Guide to the David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers

SJSU Special Collections and Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives
© 2009
Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.

Guide to the David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers

Collection number: MSS-2008-05-09

SJSU Special Collections & Archives
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library
San José State University
One Washington Square
San José, CA 95192-0028
Phone: (408) 808-2062
Fax: (408) 808-2063
Email: special.collections@sjsu.edu
URL: http://library.sjsu.edu/sjsu-special-collections/sjsu-special-collections-and-archives


Finding aid funded by the generous support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Processed by:
Trista Raezer
Date Completed:
2008
Encoded by:
Mary Ellen Petrich
© 2009 Trustees of the California State University. All rights reserved.

Descriptive Summary

Title: David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers
Dates: 1968-1978
Collection number: MSS-2008-05-09
Creator: Langum, David J., 1940-
Collection Size: 6 boxes (6.75 linear feet)
Repository: San José State University. Library.
San José, California 95192-0028
Abstract: The David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, 1968-1978 document Langum's ten-year tenure in San José, California as a practicing attorney and resident. The papers consist of complete legal files and a sampling of other legal cases. Langum is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and prolific writer. He is also the founder of the Langum Charitable Trust, which awards travel grants to researchers and gives out annual awards for historical fiction and legal histories.
Languages: Languages represented in the collection: English

Access

The collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the San José State University Library Special Collections & Archives. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Special Collections & Archives as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader. Copyright restrictions also apply to digital reproductions of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research and educational purposes.

Preferred Citation

David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, MSS-2008-05-09, San José State University, Special Collections & Archives.

Project Information

This finding aid was created as part of the Survey and Cataloging Project, a two-year San José State University Library grant project funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. The project began in 2008. The Project Director is Danelle Moon. The Project Archivist is Erin Louthen.

Processing History

Collection processed by Trista Raezer. Finding aid EAD encoded by Mary Ellen Petrich. Reviewed by Danelle Moon and Erin Louthen.

Biographical History

David J. Langum, Sr. is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and writer. Born in 1940 to John K. and Virginia Langum, he attended Dartmouth College for a degree in history, and Stanford University for his law degree. He practiced law in San José from 1968 to 1978 as a partner of Christenson, Hedemark, Langum & O'Keefe, and completed a master's degree in history at San José State University in 1976. Langum continued his education at the University of Michigan for a LL.M. and S.J.D. in legal history.
Langum founded the Langum Charitable Trust in 2001 in order to promote the writing of informative historical literature for the general public. His trust proffers two awards each year to the best American historical fiction and best American law history book. The trust also awards grants to researchers wishing to research the Langum Papers and the de Mattos Papers at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library.
Over the years Langum has also served as the President of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Alabama, President of the Friends of the Birmingham Public Library, and professor at the Nevada School of Law, Detroit College of Law, Lincoln University School of Law in San José, the San Francisco Law School and Samford University in Alabama.
Langum's main research and teaching interests include evidence, property, legal history, history of the American West, law and morality in America, and 19th- and 20th-century American legal history. He has authored six books, over thirty-eight book reviews, and many journal articles.

Scope and Content

The David J. Langum, Sr. Legal Papers, 1968-1978, document Langum's legal practice in San José, California. The papers consist of complete legal files and a sampling of other legal cases, including depositions, interrogatories, and litigation. Types of court cases represented in the papers are personal injury, domestic relations, business and real property, bankruptcy and criminal cases. Langum is a lawyer, legal historian, law professor and prolific writer. He is also the founder of the Langum Charitable Trust, which awards travel grants to researchers and gives out annual awards for historical fiction and legal histories.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into one series: Series I. Legal Papers, 1968-1978.

Subject Headings

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Langum, David J., Sr. -- Correspondence
Lawyers -- California -- San Jose
Legal documents -- California -- San Jose
Domestic relations -- California -- San Jose -- Cases
Real property -- California -- San Jose -- Cases
Bankruptcy -- California -- San Jose -- Cases


 

Series I:  Legal Papers 1968-1978

Physical Description: 6 boxes

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series consists of legal records documenting personal injury, domestic relations, business and real property, bankruptcy and criminal cases. Boxes 1-3 contain complete legal records. Boxes 4-6 contain a sampling of incomplete legal records, some of which were removed by Langum in the interest of client confidentiality.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged according to the creator's original filing schema and by legal area.
Box 1

Complete Files: Business and Real Property, Transactions, Reorganizations, and Litigations 1968-1976

Folder 1

Taxsavers Associates--Insolvency Reorganization 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 2

Taxsavers--Other Assets 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 3

Taxsavers--Leases 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 4

Merger--Taxsavers Associates 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 5

Taxsavers 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 6

Bank of America, et al. vs. Haford, Albert W. 1974-1976

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 7

Brewer vs. Tappin 1968-1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 8

Jackson vs. Skypower 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 9

Experts and Subpoenas 1970-1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 10

Judgment and Collections 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 11

