What were you doing in 1980?  While many who are reading this post weren’t even born yet, I had just started my freshman year in high school.  Other things that happened in 1980 include:

• The video game Pac-man was created.
• Ronald Reagan was elected POTUS.
• John Lennon is shot to death in December of 1980 by Mark David Chapman outside of his New York apartment.
• United States–and 65 other countries–boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Soviet Union. 
• Dallas was one of the most popular television shows of the day and inspired the catchphrase “Who Shot J.R.?”
• Kramer vs. Kramer won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
• 14-year-old Brooke Shields appeared in the controversial Calvin Klein commercial.
• Mt. St. Helens in Washington state erupted, leading to 57 deaths and 3 billion dollars worth of damage.
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter signed a bill requiring 19- and 20-year-old males to register for a peacetime military draft.
• The United States Olympic Hockey Team defeated the Soviet Union in the semifinals of the Winter Olympics, in the Miracle on Ice.
• 3M began sales of it’s latest product Post-It Notes.

Last, but not least, the RCLL acquired California Pleadings: Negligence in 1980.  While it may not look like much, I found this resource while Mahum Shere and I were weeding out the collection.  While the cover is an unassuming red color, until you actually open it you don’t realize how valuable it is.  Valuable?  How in blazes can a resource that is 37 years old be all that valuable to deserve a blog post?  Well, let me elucidate.

Published by the California Trial Lawyers Association, California Pleadings: Negligence is a general guide for practitioners and is full of sample complaints, motions, and discovery related templates relating to a negligence action.  Maybe what you’re looking for is just a simple complaint for negligence?  If so, look no further than page 13 for a great example.  But, now say you were looking to file a complaint where the defendant is a minor (as in an underage person) who is also deceased?  A tricky scenario for some resources but in California Pleadings: Negligence, all you’ll have to do is turn to page 21.

The other day I had a person ask if we had any examples of a basic Prayer for Relief.  Turns out California Pleadings: Negligence has a great example on page 75 and where special damages are sought when the defendant is deceased, page 79 is where you’ll be looking.

In addition to the great examples for sample complaints, California Pleadings: Negligence also has a great section dealing with discovery for the plaintiff (and even some geared to help the defendant).  Need to draft some special interrogatories for an action dealing with an auto accident?  Page 103 has you covered in spades.  Maybe what you are looking for is a sample Motion to Compel Discovery.  Again, look no further than page 147.

Yep, So, maybe, when next you are hot on the trail for some killer resources to help answer your most pressing legal research questions, while not let the legal research professionals at the Riverside County Law Library show you why newer isn’t always better.