The Maryland Court of Appeals just affirmed a lead paint verdict against the Baltimore Housing Authority. This is yet another case where a governmental entity sought the refuge of the Local Government Tort Claims Act. Thankfully, the Baltimore Housing Authority could not avail causing brain damage to a child…
Tiger Woods “easy” back surgery hurts some tort victims Tiger Woods announced today that he has undergone successful back surgery and expects to be back playing golf this summer. Good for him. This is bad news for golf fans who passionately root for or against Tiger. But it is also…
In Pearson v. State, the Maryland Court of Appeals earlier this month addressed the important question of which voir dire questions, if requested, must be asked of prospective jurors. Why am I writing about it? It might have important ramifications on civil personal injury jury cases. The case’s facts are…
2019 Update: We are #119. Which is some progress. We can do better and we will. The U.S. News and World Report rankings came out today (I wrote this in 2015.). It was not a good day for the University of Baltimore School of Law: ranked #135 among U.S.…
One of the most highly commented blog posts I have had here was when the Maryland Court of Appeals decided Tracey v. Solesky, one of the rare appellate opinions that seemed to make everyone mad. Tracy carved out a pit bull exception and make pit bull owners pretty much strictly…
Plaintiff should have used marijuana? People get in car accidents and they get badly hurt. So insurance defense lawyers end up making some crazy arguments. But in Glesby v. MacMillian, a Maryland car accident case, the defendant reached a new height of insanity: arguing that the plaintiff should have used…
New Uninsured Motorist and Jury Awarded Zero in Pain and Suffering Damages Opinion Last week in Keller v. Serio, the Maryland Court of Appeals took yet another look at two issues that have been reoccurring leitmotifs in Maryland appellate opinions: (1) to what extent can we talk about uninsured motorist…
The U.S. District Court for Maryland made a noteworthy ruling in Jackson v. Johnson, a Maryland auto tort case that is an interesting case that involves federal diversity law and interesting plaintiffs’ lawyer tactics in finding their preferred venue for the case. Plaintiffs’ Venue Tactics on Full Display The Battleground…
Maryland Verdict Statistics [Note: This post was originally written in 2006 and then updated in 2014, 2018, and 2023.] It is always interesting for a personal injury attorney to hear about trial verdicts in accident cases. We subscribe to Metro Verdicts Monthly, which summarizes primarily personal injury accident cases in…
Can you strike a juror based on sexual preference? This week, the 9th Circuit took this issue on. SmithKline Beecham v. Abbott Laboratories is a case of two giant drug companies fighting each other over what I’m sure is already obscene profits involving the sale of an anti-HIV drug. In…