Maryland Injury Lawyer Blog

The Maryland Court of Appeals issued an opinion Friday in Spangler v. McQuitty, ending this cerebral palsy medical malpractice case that began 17 years ago. I first wrote about this case two years ago when the Maryland Court of Appeals heard this tragic case involving a boy who was born with severe cerebral palsy. Plaintiffs' malpractice lawyers argued at trial (in Baltimore County) that the doctor breached the duty to obtain the mother's informed consent, when he failed to give her an informed choice of her options to either take the baby early or assume the risks that come with letting the delivery play out. A Sophia's choice. But it was the mother's choice. The jury - to the tune of $13 million - agreed, and found that that the risks and benefits of these options should have been communicated to the patient, but were not.

Continue reading "New Maryland Medical Malpractice CA Opinion" »

We have our share of struggles with Allstate in car accident and other personal injury cases. Allstate can be a very difficult company to deal with when they are defending either first or third party injury claims. But Allstate just won a big fight - a critical fight for them - in front of the Maryland Court of Appeals. And I'm glad they won.

Allstate decided to stop writing home insurance policies in Southern Maryland, the Lower Eastern Shore, and some properties on or near the waterfront in Anne Arundel County. Why? Allstate thinks that the spate of of hurricanes that have pounded the eastern seaboard in recent years may not be anomalous but instead are the result of increases of tropical sea surface temperatures (or whatever else it might be). Allstate does not care why. What Allstate does know is that it no long wants to bear the risk of catastrophic financial losses if a hurricane hits these at risk areas.

The Court of Appeals agreed that Allstate had a reasonable basis. Judge Harrell, in his dissent, says that Allstate has decided not to write new homeowner’s insurance policies in these areas because of an unsubstantiated fear of a hypothetical force of nature, a Category 2 or greater hurricane making landfall in Maryland. I agree. But is he sure? Couldn't reasonable minds differ on this? Does anyone really have an handle on the degree that global warming is going to impact the future? I think the answer is that no one really has a clue and, accordingly, Allstate should be given the discretion to decide for itself. I also think the applicable laws - § 19-107 and § 27-501 of the Maryland Insurance Article - give them that ability.

Continue reading "I Support Allstate" »

When picking a jury, peremptory strikes are a big deal. There are almost invariably a few prospective jurors that are high up on the roll call that you just know are anti-plaintiff. I don't know how I actually know this - you get just a glimpse of Maryland jurors in voir dire - but I just do. They have this indescribable "I assume the plaintiff's case is garbage and I can't believe I'm here" look. Defense lawyers have a similar fear, of course, terrified of the "I can feel your pain to the point where I'm able to set aside logic and reason" look. Both of these jurors get rooted out by peremptory strikes. And the "look" is fair game as long as it is not based on race, religion, or gender. In Maryland, you get four peremptory challenges plus one peremptory challenge for each group of three or less alternate jurors to be impaneled. So, generally, you get 5 strikes.

Maryland car accident lawyers on both sides of the aisle now assume that Maryland law, after Maurer v. Penn National, is that if an uninsured motorist insurance company waives its subrogation interest in a case when the at fault driver offers her policy limits, that insurance company cannot contest liability at trial.

Plaintiffs' attorneys in Maryland disagree as to whether this is a good rule. Clearly, the problem with the rule for plaintiffs is that insurance companies are less likely to waive subrogation when the underlying insured offers policy limits. This means you have to deal with two sets of defense attorneys which means almost twice the hassle. Insurance companies are also doing side deals now, where the underinsured motorist carrier waivers subrogation on the DL (that's "down low" if you were not cool ten years ago), presumably with a pinky promise.

What does this have to do with jury strikes? Well, defense lawyers try to parlay this double lawyer albatross into double strikes. Can they do this? Maryland Rule 2-512 (h) says that multiple plaintiffs or defendants should be considered a single party unless the court finds that "adverse or hostile interests between plaintiffs or between defendants" justify separate challenges.

