Fighting for the underdog

Do any of  you out in blogland remember the cartoon Underdog?  I loved that cartoon - Shoeshine Boy, Polly Purebred (because she was pure bred, get it?!) - great characters.  As things happen, I got older and found myself fighting for the underdog.  In fact, that was one of the reasons I went to law school in the first place - to fight for the little guy. It pains me, then, when people come into the library with barely a slim prayer of in the world of success in their respective cases.

Take, for instance, the elderly gentleman who came into the library a while back.  Seems he was living in an area of town frequented by less than savory characters (i.e. criminals of all sorts).  Elderly Gentleman wanted to protect his home so he entered in to a long-ish contract with a security company.  Enter greasy salesman.  Salesman silver tongues elderly gentleman into a short-ish security contract (elderly gentleman plumb forgot about his long-ish security contract).  Fixed income, and all, elderly gentleman wants out of the second, short-ish contract.

Knowing elderly gentleman is in for a long haul lawsuit, I point him over to:

• Williston on Contracts (West)
• Working with Contracts (PLI)

I also suggested he take a look at Elder Law Litigation (CEB) since he was getting long in the tooth and his story suggested that the salesman had taken advantage of an old man.  Yeah, really kills me when that happens.

Another one?  Lady contacts me via the Internet.  Seems she was in an accident in Delaware back in 2012 and she's wondering whether she still has an active lawsuit.  Wanting to help her, I head over to the Delaware Codes Annotated (title 10, section 8119) and shoot off the good news to her.

Interested in personal injury codes for other states?  You might want to take a look at:

• General Laws of Rhode Island Annotated section 9-1-14
• Code of Georgia Annotated section 9-3-33
• Illinois Compiled Statutes Annotated section 5/13-202
• Texas Statutes and Codes Annotated section 16.003
• New Jersey Statutes Annotated section 2A: 14-2
• Kansas Statutes Annotated section 60-513
• Annotated Code of West Virginia section 55-2-12
• Annotated Code of Indiana section 34-11-2-4
• Code of Alabama section 6-2-38
• Kentucky Revised Statutes Annotated section 413.140
• California Code section 340 et seq.

The bottom line is that while not all legal matters end in a happily-ever-after scenario, some do.  The only way you're going to find out (other than by hiring an attorney) is to head over to your local county law library and ask your friendly neighborhood local county law librarian to help you find whatever it is you're looking to find.