The Maryland Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Nicolas v. State, a Montgomery County criminal case. The primary issue on appeal dealt with double jeopardy, merger of offenses, and a bunch of other stuff I have long forgotten about since law school. But the case also raised on appeal…
Ask the average person or even the average lawyer what they think of forum shopping. It is viewed as a crime against the people. So let’s talk about “forum selection” instead. Forum selection is important, showed by the frequency with which parties contractually provide for and battle over venue. There…
Forbes, via Overlawyered, has an interesting article on Houston lawyer, Steve Susman’s efforts to cover lawyers on both sides of the aisle to try more jury trials… and make cases easier to try. How? Buy reaching stipulations on all the dumb things lawyers argue about. Great idea that will never…
LawyersUSA has an article out today on the struggles that personal injury attorneys have had in getting fair compensation for their clients in accident and malpractice cases. The article contains a few quotes from me. There are a couple of leitmotifs lawyers deal with when representing injured people who are…
When picking a jury, peremptory strikes are a big deal. There are almost invariably a few prospective jurors high on the roll call that you just know are anti-plaintiff. I don’t know how I know this – you get just a glimpse of Maryland jurors in voir dire – but…
How to Write Demand Letters We get a lot of cases from other lawyers who try and fail to settle personal injury cases. So I’ve seen everything from just sending in some medical records with no cover letter, to demand letters longer than Mr. Holland’s Opus (which, admittedly, I never…
In the NBA labor dispute, the NBA owners say they have put their best and last offer on the table. It is one of the oldest stunts in negotiating. Take this offer or we will take it off the table. I think he’s bluffing, but I’m not 100% certain. [2017:…
Social media is all the rage for defendants’ personal injury lawyers. In the olden days, the only really fun Perry Mason moments from discovery for defense lawyers was surveillance video. Out of the 10,000 times the insurance company would do surveillance, someone would hit a “guy who claims he is…
Every plaintiffs’ attorney in Maryland has at some point become frustrated with an insurance company over the gameplay regarding their client’s insurance policy. Under current Maryland law, an insurance company is not required to disclose its policy limits although such information is readily available in discovery after a lawsuit is…
As I have written many times, I’m a big fan of David Ball’s book “Damages 3.” I’ve read the entire book more than once. I’m ready to take a quiz on the contents. But I would fail the portions of that quiz on voir dire. It is hard for Maryland…