Maryland Lawyer Blog

I defended latex glove allergy lawsuits in the late '90s/early '00s. They were just awful cases for plaintiffs. But that does not minimize the suffering of many who have latex allergies, a little talked about problem that really impacts the lives of a small number of people.

In Meade v. Shangri-La Partnership, the Plaintiff had a severe latex allergy. She got it in the '90s from latex gloves, as many healthcare providers did. She sent her child to preschool at the Children's Manor Montessori in Howard County (I'm not sure if it was Ellicott City or Columbia). She wanted the preschool to remove latex gloves from the school so she could visit and "be part of [her] son’s preschool experience."

To me, reading the case, while I sympathize with her injury, she sounds a little melodramatic. Anyway, the school made matters much worse by kicking the kid out because they feared a lawsuit. Seriously? Of course, a lawsuit is exactly what followed. What a mess.

Anyway, a Howard County jury agreed with the Plaintiff, finding that she had “a physical or mental impairment which substantially limit[ed] one or more of [her] major life activities,” and that the Plaintiff was denied the accommodations of the school because of discrimination, and further found that the school had retaliated against her. The jury awarded Meade $1,683 in economic damages, $5,000 in non-economic damages, and $22,800 in attorney’s fees.

Continue reading "Latex Allergy Discrimination" »

Slated to be the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) President for the 2013-2014 term, Michael J. Baxter of Baltimore's Baxter, Baker, Sidle, Conn & Jones has been named President-Elect nominee.

First having joined the bar in 1980, Michael J. Baxter is a trial attorney who primarily defends doctors and hospitals in medical malpractice cases. Over the past decade, Baxter has held many positions. He served on the Board of Governors from 2001-2003, chaired the Association Standing Committee on Laws from 2003-2009, and has been the MSBA Secretary since 2010.

It sounds as if he is looking forward to his term as President, stating that he knows he is going to get a lot out of it, and that he intends to make sure the Association keeps doing the good things it does.

Congratulations go out to him.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals is looking for six lawyers to fill "at-will" attorney position.

Three thoughts:

• I think it is funny that it says that the positions is "at will." Most employees are at-will. I'm surprised they felt compelled to specify that. I'm sure it is a state government thing. But it is funny to me.
• Six positions? That just blows me away. I don't pretend to understand all of the inner workings of the Court of Special Appeals. But six more lawyers? How many are there now? The job is to assist the judges research and analyze cases. It strikes me because Governor O'Malley is now floating increase the sales tax again.
• The salary is $29.89 an hour without any benefits. I cannot imagine these are long term jobs held by seasoned lawyers. I wonder how much confidence these appellate judges really place on these lawyers. Admittedly, I don't know what I'm talking about but would it be better to hire four lawyers and pay them a lot more? Alternatively, they should just bring on 2 or 3 more judges.

• In case you missed the news before the New Year, two non-Maryland doctors have been charged with murder here under Maryland's fetal homicide law. The two abortion doctors, one from New Jersey and the other from Utah, were charged in connection with a late-term abortion in Elkton that went awry. It looks like this is the first time the fetal homicide law has been used against a medical professional performing surgery; previously, its been used in cases where a pregnant woman was attacked, causing the fetus to die.
• The Court of Appeals will hear Nancy Forster's argument that a Baltimore judge should not have dismissed the former public defender's wrongful termination claim.
• Curious which Maryland law stories were the most-read in 2011? Also, Baltimore Crime has a list of its top 10 local legal stories of the year.
• The General Assembly session is about to start. Get ready for a knock-down, drag-out fight over legalizing gay marriage.
• Frank Kratovil Jr. is gainfully employed again.
• Will a murder trial that opens tomorrow be a test of Maryland's new death penalty standards?

According to the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland (AGC), disciplinary actions taken against Maryland attorneys are down this year (Fiscal Year [FY] – July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011), despite the fact that the AGC received slightly more complaints.

According to the AGC’s annual report, the overall number of inquiries rose for the second consecutive year, from 1,597 in FY 2010 to 1,800 in FY 2011, as did the number of docketed complaints filed against Maryland attorneys – increasing from 406 in 2010 to 429 in 2011. While this may sound discouraging, the 70 disciplinary actions that were taken this year was a decrease from the 76 that were taken in 2010 (FY). That’s encouraging, right? Even more encouraging, the number of disbarments fell from 15 in FY 2010 to 11 in 2011. Especially considering that the number of active attorneys increased from 34,506 last year to 35,515 this year.

The 76 reported disciplinary actions taken in FY 2011 are broken down as follows:

• 17 attributed to competent representation, diligence, communication, neglect, and abiding by client’s decision
• 12 to misconduct (dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation)
• 10 to criminal act or conviction
• 9 to misappropriation (theft of client’s funds, estate funds, fiduciary funds or law firm funds)
• 8 to failure to maintain complete records, account to clients or others, maintain trust account, or safeguard funds

As far as complaints received go, the largest numbers are broken down amongst the following practice areas:

• Civil Litigation – 74 complaints
• Personal Injury - 61
• Family Law – 49 (a considerable decrease from 71 the prior year)
• Criminal Law - 43
• Bankruptcy – 26 (while this may seem insignificant, this figure more than doubled from the 12 in 2010)

Geographically speaking, Montgomery County once again led the state in complaints with 81, though this was a big drop from 92 reported last year. The other notable numbers, broken down by county, are as follows:

• Prince George's County: 73 (an increase from 62 last year)
• Baltimore City: 65 (an increase from 60)
• Baltimore County: 57 (an increase from 50)
• Anne Arundel County: 34 (this more than double the amount of complaints received last year)

Counties having received no complaints are: Caroline County, Cecil County, Dorchester County, and Kent County.

