I’m tired of Office 2007

So, apparently, the Court system switched over to Microsoft Office 2007 sometime around the 1st of the year. So all of the schedules I receive from Johnson County are in docx format. I have Office 2007 on my work computer, but I have a Mac at home with Office X (2004). For those who don’t know, Office 2007 documents are not automatically compatible with earlier versions of Office. This means that I’m not able to open documents in the docx format from my home computer, which makes posting the schedules a little difficult, at times. So, I apologize for that. I imagine there’s a competition or antitrust lawsuit out there somewhere because of this and I am totally on board with that.

Here’s the latest in Linn County

Here is the latest order concerning the flooding in Linn County. Mainly, Jones County is no longer accepting Linn County filings and there is no more faxing of signed orders. Appearently there are still some telephone issues for some of the offices.

I haven’t read any of the new opinions, but…

Here’s a funny story. I was at the Mahaska County Courthouse yesterday for a hearing. I walked in the building after lunch and thought it smelled kind of funny. As any human being is wont to do from time to time, I decided I should use the restroom before getting back to work. I walked down the stairs toward the restroom and the smell got stronger. I looked down at the floor on the landing and there was a pile of human excrement sitting on the rug outside the entrance to the Men’s Room.

Now, I can only speculate as to why it was there. Maybe someone felt like they got a raw deal, or maybe someone just couldn’t quite make it the additional 10-20 feet. I don’t know. I do know that I saw at least one person go to use the restroom before I did and I’m not sure he saw it. I also know that someone stepped in it and tracked it down the stairs. Gross.

That’s my story instead of the normal witty remarls about the Iowa Supreme Court cases. Have a good weekend.

Proposed changes to Iowa Rules of Criminal Procedure

I don’t know how I feel about the newest proposed changes to the IRCrimP. For most cases, I’m not sure it matters that I don’t get the occupation of the witness. If you’re getting into expert witnesses, then I think it does, but I haven’t had a criminal case yet where I would have hired an expert. See the order for instructions on submitting comments on the proposed changes.

I can’t believe I forgot…

We got our server out of our office on Tuesday and it’s been up and running since Wednesday afternoon/night. Our contact info is still the same, though our telephone system is still not really working and is just rolling to our Williamsburg office where staff is taking messages and emailing them to us.

We have temporary office space with John Maher at 4201 1st Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids. We’re still using our old snail mail address, though. This has all been a learning experience.

For more info about what’s going on with other flood-affected firms in CR, go to the Linn County Bar Association website.

New info about Linn County Court operations

See the newest release here. I guess we’re getting back in business.

New Iowa Supreme Court Opinions 6/20/08

Here are the things I learned today from the Iowa Supreme Court:

Easton v. Howard - Don’t drive drunk. If only for the fact that you’ll want to remember how your boyfriend left your moving vehicle while you were executing a u-turn after an argument.

Godfrey v. State of Iowa - The single-subject provision of the Iowa Constitution is not as important as the title provision concerning legislative acts. Basically, it doesn’t really matter if each act relates only to one subject (as required by the Iowa Constitution) so long as all of the subjects are listed in the title of the act. Thank you Justice Cady for a 31-page opinion on the doctrine of standing.

Flood Update

Apparently, we still have not been able to retrieve our server. So, I’m still unable to get the court schedules, etc. I’m told we should be up and running by the end of the week, but we’ll see. I’m surprised at how busy downtown Iowa City is. There are people all over the ped mall. Fun stuff. At least we’ve seen the worst of it (knock on wood).

Linn County Flood Update

Here is an update of the plans for continuing courthouse business Linn County. The statewide update is here.

Flood-Related Closings

I just found this link to courthouses and other judicial branch offices that are closed. It appears to be updated when needed.