Pre-acceptance investigations are a potentially money saving investment for attorneys, mentioned by this personal injury lawyer, and could be a life-saver in complex cases. I’ve done these sort of stealth investigations, which gave the lawyer leverage in her negotiations, and sometimes settled matters for sizable amounts before a case was filed.

California PI Eric Mason, who worked on Michael Jackson’s defense, was profiled for his work on behalf of a local politician - investigating the government’s investigation.

Mason’s newest client is Perata, the unquestioned head of the East Bay political machine and target of a federal public corruption probe. Perata has racked up at least $39,000 in bills from Mason’s firm so far this year. Mason specializes in “pre-indictment investigations,” which basically are defense-team probes into what the government is investigating.

Not everything that’s on the web can be found through a general search engine. A fairly new development being utilized by blinkx.tv and TVeyes enables keyword searching of text in video that’s posted on the Internet. SearchEngineWatch gives a wrap up.

Legislative action to open the original birth certificates of adoptees is making its way through the Connecticut General Assembly. The bill, An Act Providing Adult Adopted Persons with Access to Information in Original Birth Certificates, would make the birth records available to the adoptee and to approved researchers. Maybe investigators or genealogists in Connecticut could comment on the requirements to be an approved party.

The California legislature, adding its imprint to a politician’s dream issue, is considering Assembly Bill 2838, “an act to add Section 530.1 to the Penal Code, and to amend Section 2891 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to telephone records.”

If instituted this bill, codified as PC 530.1, offers 1 year in the slammer to any “person who willfully obtains a telephone calling pattern record or list of another person without that person’s consent…” Read the rest of this entry »

An earlier attempt to seal California divorce records was dashed by an appellate court but a revised version is on the legeslative fast track, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Senate Bill 1015 would require elected and private judges seal financial records and personal identifiers, including residential addresses, contained in divorce filings.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, upon request by a party to a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, nullity of marriage, or legal separation, the court shall order sealed or redacted any portion of a pleading that lists the parties’ financial assets, liabilities, income or expenses, or provides the location of, including a residential address, or identifying information about, those assets, liabilities, income, or expenses.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has been relentlessly hammering Congress and various regulatory bodies to outlaw pretexting and the sale of telephone subscriber information. EPIC is now trying to bring the American Bar Association and state Bar associations under their sway. In their letter to the Bar associations EPIC says that lawyers, via hired private investigators who engage in pretexting for any purpose, have committed an unethical act, in violation of the Rules of Professional Conduct.

We believe that attorneys who hire investigators or other companies to engage in pretexting violate ethical norms.

The pressure is being applied by EPIC on public and private entities - through legal, legislative and regulatory channels - to restrict any method of information gathering that isn’t specifically allowed by law which they consider to be a violation of personal privacy.

We request that appropriate action be taken to ensure that attorneys in your state are not employing investigators or other companies to engage in pretexting or other fraud.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kern County, California has its civil index accessible online. Civil and small claims actions are searchable by docket number, last name or partial last name. The inclusive dates are somewhat limited, as are the types of cases:

Cases that may not be online include Unlimited Civil and Family Law cases from 1996 and earlier and Limited Civil cases (including Unlawful Detainers and Small Claims cases) from July 2003 and earlier.

With all that said, I found Superior Court cases listed that were filed in the 1970s.

The Kansas Supreme Court met with mighty resistence when it tried to force Johnson County - the lone holdout - to comply with the fee-only access to statewide electronic court records. The persistent county has garnered the backing of the legislature for free access to the statewide electronic court index. Just to show who’s boss, the elected agents of the people propose to pay for the free online access with funds that were slated for judicial pay increases. Read all about it.

The North Dakota Attorney General has issued an opinion that a privately operated arts organization that received public funds is subject to the state’s open meetings and public records act. Read the rest of this entry »

A blog is a web page of bite-sized information blurbs, news items and commentary that is frequently updated. Each entry is called a “post” and is arranged chronologically. Most blogs are tailored to a theme; PI buzz covers topics of interest and benefit to professional investigators and researchers.

Blogs are unique because they’re instant messages to the Internet and they invite the reader to become a participant.(Select the “Comments/No Comments” link at the end of any post and take a trial run. Don’t fear. You can’t break anything.)

Your participation and ideas for future posts keep PI buzz alive. Read the rest of this entry »