In uninsured and underinsured motorist cases, it is hard to claim that the interests of these parties are anything other than the same. But I got broadsided with this argument a few years ago during a trial in Baltimore County. It was a tough case anyway, I was in Baltimore County and, over strenuous objection, both the at-fault driver and the underinsured motorist carrier (MAIF and GEICO) were given strikes. I don't have to tell you how it turned out: awful. (Yet, still, it was more than the settlement offer which pretty much summarizes dealing with MAIF and GEICO).

Continue reading "Jury Strikes Matter" »

Frank Kratovil, a former congressman of Maryland's 1st District, was appointed by Governor O'Malley to the District Court for Queen Anne’s County. Kratovil, a University of Baltimore School of Law graduate, was elected to Congress in 2008 but was unfortunately swept up in the Republican tidal wave of 2010 and lost to Andy Harris. Kratovil will make a great judge. Queen Anne's County is lucky to have him.

In all of the hubbub about Robert McDonald's selection to the Maryland Court of Appeals, I neglected to mention the new Circuit Court judges:

• Baltimore County District Judge Nancy Purpura (Baltimore County)
• William Rogers Nicklas Jr., a personal injury lawyer (Frederick County)
• Harford County prosecutor Melba Elizabeth Bowen (Harford County)
• Howard County Court Master William Vincent Tucker (Howard County)
• David Wylie Densford, who I think is a criminal lawyer (St. Mary's County Circuit Court).
• Anne Korbel Albright, a criminal and family lawyer (Montgomery County)
• Gary E. Blair, former chief of criminal appeals in the state attorney general's office (Montgomery County)
• Justin James King, deputy chief of litigation in the Baltimore City (Baltimore County)

The Maryland Daily Record is reporting that Governor O’Malley today named Robert N. “Bob” McDonald to the Maryland Court of Appeals. Soon to be Judge McDonald is the chief counsel of the Opinions, Advice and Legislation Division in the Office of the Maryland Attorney General where he has been for 15 years.

McDonald writes or edits all formal opinions of the Attorney General’s Office. I don't have occasion to read many Attorney General opinions and, even if I did, I don't think it would be a great lens to predict how McDonald will vote. Ultimately, the AG is making the call on those opinions.

There are a lot of 4-3 decisions by the Court of Appeals. I have no idea how this will impact that court and I doubt many people do.

I had this all wrong. I thought for sure O'Malley would pick Judge Grimm. I even gave odds on it. If he did not pick Grimm, I thought he would pick someone very young. I don't know how old McDonald is, but he graduated law school (from Harvard) in 1977. I also would have bet money that the choice would be a judge. Three strikes. (The take home lesson: don't handicap when you have no idea what you are talking about.)

O’Malley also elevated Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Stuart Ross Berger to the intermediate Court of Special Appeals, succeeding Ellen L. Hollander, who took a seat on the U.S. District Court in Baltimore. This selection is not a surprise.

This is a time of year for top 10 lists. So I have put together a list of the top 10 opinions of interest to personal injury lawyer from the Maryland Court of Appeals and the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and from the federal bench:

• Poole v. Coakley Williams Construction: the court softens its position on snow and ice slip and falls.
• Jackson v. Dackman Company: court strikes 1994 Reduction of Lead Paint in Housing Act provisions that limit recoveries to children who suffer brain damage from lead paint
• Wantz v. Afzal: court reverses trial court's ruling to strike all three of plaintiffs' experts in a medical malpractice case in Frederick County
• Griffin v. State: not a personal injury case but the court tackles - not for the last time - social media evidence at trial which is going to be a battlefield in personal injury cases
• Multi v. University of Maryland Medical Systems: dealing with the Serbian Bog of use plaintiff in a medical malpractice case in Baltimore City
• Robertson v. Luliano: removal before service in a medical malpractice case in Baltimore City
• Willever v. United States: Judge Roger W. Titus rules that Maryland health claims arbitration rules do not apply in Maryland medical malpractice cases in federal court
• Consolidated Waste v. Standard Equipment: a small, tiny step in the journey toward dram shop liability
• Fletcher v. Pizza Hut: 4th Circuit draws the line on superseding causes in a car accident case
• Janay v. Wilkowsky: Maryland high court reverses Court of Special Appeals in finding flawed jury instruction should give lead paint plaintiff a new trial.

