Antispam bill clears U.S. House
H.R. 3113, approved by the House and forwarded to
the Senate, mandates the inclusion of valid email addresses on unsolicited
commercial email and prohibits sending commercial email to individuals
who have requested removal of their names from the sender's distribution
lists.
With the July passage of the Unsolicited Electronic
Mail Act of 2000 (H.R. 3113), the U.S. House of Representatives took
a step toward enabling consumers to say "no" to junk electronic mail
(email) or spam that can waste time, computer disk space, and Internet
access providers' (ISPs') resources.
If passed by the Senate and enacted
as federal law, H.R. 3113 would prohibit sending commercial email
to individuals who have requested removal of their names from the
sender's distribution lists. The measure also would make it unlawful
to send unsolicited commercial email messages unless they contain
a valid email address, conspicuously displayed, that recipients can
use to decline subsequent messages. H.R. 3113 further requires that
unsolicited commercial email be labeled and allows ISPs to set and
enforce spam policies. Introduced almost a year ago by Rep. Heather
Wilson (R-N.M.), the bill had strong bipartisan support, amassing
50 cosponsors and passing in the House by a vote of 426-1. "With regular
mail, we have rights under federal law to say, 'I do not want any
more of that sent to my mailbox'... But we do not have that right with
Internet communications and with email," said Wilson. "This [bill]
gives us that right, as consumers and as parents, to say, 'There are
some things I do not want to see in my in-box.'"
H.R. 3113 is pending action in the Senate. House proponents
of the bill say there have been indications the Senate may move quickly
and are hopeful of September enactment.
"H.R. 3113 can be viewed as the codification of common
sense; most reputable, competent organizations that use email for
solicitation purposes are already in compliance with the proposed
statute," notes Green Bay attorney Mark Pennow, a member of the Bar's
Electronic Bar Services Committee. "However, the bill also creates
a private right of action and allows lawyers to sue for injunction
and or actual monetary damages in federal court if there is no applicable
state statute."
Other bills pending. A companion bill, Controlling the
Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN SPAM) Act
of 2000 (S. 2542), requiring unsolicited bulk commercial email messages
to include opt-out instructions and their senders to honor opt-out
requests, and prohibiting the sale and senders' use of false routing
information, is actively pending in Congress.
In March 1999, the Wisconsin State Senate approved a
bill (S.B. 33) extending current law restricting transmittal of unsolicited
faxes encouraging recipients to purchase property, goods, or services
to include transmittal of unsolicited email; however, the bill failed
to see action in the assembly.
Collaborative divorce comes to Wisconsin
No formal discovery, contested court hearings, threats,
or intimidation? What kind of a divorce is that? A good kind, and
one that often makes more sense than traditional adversarial proceedings,
contend a growing number of attorneys, including those who recently
formed The Collaborative Family Law Council of Wisconsin Inc. (CFLCW),
a nonprofit corporation dedicated to nonadversarial, cooperative divorce.
"Collaborative divorce uses negotiation and cooperation
to achieve a settlement with minimal acrimony between the parties
involved," explains attorney Gregg Herman, whose firm, Loeb & Herman,
is promoting the process in Wisconsin. "Ultimately, this reduces the
financial and emotional costs of divorce to clients, lessens stress
for everyone, and results in more satisfied clients."
In collaborative divorce:
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both parties and their attorneys make a written
commitment to settle the case rather than contest it. If the case
cannot be settled, both attorneys must withdraw;
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there is no formal discovery; both sides make full
and complete disclosures and comply with reasonable discovery requests
on an informal basis;
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all appraisals are joint;
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there are no contested court hearings; even temporary
arrangements are negotiated. When the issues are resolved, the case
is scheduled as an uncontested hearing.
"The collaborative divorce process merely formalizes
what many lawyers already try to do before going to court," says
Herman.
Wisconsin's collaborative divorce group joins those
already established in California, Connecticut, Minnesota, Ohio, and
other states.
CFLCW initially plans to establish chapters in Madison,
La Crosse, and the Fox Valley, with the goal of expanding the program
statewide. The group's first training program is Nov. 17, 2000, from
1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Country Inn in Pewaukee. For further information,
contact Gregg Herman at
(414) 272-5632.
