The Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued its opinion a few weeks ago in a negligence per se case, Paul v. Blackburn Limited Partnership. If you are a personal injury lawyer in Maryland, this is not optional reading. Because I’m betting money someone will win a legal malpractice case in…
The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill this week which would make talking on a handheld cellphone while driving a vehicle a primary offense. If the bill is signed by Governor O’Malley, as expected, a police officer could pull a driver over under this bill for talking on a handheld…
Last summer, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals decided Dixon v. Ford Motor Co. (discussed by me here) in which the court reversed a $15 million verdict (reduced to $6 million by the cap on noneconomic damages, and down to $3 million because of a joint tortfeasor settlement), finding that…
Another new Maryland lead paint decision The Maryland Court of Special Appeals reversed a $5.1 million (reduced to $1.25 million by the cap) lead paint verdict in a 91-page opinion written by Judge Shirley M. Watts. The first 58 pages of this opinion are facts. But there are two real…
Last week, the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland reinstated an award of $1.1 million in the case of Barnes v. GBMC. This appeal focused on the certificate requirements of the Healthcare Malpractice Claims Act (HMCA) besides other procedural questions surrounding the case. Facts of Barnes v. GBMC First the…
The Maryland Court of Appeals rendered an opinion in Ross v. Housing Authority of Baltimore City last Friday that is important not only to Maryland lawyers handling lead paint cases, but to any plaintiffs’ attorney who is putting up an expert at trial. That’s all of us. The plaintiff, in…
The Maryland Court of Special Appeals issued a new opinion in Nance v. Gordon, a medical malpractice case in which, once again, the defendant won a trial court victory, by getting an entire case struck on micro form over structure. Thankfully, the Court of Special Appeals rescued this one. A…
A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge ruled last week that Baltimore County’s contract with its speed camera vendor is illegal, because it allows the contractor to get a cut of every ticket generated. Although Judge Susan M. Souder’s ruling dismissed only a single ticket, this decision is believed to be…
In mass tort cases, plaintiffs’ lawyers love MDLs. The hope for many lawyers who have mass tort cases is that they can sign up the client, let the MDL steering committee (a selected group of lawyers that take the lead on the cases) do the heavy lifting, and then join…
Last week, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals upheld a small verdict in a truck accident case. The issue was the exclusion evidence of the defendant fleeing the scene after a car accident, even though plaintiffs put on a good case that the act of fleeing itself caused the plaintiff’s…