If you think I have left out some important opinions, let me know.

I was always into statistics. When I was little, baseball statistics were the outlet. I was doing Moneyball when Billy Beane was still learning what a double steal is. (This is hyperbole for effect.)

Like a lot of us, I began to look at risk very differently when I became a parent. Now I'm more interested in what the authors of Freaknomics tell us about what matters when raising a child. (Here's the transcript of a podcast I recently listened to which I found more than a little depressing. Among other things, it really makes you question the efficacy of piano lessons.)

Freaknomics interests me because it uses statistics to assess risk that questions largely held assumptions. I try use statistics in parenting to make sure my kids are avoiding the risks that we can reasonable avoid. Clearly, car accidents are on a big blip on the radar screen. Car accidents are a major risk of serious injury and death for young children, a far greater risk that 95"% of the things that you worry about as a parent.

Drunk driving is a big risk factor for car accidents. It never occurred to me to look at where in Maryland drunk driving is the greatest. So I read with particular interest these statistics on the number of drunk driving cases in Maryland in 2010, sorted by county, as well as the number of DWI cases tried in court in 2010 and the resulting verdicts:

• Montgomery: 3,512 DWI cases filed. There were 5,324 cases tried in 2010 resulting in: 1,858 Guilty verdicts, 98 Not Guilty verdicts, 2,585 Probation Before Judgment [PBJ] verdicts, and 1,029 "other" verdicts (which include Dismissed Cases, Nolle Prosequi, Stet, Merged Cases, Jury Trial Prayers, and Miscellaneous Others)
• Prince George's: 2,733 DWI cases filed. There were 2,206 cases tried resulting in: 75 Guilty, 34 Not Guilty, 185 PBJ, and 1,912 other - 1,425 of which were closed as Nolle Prosequi.
• Baltimore County: 2,459 DWI cases filed. There were 2,563 cases tried resulting in: 715 Guilty, 86 Not Guilty, 1,312 PBJ, and 450 other.
• Anne Arundel: 2,009 DWI cases filed. There were 2,468 cases tried resulting in: 590 Guilty, 74 Not Guilty, 1,200 PBJ, and 604 other.
• Howard: 1,440 DWI cases filed. There were 1,694 cases tried resulting in: 337 Guilty, 41 Not Guilty, 943 PBJ, and 373 other.
• Baltimore City: 982 DWI cases filed. There were 969 cases tried resulting in: Guilty, Not Guilty, PBJ, and other.
• Carroll: 935 DWI cases filed. There were 816 cases tried resulting in: 156 Guilty, 36 Not Guilty, 424 PBJ, and 200 other.
• Harford: 909 DWI cases filed. There were 1,094 cases tried resulting in: 461 Guilty, 19 Not Guilty, 484 PBJ, and 130 other.
• Frederick: 900 DWI cases filed. There were 1,027 cases tried resulting in: 273 Guilty, 16 Not Guilty, 448 PBJ, and 290 other.
• Charles: 794 DWI cases filed. There were 1,135 cases tried resulting in: 376 Guilty, 13 Not Guilty, 513 PBJ, and 233 other.
• Worcester: 662 DWI cases filed. There were 1,053 cases tried resulting in: 439 Guilty, 36 Not Guilty, 482 PBJ, and 96 other.
• Washington: 642 DWI cases filed. There were 859 cases tried resulting in: 267 Guilty, 4 Not Guilty, 387 PBJ, and 201 other.
• Calvert: 626 DWI cases filed. There were 968 cases tried resulting in: 285 Guilty, 16 Not Guilty, 510 PBJ, and 157 other.
• Cecil: 585 DWI cases filed. There were 285 cases tried resulting in: 41 Guilty, 7 Not Guilty, 65 PBJ, and 172 other.
• St Mary's: 510 DWI cases filed. There were 736 cases tried resulting in: 376 Guilty, 13 Not Guilty, 307 PBJ, and 109 other.
• Wicomico: 489 DWI cases filed. There were 818 cases tried resulting in: 275 Guilty, 18 Not Guilty, 317 PBJ, and 208 other.
• Allegany: 341 DWI cases filed. There were 557 cases tried resulting in: 219 Guilty, 2 Not Guilty, 232 PBJ, and 206 other.
• Queen Anne's: 321 DWI cases filed. There were 583 cases tried resulting in: 227 Guilty, 8 Not Guilty, 222 PBJ, and 126 other.
• Talbot: 276 DWI cases filed. There were 372 cases tried resulting in: 99 Guilty, 56 Not Guilty, 155 PBJ, and 62 other.
• Caroline: 258 DWI cases filed. There were 308 cases tried resulting in: 125 Guilty, 10 Not Guilty, 74 PBJ, and 99 other.
• Dorchester: 182 DWI cases filed. There were 225 cases tried resulting in: 97 Guilty, 13 Not Guilty, 59 PBJ, and 56 other.
• Garrett: 181 DWI cases filed. There were 297 cases tried resulting in: 77 Guilty, 3 Not Guilty, 129 PBJ, and 88 other.
• Somerset: 167 DWI cases filed. There were 195 cases tried resulting in: 68 Guilty, 5 Not Guilty, 83 PBJ, and 39 other.
• Kent: 119 DWI cases filed. There were 179 cases tried resulting in: 60 Guilty, 6 Not Guilty, 72 PBJ, and 41 other.

