With all due respect to fellow trial lawyer John Edwards, the Democratic race seems to be all about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Regarding tort reform, both seem to be on the side of allowing juries to make the call regarding whether and how much compensation should be awarded. In…
The Maryland Lawyer Blog is starting to really sink its teeth into the sperm donor recipients who strike a deal with the donor only to later seek child support. This is our second blog on the issue in as many months. In this case, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court went into…
Honorable J. Michael Wachs has been appointed to fill the Anne Arundel Circuit Court vacancy resulting from the retirement of the Honorable Joseph P. Manck. I have only been in front of Judge Wachs once but he has a great judicial temperament and is very well thought of in Anne…
A new Jury Verdict Research study based on data from the past ten years offers information on plaintiffs’ recovery in phantom auto accident cases. Phantom cases are generally uninsured motorist cases where there is no contact between the negligent driver’s car the injury victim. In most phantom cases, the defendant’s…
On Tuesday, the Court of Appeals, in a 4 to 3 majority, declined an attempt to legalize gay marriage. The majority did, however, underscore the legislature’s authority to choose to legalize same-sex marriage. The Court reversed Baltimore City Circuit Court Judge Brooke Murdock’s decision which found that the marriage statute,…
Digging through my miscellaneous files today (an incredible hodgepodge), I found a Metro Verdicts Monthly reporting on median settlements and verdicts in employment discrimination cases in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. Washington D.C. leads this pack at $206,000. Virginia’s median is $150,000 while Maryland lags at $117,000. While the categories…
Two recent medical malpractice cases regarding emergency room physicians raise the question of who should a patient trust for their ultimate diagnosis after an emergency room visit. The first case involves a woman who was awarded $10 million for the death of her 73-year-old husband whose premature death she claimed…