The Maryland Daily Record published in an interview on Friday with Maryland Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell who had some interesting comments on seeking certiorari that I think would interest any personal injury lawyer seeking an appeal to a higher court where the appeal is not a…
This is a 14 year-old post but updated on May 3, 2020 to give the current state of negligent security law in Maryland. the Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided the case of Veytsman z. New York Palace, Inc. The issue in Veytsman was whether a nightclub had a duty…
The Baltimore Sun ran a story today about Baltimore County, Maryland prosecutor James Gentry was preparing to try an awful murder case of a nine-year-old girl in 1998. If you are a prosecutor, this is one you need to win. Looking for an extra edge, he turned to his sister…
As I showed yesterday, my post today is on a trial we had last month in Baltimore, Maryland. Our client was making a left on a light turning red and hit a car coming in the opposite direction making a right turn. These are tough cases in Maryland, Virginia, the…
The Maryland Daily Record reported yesterday that U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett dismissed the complaint filed by prison inmate Byron Smoot against hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, finding that Simmons and co-defendant Missouri based Kellwood Company lacked the requisite minimum contacts with Maryland that would make them amenable to jurisdiction…
Rene Stutzman of the Orlando Sentinel reported this week the post-trial tactic of the defendant’s medical malpractice lawyers after a $28 million verdict in Florida. The tactic: if you lose the trial, put the jurors on trial. Defense attorneys say three of six jurors lied during jury selection and are…
A former insurance law student of mine asked this week whether Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s failure to wear a helmet in his motorcycle accident earlier this month would be contributory negligence under Maryland law. Good question! Under the current state of the law, the answer is a qualified no.…
In a comment to my May 22, 2006 post on giving recorded statements to insurance companies, Atlanta personal injury lawyer Ken Shigley makes a great point about how lawyers can knock insurance companies off their moral high ground when an injury victim’s car accident lawyer refuses to give a recorded…
In his blog last year, Evan Schaeffer attached an article by Chicago attorney Paula E. Litt titled “Tips for Making Damages Testimony Come Alive.” Ms. Litt’s article offers twelve tips: (1) Speak plainly; (2) Establish credentials wisely; (3) Tell a good story; (4) Play from higher ground; (5) Show pictures;…
Voir dire is the selection process in which prospective jurors are questioned and challenged to weed out jurors who may hear the case with an inordinate amount of prejudice and bias that lurks in the thinking of every Maryland juror. In most jurisdictions, the potential jurors are examined either by…