Statistically, what jumps off the page is the number of not guilty verdict drunk driving cases in Ocean City. There are more not guilty verdicts in drunk driving cases in Ocean City than in Prince George's County. I'm assuming that it is because they have so many seasonal police officers it is tough to make cases stick. You have a 31% chance of getting a not guilty verdict in a drunk driving case in Ocean City and a 2% chance in neighboring Somerset County. That's crazy, right? (Why have we never read an investigative news piece about this?)

Of course, these are misleading statistics if you are trying to avoid drunk drivers in Maryland. This data shows not just drunk drivers but enforcement. Drunk drivers hit our roads somewhere between 88 to 500 times on average before getting in trouble, according to various experts and studies.

There is some good news here, too. Drunk driving charges are declining in Maryland. A total of 22,032 DWIs were filed in 2010, down from 23,904 in 2009, and 25,466 in 2008. Assuming that enforcement efforts have remained the same or increased, this is encouraging.

These are the number of jury trials in Maryland in 2010, sorted by county:

I'm not exactly sure why but Baltimore County is not listed. The surprises to me:

• The gap between Prince George's County and the pack.
• That Montgomery County is ahead of Baltimore City
• There were only 20 jury trials in Cecil County in 2010
• That four Maryland counties combine for 10 trials

Psychiatric medical malpractice case ends badly for Plaintiff

In a new opinion by the Maryland Court of Appeals, the court answers the question of whether Maryland's Health Claims Arbitration requirements should apply to cases filed in federal court where the malpractice occurred outside of Maryland.

Lewis v. Waletzky involves a claim that a psychiatrist in Chevy Chase, Maryland negligently prescribed antipsychotic drugs for the Plaintiff. The psychiatrist lived in Washington, D.C. and there was some issue of which substantive law applied but - spoiler alert - it ends up being irrelevant to the opinion. Plaintiff's lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court alleged that Plaintiff's psychiatric symptoms were mild and did not warrant subjecting the Plaintiff to the well known risk of an antipsychotic drug.

Plaintiff's malpractice lawsuit alleged that as a result of these negligent prescriptions, the patient developed tardive dyskinesia, which is caused by the drug Reglan and some antipsychotics (I'm not sure what the drug was in this case.). There is no treatment for tardive dyskinesia, an awful neurological disorder that causes involuntary grimacing, protrusion of the tongue, lip smacking, rapid eye blinking, and movement of the extremities.