Jackson vs. Skypower--Correspondence 1969-1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 12

Impeachment and Miscellaneous 1969-1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 13

Pleadings 1969-1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 14

Evidence 1969-1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 15

Jackson vs. Skypower--Pleading 1969-1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 16

Testimony 1969

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 17

Argument--Research 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 2

Complete Files: Nine Years of Representing a Weekly Newspaper--From Purchase, Legal Disputes, to Sale 1967-1976

Folder 18

Gene E. Malott Hillsborough Boutique 1967

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 19

Hillsborough Boutique--General Circulation Problem 1973-1975

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 20

Hillsborough Boutique--Raley Retirement 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 21

Hillsborough Boutique 1971-1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 22

Copyright Infringement--Hillsborough Boutique vs. San José Mercury News 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 23

Closing--Hillsborough Boutique 1969-1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 24

Hillsborough Boutique vs. Nancy Foster et al. 1969

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 25

Hillsborough Boutique vs. Foster--Evidence 1969

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 26

Hillsborough Boutique--Miscellaneous 1968

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 27

Sale of Business--Gene E. Malott 1976

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 28

Hillsborough Boutique 1967-1976

Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 3

Complete Files: Personal Injury Cases 1968-1974

Folders 29-31

Spiciarcrich, Irene vs. Skagg's Payless Drugs 1969-1970

Physical Description: 3 folders
Folders 32-35

Dragoo, Rose and Sumuel vs. Brown 1973-1974

Physical Description: 4 folders
Folders 36-38

Roberts vs. P. I. Defense Francis, Rose Marie 1972-1974

Physical Description: 3 folders
Folder 39

Francis and Roberts vs. Currier 1968-1969

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 40

Nora Anne Roberts et al. vs. Leslie Karen Currier 1968-1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 4

Reduced Files: Bankruptcy Appeal, Criminal Matters 1967-1975

Folder 41

Office of Davis Enterprise 1967

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folders 42-47

Tibbits Publications 1967-1971

Physical Description: 6 folders
Folder 48

Bankruptcy Appeal from Adjudication--Important Correspondence and Orders 1970-1975

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 49

Bankruptcy--Appeal from Adjudication Briefs before 9th Circuit 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 50

Bankruptcy--Appeal from Adjudication Briefs before U.S. Superior Court 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folders 51-52

Criminal--Securities Violation/Fraud 1969

Physical Description: 2 folders
Folders 53-54

Criminal Appeal--Assault/Rape, Two Separate Cases 1967

Physical Description: 2 folders
Folder 55

Criminal Marijuana 1974

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 56

Quasi-Criminal DUI--Refused to Take Tests 1974

Physical Description: 1 folder
Box 5

Reduced Files: Business and Real Property Litigation 1966-1976

Folder 57

Business Litigation--Negligent Repair 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 58

Union Grievance Arbitration 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 59

Interference with Contracted Relationship 1966

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 60

Eviction 1976

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 61

Business Litigation--Sale of Business, Commission Dispute 1976

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folders 62-63

Business Litigation--Sale of Floral Shop 1976

Physical Description: 2 folders
Folder 64

Real Property Litigation 1967

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 65

Business Litigation--Breach of Contract/Fraud 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folders 66-67

Injunction--Trade Secrets/Client Solicitation Customer List 1969

Physical Description: 2 folders
Folders 68-69

Action to Declare a 1936 Document a Forgery--Pleadings, Trial Brief, Judgment, Evidence 1970

Physical Description: 2 folders
Folders 70-72

Usury Defense Pleadings, Interrogatories, Settlement 1974

Physical Description: 3 folders
Box 6

Reduced Files: Personal Injury and Domestic Relations 1964-1977

Folder 73

Personal Injury 1967

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 74

Civil Assault and Battery 1968

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 75

Personal Injury 1969

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 76

Personal Injury--School Assault/Negligent Supervision 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 77

Personal Injury 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 78

Personal Injury 1970

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 79

Personal Injury--Assault/Possible Damage Claim: Not Filed 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 80

Personal Injury 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 81

Personal Injury 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 82

Personal Injury 1971

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 83

Personal Injury 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 84

Personal Injury--Struck by Baseball 1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 85

Personal Injury--Falling off Horse 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 86

Personal Injury 1974

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 87

Personal Injury 1974

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 88

Paternity 1964, Events 1967 1964-1967

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 89

Dissolution of Marriage--Support Modification 1971-1972

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 90

Dissolution of Marriage--Post Dissolution Modification 1971-1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 91

Dissolution of Marriage--Property 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 92

Post Dissolution--Domestic Support Modification 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 93

Dissolution of Marriage 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 94

Dissolution of Marriage--Property Contest 1973

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 95

Post Dissolution--Modification of Domestic Support 1974

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 96

Post Dissolution--Property Not Divided in Decree 1975

Physical Description: 1 folder
Folder 97

Dissolution of Marriage 1977

Physical Description: 1 folder