National Labor Relations Board extends
union employee rights to nonunion employees
Employers planning a one-on-one talk with an employee
may need to bring in an extra chair, following a recent National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) decision giving nonunion employees the same
rights as union employees to a coworker's presence in certain interview
situations.
On July 10, 2000, the NLRB issued Epilepsy Foundation
of Northeast Ohio, 331 NLRB No. 92 (2000), extending rights provided
to union employees in NLRB v. J. Weingarten, 420 U.S. 251 (1975),
to nonunion employees. In Epilepsy Foundation, the NLRB held
that employees in a nonunion setting have the right to have a coworker
present at an investigatory interview that the employee reasonably
believes might result in disciplinary action. In this decision, the
NLRB reversed its long-standing position that such a right applies
only to union-represented employees.
"Despite contrary NLRB precedent, the current board
has now granted rights to nonunion employees upon its finding that
previous NLRB precedent was inconsistent with the Weingarten decision
and the purpose of the National Labor Relations Act," notes Stacie
Andritsch, labor attorney with Michael Best & Friedrich LLP. "Weingarten
held that the right of union-represented employees to representation
is grounded in Section 7 of the Act, which grants employees the right
to engage in 'concerted activities for the purpose of mutual aid or
protection.'"
"By extending the Weingarten decision to nonunion
employees, the NLRB seemingly has eroded an employer's ability to
deal with its nonunion employees on a one-on-one basis," says Andritsch.
Until the courts can review this decision, she says
employers must be mindful of its implications. Andritsch offers the
following reminders:
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The nonunion employee must request that a coworker
be present at an investigatory interview; an employer, however,
is not required to offer that a coworker be present.
- The investigatory interview must be an interview where the employee
reasonably fears discipline.
- An employee is not entitled to the presence of a coworker when
the purpose of the meeting is only to present the discipline being
imposed.
- An employer can cancel the interview if the employee refuses to
participate without the presence of a coworker, and continue the investigation
without the employee's input; it cannot, however, take any disciplinary
action based on the employee's request.
For further information, contact Stacie
J. Andritsch at (414) 223-2509.
State Law Library Web site features automated catalog
The Wisconsin
State Law Library's (WSLL's) recently redesigned Web site offers
a wealth of legal resources and links to many law-related sites. Accessible
at www.wsll.state.wi.us
or via WisBar, it provides quick
access to state and federal law-related materials, including the WSLL,
Milwaukee Legal Resource Center, and Dane County Law Library collections.
Visitors start their search by clicking on one of seven
broad categories on the site's revised home page. "Wisconsin Law"
and "Federal & State Government Resources" provide links grouped into
legislative, executive, and judicial subcategories. All state and
federal primary legal sources are accessible, as well as decisions
of Wisconsin officials and agencies, state and federal agency sites,
information on pending federal and state legislation, and state and
federal court directories.
"Law Reviews & Newspapers," "Self-Help Guides," "Directories
& Reference Tools," and "Law Search Tools" provide links to secondary
legal information of interest to the bench, bar, and public.
The "Wisconsin Topics" category links to sites of interest
to Wisconsin legal consumers on topics from alternative dispute resolution
to wills.
Search three libraries. This Web site also features
the library's automated catalog, WISOLL (Wisconsin State Online Law
Library), which covers Wisconsin State Law Library, Milwaukee Legal
Resource Center, and Dane County Law Library materials. The catalog
includes specialized sublists of the WSLL Video Collection; State
Bar Young Lawyers Division Collection, featuring career, professional
development, and management, as well as substantive titles; and more
than 800 "Electronic Texts" of library titles available on the Internet,
many in full text, with hyperlinks for direct connections.
Registered borrowers can click on View
Your Patron Record to review and renew materials on loan, and
any viewer can submit suggestions at "Titles the Library Should Acquire."
Other home page links allow email inquiries to WSLL Reference Services
and connect to other Wisconsin library catalogs. Contact Amy
Crowder or Elaine
Sharp at (800) 322-9755, with comments regarding the WSLL Web
site.
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