Going back, Plaintiff moved out of state and filed the case in federal court and did not meet the certificate of merit and other requirements imposed by the Maryland Health Care Malpractice Claims Act. The Fourth Circuit was unsure of whether the health claims arbitration act should be applied and asked the Maryland high court:

Does Maryland recognize the public policy exception, or any other exception, to lex loci delicti based on the Maryland Health Care Malpractice Claims Act, see Md. Code Ann., Cts & Jud. Proc., §§ 3-2A-01, et seq., which requires a plaintiff to comply with certain mandatory administrative filings prior to filing a medical malpractice lawsuit in a Maryland court?

Interestingly, the Court of Appeals seems to tell the the 4th Circuit and the parties that this is not a lex loci delicti case but instead focuses on whether the Act is substantive or procedural. Accordingly, the court found that Maryland statutory scheme for medical malpractice cases applies to federal court malpractice cases (Note: I think Judge Titus would disagree.) (Read this opinion.)

Continue reading "Malpractice Statute Applies in Federal Court Says Maryland Court of Special Appeals" »

New Maryland Slip and Fall Law

Three years ago, after the Maryland Court of Appeals denied certiorari in Allen v. Marriott Worldwide, our law firm pretty much stopped taking snow and ice slip and falls. Maryland appellate courts had been battering bad weather slip and fall plaintiffs over the head with the assumption of the risk doctrine. We distilled this law to be that if you are not running out of a burning building, you knew there was a possibility that you might slip and fall if there was an indication the weather was bad and you had a choice. Assumption of the risk became metaphysical "you had a choice, didn't you?" that killed every case.

To my surprise, Maryland law took a clear, deliberate and unanimous step back from this insane abyss last week in Poole v. Coakley Williams Construction.

The Plaintiff in this case claims alleged that he slipped and fell on black ice in a parking lot in Montgomery County behind his place of employment. Plaintiff blamed the defendant who was at the site performing construction work for causing the black ice to form, and that there had been a stream of water that way for some time. In fact, Plaintiff thought it was safe because he had walked through that same stream a week before without incident. So it is as good as an ice slip and fall case as you can get, because it is more than "you should have put salt down or shoveled the parking lot" case. Still, regardless of the injuries, we would not have taken this case post-Allen because it is still - on the bizarro world level the court used in Allen - technical assumption of the risk. The summary judgment is easy, just ask the ol' "you knew there was water and you knew water can get cold, right?" setup.

Continue reading "Maryland Snow and Ice Slip and Fall Cases: There Is a Pulse" »

New lead paint decision from Maryland's high court

The Maryland Court of Appeals issued a game changing lead paint decision today, declaring unconstitutional an awful Maryland law that immunizes most Maryland landlords who rent properties that cause children brain injuries from lead pain.

Before I get to that, a little background. In the late '90s, before I saw the light and became a Plaintiffs' lawyer, I defended a number of lead paint cases in Baltimore City. These were the halcyon days for lead paint personal injury lawyers in Baltimore.

Many lead paint lawyers in Baltimore had such a good thing going that they didn't bother to focus on the details, you just filed your lawsuit, then reached a settlement using one or two experts that said virtually the same thing in every case. Printing money in your basement would be less profitable. Plaintiffs' lawyers rarely bothered to make a claim for economic damages, for future loss of income from their brain injuries. (Now, every lawyer with a lead paint case does this.)

Lawyers who had a big inventory of lead paint cases had plenty of time to decide which cases to file. There was tons of time because the plaintiffs were children that often did not have imminent statute of limitations issues. So, they filed the ones with the highest lead levels first. (The lead level in this new case was less than 25. There were very few cases in the '90s that had a level that low.) As a result, you had all of these great plaintiffs' lead paint cases going to trial in Baltimore City. Plaintiffs' lawyers had two other things going for them: (1) insurance companies had yet to put in lead paint exclusions, and (2) most cases in suit were not yet impacted by the 1994 Reduction of Lead Paint in Housing Act.

The Act slowed down, as was intended, the furious pace of lead paint lawsuits. The stated purpose of the Act was to "reduce the incidence of childhood lead poisoning, while maintaining the stock of available affordable rental housing.” Strangely not mentioned purpose: protecting landlords who were needlessly exposing children to brain injuries from lead paint, which is exactly what it did.

