Eck and Ungerer, Structuring Settlements, 1996 Cumulative Supplement,
Calrk Boardman-Callaghan.
Thsi was a one volume Shepard's/McGraw-Hill publication, updated by
pocketpart. It was among the Shepard's treatises sold to CB-C. Such
publications should be watched carefully for the pattern we have seen
develop with Lawyer's Coop publications moved over to CB-C: "revised"
editions and escalating prices. In many cases, the revised edition is
remarkably similar to the unrevisd edition, except that it incorporates
the supplement, and has a binding with the CB-c logo. Usually, CB-C
produces the supplement at least once before the revised volume appears,
and the large price increases come a year or two later. This is the first
supplement to CB-C, and it reflects a price increse of 22% over '95,
modest by current CB-C standards (but far greater than any anticipated
increase in my budget).
The pocket part is phisically smaller than last year's, a consequence of
significantly narrower margins. My guess is that this is an effort to cut
costsd by using less paper, but any savings were not passed on to
customers. The amount of text on the page remains the same, though it is
more difficult to read. There is a kind of table of contents, "New
sections and appendices appearing in this supplement." These are the same
in the '95 and '96 supplements, which means that no new sections have
been added. The publisher's blurb accompanying the supplement claims that
"A new section on Litigation in Developing Countries (Sect. 13.35) has
been added to the Update," but this is simply not true. This section also
appears in the '95 supplement, with about a page of text being added in
'96. I suppose that we must attribute this false claim to editorial
sloppiness rather than an effort to deceive, though it becomes clear that
so little was added that it must have been difficult to find any changes
to note in this blurb.In any case, the section is of marginal relevance.
It is a little essay on conditions in developing countries, and it seems
to deplore the lack of litigation in those countries, observing
that"...and added benefit which should result from an increase in
litigation is an increase in the accountability of the people...If an
individual is not going to be held accountable for his or her actions,
that person will probably not exercise due cautions." Hmmmm. I wonder if
our Republican Congress is fully aware of the moral benefits of litiagtion.
This supplement is divided into two parts. The first part is text,
designated to be added to sections of the main volume; the second part is
various tables, mostly from government sources, to be added to appendices
of the main volume. The first part is a little over 50 pages; the second
paart is over 200 pages. The tables are updated by one line for the most
current year. However, the "United States Mortality Table (1986)" is
inexplicably not updated, although more recent data is readily available
in the Statistical Abstract.
A page-by-page comparison of the new supplement with the '95 supplement
reveals that only about two pages of text were added. About half of that
is the marginal material noted above. A couple of very brief paragraphs
summarize current changes in the Consumer Price Index and the Medical
Price Index. The only substantive changes noted are a Supreme Court Case
affecting damage awards under the ADEA, and hence affecting a Revenue
Ruling, and an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. Discussion of
these changes addes a little more than one page to this supplement.
I undertook a careful; examination fo this supplement tecause of my
concern about the escalating prices of supplementation from CB-C.
Although Thomson exectives claim that we are getting "greater value" for
these price increases, they know full well that it is difficult to verify
this claim. We cannot examine carefully every one of the hundreds of
supplements we receieve every year. We can examine some of them, however,
with the goal of determining what we are getting for our money. In this
case, the answeer is clear: precious little.
Happy Holidays!! And pelase pardon my many typos.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Joe K. Stephens
Law Librarian Phone: (503) 986-5640
Oregon Supreme Court Library Fax: (503) 986-5560
1163 State Street E-Mail: jstephen@willamette.edu
Salem, Oregon 97310
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