Minutes of the May 15, 2006 Conference Call

Attendees: Suzan Baer, Edna Brewster, Michael Cowle, Louise Hamel, Terry Hemingway, Jennifer Jordan, Lucie Laguë, Rick Leech, Denis Le May, Michèle Lesage, Diane Lutes, Grace Mackness, Frédéric Pelletier and Ruth Rintoul.

The teleconference is chaired by Frédéric Pelletier and begins at 13:04, Eastern Daylight Time.

The agenda is set as follows:
1- Short announcements and updates;
2- Resuming the review of the draft on Uniform Case Naming Guidelines

The notes for these minutes were taken by Marie-Odile Désy and Frédéric Pelletier.

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1- Short announcements and updates

Regarding the replacement of the CCC coordinator, Ruth and Frédéric decided that they would both act as coordinators of the Committee. When the Committee is done with the case naming guidelines, they will circulate for approval a short document proposing a description of their role as a coordination team as well as how the CCC operates.

Louise Hamel announces that she has been elected Chair of another Committee and expresses that she feels that there is a good representation of judicial librarians in the CCC. Thus, she has decided to step down from the Committee and this is her last meeting. In the name of the other CCC members, Frédéric thanks Louise for her participation in the CCC and wishes her luck in her future endeavors.

2- Review of the draft on Uniform Case Naming Guidelines

"1.3 Font Style"

Some of the members are proposing to adopt the rule presented in the discussion box, stating that periods should be omitted from the case name. This would be in line with the objective of the neutral citation, which aimed at simplifying the citation. Some publishers however expressed concerns that this could impact the way case tables are done and on the use of search engines.

The final decision with regards to the period is postponed until the next meeting. Then, publishers will be better able to inform the Committee about the impact of omitting the period, after the "v" and abbreviations as well as within acronyms and sets of initials.

"2. Name of a Party"

The last sentence of the introductory paragraph states that for bilingual names of organizations, only the name corresponding to the language of the reasons is retained. The Committee establishes that the goal is to be concise, but at the same time it is important to keep in mind how users will search for a decision. Currently, the practice is to retain only the name in the decisions' current language. Thus, the majority of the Committee is in favor of keeping the rule as is.

"2.1 Individual"

As was suggested by Ruth, it is established that the following text (underlined) should be added to the note: "[...] try to find hints in the decision's text, locate other decisions involving this party, or refer to the Chicago Manual [...]".

Also, a cross-reference to Rule 4 on Uniform Protection of Identities should be added. This type of cross-reference shall be added as needed throughout the next version of the document, subject to final revision once all the rules are established.

"2.1.1 Unknown or Anonymous Person"

The Committee is divided on the issue regarding the order of initials of anonymized persons. Some members of the Committee suggest inverting the initials. However, since initials are intended to replace the name of a person, a majority of members opine that there is no use in inverting the initials. It is decided that the rule needs to be as simple as possible and thus, a majority of members wish to leave the rule as stated in the document.

The Committee is also asked to decide on instances where the court uses a pseudonym such as "Mr. X". As was suggested by Michael Cowle in his written comments, the Committee is in favor of using "Mr. X" rather than simply "X".

Also, a cross-reference to Rule 4 on Uniform Protection of Identities should be added as in the previous section.

"2.1.2 Estate of a Deceased Person"

The Committee agrees to Ruth's suggestion to clarify the rule by the addition of the following text (underlined): "Executors or administrators of the estate should be omitted unless they are named first as acting in their personal capacity as well as representing the estate. In such cases, use the personal surname of the executor or administrator".

A majority of the members feel that, although it is not grammatically correct in French, the surname in the French version should be placed in the first position as in the English example, followed by "(Succession de)". The example will be changed accordingly.

Also, a cross-reference to Rule 5.3 on Bankruptcy Proceedings should be added in the note.

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The remaining issues will be discussed at the next conference call which will take place on May 29, 2006 at 13h00 EDT.

The meeting ended at 14:00.

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