This Act was a stunning victory of landlord lobbyist. The law completely immunized from a lead paid lawsuit negligent defendants if they registered their property with the state and offered payments of $17,000 to children injured by lead poisoning. "Sorry your child has lost 12 IQ points from lead paint that would could have easily remedied. Here's is $17,000 when she turns 18. We are square, right?"

But, today, an incredible two-and-a-half years later, and almost 10 years after the lawsuit in the case was filed, a unanimous Maryland Court of Appeals struck down on constitutional grounds the 1994 Lead Paint Act to the extent that it immunized landlords from liability if they allow chipping or peeling lead paint from causing brain injuries to children. “For a child who is found to be permanently brain damaged from ingesting lead paint, proximately caused by the landlord’s negligence, the maximum amount of compensation under a qualified offer is minuscule,” retired Judge John C. Eldridge wrote in the court's opinion. Agreed.

Continue reading "Maryland Lead Paint Law: A Game Changer" »

The Georgia Criminal Appellate Blog writes about the concern that his clients will "over-learn" the lesson of Amanda Knox's successful appeal:

For the criminal trial lawyer, the Casey Anthony verdict was the result that made it difficult to counsel clients on whether to accept a negotiated plea rather than risk a trial against an overwhelming case. Several colleagues have told me that clients have balked in the face of solid legal advice, reasoning “that girl in Florida got off.” Amanda Knox is, I fear, the appellate lawyer’s Casey Anthony. It does not matter that it’s a different legal system in a foreign country. The comparisons are coming. It is time to prepare with some key points when you face the inevitable comparisons.

How do personal injury victims process Amanda Knox's win on appeal?

This concern is, I think, equally applicable for clients of malpractice and accident lawyers. Amanda Knox, from a distance, represents what everyone wants in the appellate process: you keep appealing and appealing until you win and that appellate win is final. Sometimes, not just in law but anything, getting a little information about how the sausage is made can cause more harm than good because you lack context. There is, as always, a good cliché on point: a little information can be more dangerous than no information (or something like that).

(This is my problem in the stock market. I majored in finance in college so I think I know what I'm doing. But I get myself in trouble making stupid bets relying on something I heard in Investment Analysis my junior year in college.)

The reality is that personal injury appeals are hard for both sides because most of the rulings from the trial judge to which plaintiffs' lawyers take exception are evidentiary issue where the standard on appeal is abuse of discretion. That's a tough road to travel after a defense verdict. We have done it successfully but most personal injury trials do not end with a quality appealable issue.

Continue reading "Amanda Knox: Impact on Personal Injury Lawyers Explaining Risk to Clients" »

Twitter is giddy about a Baltimore Sun report that a medical malpractice defense law firm lost a portable hard drive containing medical records for 161 stent patients in the lawsuit against cardiologist Dr. Mark G. Midei for alleged malpractice at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson. Apparently, an employee of the law firm Baxter, Baker, Sidle, Conn & Jones left the hard drive on the Baltimore light rail. It is a good story anyway but this one is extra juicy because it involves the most prolific malpractice lawsuit in Baltimore. So it is the perfect storm. The lawyers at Baxter, Baker must have muttered a thousand times by now: why this case of all cases?

The irony of all of this bad publicity for Baxter, Baker - which is a very good law firm - is that they did what their malpractice clients rarely do: they owned up to their mistakes. The law firm notified St. Joseph - its hospital client - and the malpractice insurer of the hard drive loss shortly after the loss and acted fairly quickly to let the patients know of the potential invasion of their privacy. Ultimately, while it is extremely unfortunate that patients who have already suffered have to fear this potential invasion of their privacy, the good news is that this is very unlikely to cause anyone harm. There are probably far greater privacy risks for these patients out there. (Where is the defendant's medical expert keeping these records?) The way Baxter, Baker could really screw up would be in the cover-up which they wisely did not attempt.

