because Facebook "operates only in cyberspace, and is thus not a 'place of public accommodation'" under Ninth Circuit precedent. (See § 5:2.)
• The Eighth Circuit held that a franchisor was not liable for a franchisee's non-compliance with section 302 of the ADA because it did not control access to the building to which plaintiff alleged she was denied access. (See § 5:3.)
• The 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design (See Appendix C.)

See our latest New Titles list for a list of new books and other resources.

For assistance in accessing these or other resources, please contact our Reference Desk.

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Tech Tip in Brief – Heidi Yelk

Social Media and Debt Collection… do they mix?

Technology moves faster than government. Therefore, it's no surprise that the use of social media by debt collectors has increased while consumer protection agencies are still sorting out rules for fair debt collection in cyberspace. Are bill collectors allowed to contact a debtor via Facebook? Can collection agencies gather information using Google+? Do current protections under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) translate to social media?

These were just some of the issues discussed at a Federal Trade Commission workshop in April 2011. "Debt Collection 2.0 " was designed "to address consumer protection issues that have arisen as debt collectors avail themselves of advances in technology. " (76 FR 14010) The workshop transcript, webcast, public comments and numerous other resources can be found on the Debt Collection 2.0 website.

Meanwhile, litigants are taking the issue to court, asking judges to review debt collector behavior on social media sites. Beacham v. MarkOne Financial (Pinellas County Court, Fla, 2010) has been identified as the first of such lawsuits, with allegations including harassment and illegal third party disclosure via Facebook. Although Beacham won the case, the issue of debt collector communication via social media is far from settled.

This letter by an official from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) illustrates that debt collectors must continue to operate within the scope of the FDCPA, regardless of the media used. However, as author Colin Hector states in the December 2011 issue of the California Law Review, "... new technologies raise privacy concerns that are not easily resolved under the FDCPA. " (99 Cal. L. Rev. 1601, 1605) The challenge of bringing the FDCPA in line with new technologies will fall to a newly created federal agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which was created by the Dodd-Frank Act. (P.L. 111-203).

Meanwhile, the FTC will continue to take on consumer protection issues in social media. One very recent focus has tackled the use of facial recognition software. The FTC will be taking public comments on this issue until Jan. 31, 2012.

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WSLL Recommends: Proskauer on Privacy

This monthly column highlights a legal research tool, in print and/or electronic format, that is not freely available on the internet. We hope it will increase your knowledge of sources with which you might already be familiar and help to expand your legal research toolkit.

The Practising Law Institute publishes Proskauer on Privacy: a guide to privacy and data security law in the information age as part of the Corporate and Securities Law Library. This one volume title is updated semi-annually with the help of industry experts and packs a wealth of information. A wide range of privacy topics are covered including:

• Medical privacy
• State privacy laws
• The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
• Financial privacy
• Workplace privacy law
• Privacy of electronic communications
• Federal Trade Commission enforcement of privacy

The opening chapter lays out a detailed history of information privacy law starting in Colonial America and ending with the current multitude of privacy laws. The treatise is updated on advances in technology and their impact on privacy with sections on text messaging, human tracking devices using geolocation technology and behavioral marketing techniques on the internet.

Of special interest to our readers may be the chapter on state privacy laws. This chapter contains statutory references and case annotations along with a discussion about the impact of state legislation which conflicts with federal legislation.

Check out this treatise for all your privacy research needs.

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Odds 'n' Endings – Amy Crowder

WSLL Marks Ten Years in Risser Justice Center

This month the State Law Library celebrates its tenth year in the Risser Justice Center. We invite you to visit us for your legal research needs, Westlaw searching, CLE class credits, wireless internet access, room rental, or to catch up on the latest legal journals.

The Wisconsin State Law Library offers free group tours and orientation sessions to assist new users. Contact reference staff for more information or to schedule a tour.

New DOJ Crime Notification Service

The Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) has created a new crime notification service. The Wisconsin Crime Alert Network is a subscription service that sends out crime alert bulletins to businesses, organizations and the general public. Local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement agencies throughout the state are participating in the service. 2009 Wisconsin Act 358 authorized the DOJ to create the new service, which is modeled after a similar program in Minnesota .

An annual subscription to the service currently costs $12, and subscribers may choose to receive alerts by email, text and/or fax. Types of alerts include finding stolen property, identifying suspects, locating missing persons, notifying the public about a police action, and crime prevention. Alerts are issued based upon location and the type of business or organization, if applicable.

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