Lawyers always argue over anything where there is not black and white set rules. (Actually, we argue when there are set rules, too.) No one exactly knows the rules of the sequences of discovery because the rules are whatever the motions’ judge says there are. So lawyers take positions on…
Trying to successfully resolve clients’ medical liens has to be one of the toughest challenges facing personal injury lawyers in large cases. I have had many cases where the case’s hardest part was not getting the settlement or verdict’ but getting the medical liens resolved. It also can be most frustrating…
The issue of pre-impact fright is a big deal in wrongful death car accident cases in Maryland. Why? Well, in non-malpractice cases we have a cap on wrongful death claims and a cap on survival actions. In Maryland – I know some states have it reversed – the survival action…
U.S. District Court Judge William M. Nickerson remanded an asbestos case back to Baltimore City Circuit Court, rejecting defendant’s efforts to remove the case to federal court because the defendant had joined non-diverse defendants. The case is one of many asbestos cases on the docket in Baltimore City. Plaintiff alleges…
Serious personal injury cases, where pain and suffering damages are high but less than the cap on non-economic damages, are the hardest claims to value and the hardest cases to settle without suing. Almost invariably in these cases, I’m telling my clients that the case’s value is likely to be…
I rarely write about criminal cases because I find criminal cases uniquely depressing and because they rarely relate to what we, as personal injury lawyers, are doing. Venus and Mars. I have no idea how to handle a criminal law case and criminal lawyers have no idea how to handle…
Last Friday, a federal judge in Washington D.C. issued an opinion on whether to impose discovery sanctions on Marriott that I think is an instruction for personal injury lawyers dealing with defendants that destroy evidence. In Mahaffey v. Marriott, plaintiff’s lawsuit alleged that while exiting an elevator in a motorized…
You can call it a sad but true fact if you want: the value of a personal injury case in Maryland might double (or be cut in half) based on where the case is tried. I provide here our thoughts on where each Maryland county and Baltimore City ranks on…
Defense lawyers are reluctant to say that the plaintiff is lying. They will insinuate, suggest, intimate, and any other verb you can think of to lead that horse to water, but they will rarely come out and say it. It is largely a trial tactics decision, but it is also…
I’ve been following, with interest, opinions around the country dealing with the discoverability and admissibility of social media evidence and the issue of jury misconduct that involves the use of modern technology and social media. I found on John Day’s Twitter feed today an article that addresses the latter issue…