Continue reading "Baltimore Law Firm Loses Medical Records" »

Governor O'Malley appointed seven new judges today:

• Judge Jeannie J. Hong (elevated to Baltimore City Circuit Court from District Court)
• Micheal Wilson Reed (from Peter T. Nicholl's office to Baltimore City Circuit Court)
• Judge Krystal Quinn Alves (Prince George's County Circuit Court)
• Judge Daneeka Varner Cotton (Prince George's County Circuit Court)
• Judge Hassan Ali-Amin (Prince George's County Circuit Court)
• John Paul Davey (from O’Malley, Miles, Nylen & Gilmore to Prince George's County Circuit Court)
• Master Jane Cairns Murray (Cecil County Circuit Court)

New Maryland Law This Week Will Require Insurance Companies to Disclose Their Insured's Policy Limits

Every personal injury attorney in Maryland has at some point become frustrated with an insurance company over game playing with respect to the their client's insurance policy. Under current Maryland law, an insurance company is not required to disclose its policy limits although such information is readily available in discovery after a lawsuit is filed. Some adjusters would give you enough information with a wink and a nod to figure it out. But most insurance adjusters just stand the party line like robots and say "Our policy is not to give out that information."

Injured clients understandably find this maddening: we tell them they are better off waiting until there is clarity on permanency before filing a lawsuit. But in some case, this means lying around in pain having no idea if you will ever be adequately compensated for your loss. It is maddening.

Starting on October 1, 2011, insurance companies will be required to disclose their policy limits if the following information is provided to them:

Continue reading "New Maryland Accident Law: Useful Change for Personal Injury Lawyers" »

The Maryland Daily Record reports that eight people have applied for an empty seat on the Maryland Court of Appeals created by Judge Joseph F. Murphy Jr.'s retirement. Judge Murphy sits on the court for the 2nd Appellate Circuit, which includes Baltimore and Harford counties.

The applicants are:

• Andrew Howard Baida
• Honorable Kathleen Gallogly Cox
• Daniel Alan Friedman
• Honorable Paul William Grimm
• Jeffrey Donald Herschman
• Robert Neal McDonald
• Douglas R.M. Nazarian/a>
• Honorable Alexander Wright, Jr.

Is it politically correct to handicap this race? No? Let's do it anyway.

Continue reading "Court of Appeal of Maryland Opening" »

The Daily Record unlocked the article our verdict in Baltimore City last week. You can find it here.

In DRD v. Freed, the Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed the constitutionality of the Maryland cap on noneconomic damages. I was a big Fred Flintstone fan. So when the court in Freed said the cap was "embedded in the bedrock of Maryland law" because it has been around for 17 years, the phrase stuck with me.

I was reminded of this after a recent trial where one juror asked, "Isn't there a cap on damages in Maryland?" When I confirmed there was, he turned to another juror (in a nice, familiar way actually) as if to say, "See, I told you."

As most of you know, a jury in Maryland is not told of the cap on noneconomic damages during the trial. If there is an award in excess of the cap, the reduction is made after the verdict.

Continue reading "Damage Caps and Jurors" »

I was surprised at the media response to University of Baltimore School of Law Dean Phillip J. Closius' resignation/firing last week. The story was on the front page of the Baltimore Sun on Saturday. My blog post on this on Friday received a tremendous amount of traffic.

I really believe that Dean Closius and University of Baltimore School President Robert L. Bogomolny ought to sit down - with a mediator - and try to resolve their differences. Obviously, there was tension between these two men that ran deep. But they both want what's best for the law school. They just need to get on the same page.

If Dean Closius returns as Dean to the University of Baltimore Law School, Miller & Zois will donate $10,000 to the school. I'm hoping other Closius supporters make a similar pledge.

One important point here. Since Dean Closius arrived at UB in 2007, I have met him a total of zero times. My fault, not his. I've got three kids: I'm teaching my classes and getting out of there pretty quickly. My point is that I'm not in the tank for Dean Closius personally. I'm just in the tank for the objective: quantifiable improvements we have seen at this law school over the last four years.