I was surprised at the media response to the 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…
The Maryland Daily Record reports that Dean Philip J. Closius has resigned as the University of Baltimore School of Law Dean, citing differences with University President Robert L. Bogomolny over the amount of law school revenue the university keeps. Dean Closius came here with a reputation as a guy who…
Judge Harrell opens the Maryland Court of Appeals’ unanimous opinion today like this: [Jeremy] Bentham (my note: a name familiar to my ultraeducated readers and Lost fans) stated the case against retroactivity most succinctly when he likened it to ‘dog law.’ He was referring to the age-old method of training…
Big win for lead paint plaintiffs today in Maryland Court of Appeals as the court ordered a new trial after a jury verdict for the landlord. Jury instruction error in lead paint case not harmless error: new trial In Janay v. Wlikowsky, the landlords’ attorney questioned the Plaintiff’s grandmother whether…
The Maryland Court of Appeals tackled a piece of one of the new vexing issues our courts face: dealing with social media. Most of the legal opinions circulating around involve discovery of social media such as Facebook and Twitter in civil cases. The court’s opinion in Griffin v. State deals…
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals today considered the circumstances under which a landlord may be liable in dog bite injury claims. This case involved a tenant in Towson who was breeding pit bulls. The CSA found that Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Timothy J. Martin erred in granting the…
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals said yesterday that Allstate is entitled to be as prejudiced as it wants to be. And sorry if you clicked on this because the title baited you, the court did not mean Allstate can discriminate based on race, creed, or religion. Instead, the court…
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided on Thompson v. State Farm, a bad faith claim against State Farm that arose out of a car accident in Millersville, Maryland in Anne Arundel County. At issue is a common battleground in Maryland car accident cases: venue. A regular issue that is…
The title is a little hyperbolic. But at the Maryland Court of Appeals Rules Committee meeting this morning, a memorandum was issued from Chief Judge Robert M. Bell requesting a study of how other jurisdictions have dealt with the comparative negligence doctrine. Just a study, mind you. But this memo…
Contributory negligence is about as dead of an idea as communism. Maryland is one of five jurisdictions in the United States (along with Virginia, Washington D.C., Alabama, and North Carolina) that have maintained this antiquated notion that being 1% at fault for your own injuries should be a bar to…