Deadspin is reporting that Bill Conlin, who is one of the most famous sportswriters in the country, has resigned from The (Philadelphia Daily News. The report says that the "Philadelphia Inquirer’s top investigative reporter, Nancy Phillips, has written a story containing what we’re told are allegations of child molestation against sportswriter Bill Conlin.” Unbelievable.

Let's pretend for a second these allegations are true. I have no idea but let's pretend for a second.
Does this story run if Jerry Sandusky is never caught? In the world of unintended consequences, Jerry Sandusky end up saving lots of children from child molesters just like Michael Vick has done more than any person in human history of preventing the abuse of dogs in this country.

Facebook yet again finds itself involved in another lawsuit. The social-networking service is being sued by people claiming that showing ads that network friends can “like,” violates a California law regarding commercial endorsements. Goodness, being big sure does generate a lot of lawsuits.

Facebook’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit was rejected this week, and it was ruled that the plaintiffs may pursue claims that the company’s sponsored ads violate state law and are fraudulent. The court found that, “plaintiffs have articulated a coherent theory of how they were economically injured by the misappropriation of their names, photographs and likeness.” According to the plaintiffs, a sponsored story is a paid ad consisting of another friend’s name and profile picture and claiming the person likes the advertiser, and they further feel that it’s an unauthorized use of their names and likenesses and they feel they deserve compensation. Raise your hand you think this sounds ridiculous.

Facebook’s argument is that this case should be dismissed by the court before it is dismissed by a jury because Facebook is immune under the law’s “newsworthiness” exemption, which doesn’t require consent, and that the plaintiffs are public figures to their friends, and expressions of consumer opinion are generally newsworthy.

What are they complaining about? As Facebook’s Chief Executive Officer puts it, “nothing influences people more than a recommendation of a friend” and a “trusted referral is the Holy Grail of advertising.” The “liked” ads are doing nothing but benefiting the plaintiffs, but yet they are asking for more money for the unauthorized use of their names. Plaintiffs' lawyers have an undeserved reputation for a willingness to sue their parents for a buck. This article lends credence to it.

Speaking of Facebook, please go "like" our page if you have not done so already. All of the cool kids already have.

• Another Ridiculous Facebook Lawsuit
• New Facebook Opinion
• Social Media Discovery
• Facebook Friending Juror Pleads Guilty

Paul E. Schurick, Bob Ehrlich's 2010 campaign manager was convicted Tuesday on four counts of election-law violations stemming from an anonymous robocall he authorized in the waning hours of election day.

Really just an unbelievable story. You can read the Washington Post's article here.

• Under Armour sues Energy Armor, a company selling "negative ion bracelets" and other apparel, alleging copyright infringement. Really, negative ion bracelets? Who buys this stuff?
• The 4th Circuit, long considered the most conservative circuit in the country, has definitely shifted to the left. This can't be bad for those of us representing the injured.
• A blind man says that after he and his guide dog were hit by a car, Baltimore paramedics wanted to leave the dog behind on the pavement and wouldn't take the animal in the ambulance transporting the man to the hospital.
• Oops. While Frank Conaway Sr. allegedly "brandished" a gun at blogger Adam Meister yesterday (say police, but not Conaway or Meister), his concealed-carry permit expired months ago.
• Judge Roger Titus lets the racial gerrymandering case go forward. The group of black plaintiffs allege Gov. O'Malley and the legislature redistricted along racial lines in order to give Democrats an advantage.

The University of Baltimore Law School is considered to be one of the top values in law schools.

A new smartphone application is available, the first of its kind in the nation among state bar associations. Erek Barron, Chair of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) Young Lawyers Section, has developed a new substantive app for “on-the-go” access to the Rules of Evidence, rules of Professional Conduct, MSBA’s website, and more. Versions are available for Applie IPHone and iPad, Android, and BlackBerry Smartphones.

Funded in part from a grant from the Maryland Bar Foundation, the MSBA application allows users to easily search for rules by chapter, title, or rule, and bookmark them for future reference. It even features links to select portions of the MSBA website, including the MSBA Ethics Hotline, Ethics Opinions, and Fastcase online legal research for members.

With the development of mobile applications growing by leaps and bounds, with hundreds of thousands to choose from, the MSBA app is getting great reviews. Attorneys from all over the nation have chimed in regarding the new app with comments such as, "a well-designed application that all Maryland attorneys should be proud of.

Is this cool? Yes. Do we really need an iPad app for this? Well, I don't know that it is right in the wheelhouse of the best use of apps. Still, I'll download it.

The Appellate Judicial Nominating Commission on Wednesday submitted to Governor O’Malley nine candidates for a vacancy on the Court of Special Appeals.

The candidates are:

• Andrew H. Baida
• Donald E. Beachley
• Stuart R. Berger
• Karen Louise Federman Henry
• Robert Neal McDonald
• Audrey J.S. Carrion
• Toni Evon Clarke
• Melanie Marva Shaw Geter
• Pamela Janice White