Interest on security deposits in SF - paid annually and on all units, except subsidized

I've been at the Rent Board last Friday and overheard a conversation regarding payments on security deposits. I thought you might be interested to find out that:

(1) - The interest is paid annually, not when the tenant vacates [Section 49.2(b)];

(2) - The interest is paid also on the units exempt from the rent control; only government-subsidized units (Section 8, SFHA, etc.) are not subject to it.

Legal Paper Size is ... Illegal. Foolscap!

Today, for the first time, my complaint was not accepted for filing because some of the pages were presented on legal size paper. The lease was printed on an old "long" form, requiring the legal size, and, while I used to have those exhibits successfully filed before, my luck ended today. The reason is not even a law, but the technology: I was told that the scanning company complains about the legal size, so all non-letter sized papers are now prohibited, in order not to upset the scanners. There you have it, the paper size called "legal" is not legal after all. I made a new copy of the long pages, reducing them to 8.5" x 11," and the filing went through, but, while I waited in line, I tried to look the subject up, and here are my findings.

Not So Hard a Deadline On Posting Jury Fees

Since I've learned this rule, I always lived under an impression that the deadline to post jury fees is a "hard" deadline: one who misses it, deemed waived her/his right to a jury trial. (Cal. Code Civ. Proc., § 631(f)(5)*). When the rule was amended in the middle of 2012, some pending cases got caught mid-way with the change, leading to unexpected quirks in the local procedure. This recent decision may become handy for arguing failures to post jury fees under the new version of CCP 631.

Books to read

If you have ever scanned through biographies of successful figures in legal profession, you could not miss a similar element in their upbringing. It is a very basic, foundational element: their education. Being educated is not the whole recipe, but is an unavoidable ingredient for success in a "learned" profession. This necessity, traditionally, is a costly one, and a large share of the costs fell on books.

From Cicero's times, "books, like works of art, were expensive." You would think that with the advance of printing technology the prices would drop, yet the textbooks remain extremely expensive today (URL upd. 06/26),* and the prices are on the rise. Imagine, how different our history would be, if Thomas Jefferson wouldn't be lucky to inherit his father's library and then get another one from George Wythe. The world will be all so more different if Abraham Lincoln, who "was mostly self-educated and was an avid reader and often sought access to any new books in the village," wouldn't be able to self-educate himself with books.

Interest on Security Deposits: State view vs. San Francisco

California's general rule is that the landlord is not required to pay interest on the tenant's security deposit. The return of a residential security deposit is covered by the Cal. Civ. Code, Section 1950.5, and, as the case Korens v. R. W. Zukin Corp., 212 Cal. App. 3d 1054 (1989) indicated, "[a]lthough the subject of security deposits given in connection with the rental of residential properties has been extensively regulated by the legislature, Cal. Civ. Code § 1950.5, no provision of state law imposes the additional requirement that interest be paid on security deposits by landlords."

Upholding monetary obligations through the times of change - from 1796 to 2001

I had an assignment to find citations to the cases, which deal with the problem of conflicting loan papers: if there is a conflict between a note and a deed of trust, whose terms prevail.

As it usually goes, I went too far with it too soon, quickly finding myself in the 19th century territory. There, I came across a case, Gavinzel v. Crump, 89 U.S. 308 (U.S. 1875). While the case had little to do with my research subject, it caught my eye for its rich story, a real-life adventure (even within the original meaning of the word), where the backdrop was the Civil War, and where two residents of a rebellion state (Virginia) made a deal, one borrowing from another a certain sum in Confederacy notes. The lender then "got out of Richmond and went to Europe; his escape through the rebel lines having been, according to his own account, almost impossible; attended with greater difficulties than anything which he had ever in his life done." (Id. at 5)