Posted on October 17, 2008 in Personal Injury

A trespasser is classified as one who enters another’s property intentionally and without consent or privilege. The only duty owed to a trespasser is to "abstain from wilful or wanton misconduct." Doehring v. Wagner, 562 A.2d 762, 767 (1989); Carroll v. Spencer, 204 Md. 387, 394 (1954) (emphasis added). A "wanton" act is one performed with reckless indifference to potentially injurious consequences. Doehring, 562 A.2d at 767; Wells v. Poland, 120 Md. App. 699, 719 (1998). Moreover, "wanton" conduct is that which is "extremely dangerous and outrageous," with reckless disregard of others rights. Wells, 120 Md. App. at 719. However, although the above cases define "wanton," the standard applied by the court to trigger liability to trespassers is higher. The majority of cases use such language as "conduct calculated to or reasonably expected to lead to injury of the trespasser." Doehring, 562 A.2d at 762; Wells, 120 Md. App. at 721 (emphasis added). For example in Doehring, defendant placing chain across driveway to prevent motorcycles from accessing was not willful or wanton conduct, even though defendant was aware of prior use of driveway by motorcycles. Id.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 17, 2008 in Criminal Defense

In 1994 New Jersey became one of the first states to implement sex offender registry and notification laws. New Jersey enacted what became known as "Megan’s Law," or the Sex Offender Registration Act, in response to a brutal sexual assault and murder of seven-year-old Megan Kanka by a convicted sex offender who lived across the street from her. Congress responded that same year by implementing their version of Megan’s Law, called the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Program ("Wetterling Act"). Pub.L.No. 103-322, 108 Stat. 1796 (1994), codified at 42 U.S.C. § 14071 (2000). The Wetterling Act, drafted to protect the public from violent sex offenses committed by repeat offenders, developed guidelines for registration, and more recently, community notification, and classified its registrants as "sexually violent offenders" or "sexually violent predators," the latter of which was forced to comply with heightened registration requirements. Id. at § 14071. See generally, 61 Md. Law Rev. 739, 722-45 (2002). The Wetterling Act also mandates that each State may decide to what extent that information will be made available to the public. See H.R. Rep. No. 104-55 (1986).

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 17, 2008 in Criminal Defense

Many Marylanders are often wrongly accused of child abuse. Police and prosecutors are often too quick to rush to judgment and fail to do a complete investigation. In several cases, I have been able to exonerate innocent defendants by obtaining the Social Service records of the alleged child-victim. These sealed records, although sometimes difficult to obtain, often point to the real abuser.

The problem arises when a child shows physical signs of obvious abuse. One case I had involving a teacher being charged with physically abusing a 7 year old student. The school nurse had seen marks on the child and inquired the source. Rather than point the finger at the true abuser-the child’s mother- the child thought it would be simpler to wrongfully accuse a teacher. In the child’s mind, it was better to accuse an innocent teacher (whom the child disliked anyway) than point the finger at the true abuser, who the child otherwise loved and relied upon.

In general, it is unlawful for anyone to divulge information concerning social service records. Maryland law states when records may be divulged. This is not a mandatory provision but a discretionary one.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 17, 2008 in Federal Crimes & White Collar Crimes

In federal criminal cases, defense attorneys may use extrinsic evidence to show a witness’ bias, but you may not use is to impeach by showing a specific instance of conduct.

FRE 608(b) states: Evidence of Character and Conduct of Witness

(b) Specific instances of conduct. Specific instances of the conduct of a witness, for the purpose of attacking or supporting the witness’ credibility, other than conviction of crime as provided in rule 609, may not be proved by extrinsic evidence. They may, however, in the discretion of the court, if probative of truthfulness or untruthfulness, be inquired into on cross- examination of the witness (1) concerning the witness’ character for truthfulness or untruthfulness, or (2) concerning the character for truthfulness or untruthfulness of another witness as to which character the witness being cross-examined has testified.

The giving of testimony, whether by an accused or by any other witness, does not operate as a waiver of the accused’s or the witness’ privilege against self-incrimination when examined with respect to matters which relate only to credibility.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 15, 2008 in Criminal Defense

As a Maryland Criminal Attorney I am often required to deal with issues involving bail. In fact I spoke with a women first thing this morning whose daughter was locked up on a $25,000 bail and charged with Armed Robbery and Assault. The poor women was completely without a clue as to what bail was or how to post it. The defendant was due to be in court for a bail review just a few hours later so she had very little time to get educated and decide what to do.

I told her that her first decision was to decide whether to let her daughter attend the bail review or to bail the her out prior to the bail review. I explained, to her great surprise, that a judge at a bail review can not only lower the bail as set by the court commission, but can also raise the bail. In many instances I advise the family members or friends who contact me about a defendant who is in jail awaiting bail to go ahead and bail the defendant out prior to the bail review because it is my opinion that in that case the bail is more likely to be raised than it is to be lowered. This is exactly what I told this women this morning as by Baltimore City bail standards, $25,000 is low for an Armed Robbery charge. If all cases where a defendant decides that he wants to (or must) attend the bail review he would be foolish not to retain an experienced criminal defense lawyer to represent him at this critical stage of the process.

Once a person’s bail is set there are three basic options for how to post the bail. The first is to post the entire amount of the bail with the court. Few people can do this in cases where there a substantial bail is set. The second option is to hire a bail bondsman or corporate surety. My firm works very closely with a company called Big Boyz Bail Bonds. When you hire a bondsman, they require that you pay a 10% premium in order for them to write the bail and insure the court that the defendant will appear for trial. In the situation above where the bail is $25,000, the premium or fee would be $2500. In many circumstances the bondsman will offer to finance the bail premium requiring a smaller amount, say 1% or 2% ($250 or $500) down and work out a payment plan for the remainder. Big Boyz is very willing to work with people and offers flexible payment plans. Using a bondsman is also usually the quickest and most hassle free way to bail someone out and is the most frequent method used by people in this situation.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 14, 2008 in Personal Injury

A four year old girl and her mother were severely injured when an individual, employed by the federal government, ran a red light and broad-sided the SUV in which the toddler and her mother were traveling. After the collision, the victims’ vehicle struck a utility pole and rolled over. The young girl sustained multiple injuries, which required 25 surgeries. She was hospitalized for 250 days. Her past medical expenses totaled approximately $3.5 million. The toddler’s attorneys maintained that future life care costs for the young girl would approach $22 million. The mother sustained approximately $29,100 in past medical expenses and $212,500 in future medical expenses.

The toddler’s mother sued the federal government, which employed the negligent driver that caused the accident. The mother claimed that the federal government was vicariously liable because the negligent driver was acting within the course and scope of his employment at the time of the accident and had failed to stop for a red light. The government ultimately conceded that it was liable, but argued that the damages were significantly less than claimed. A California court disagreed. After a bench trial, the court entered judgment in favor of the toddler and her mother for $55.18 million.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 14, 2008 in Criminal Defense

Maryland Criminal Attorney– Baltimore Criminal Lawyer I represented a defendant this afternoon in Prince Georges County District Court who was charged both with acting as a home improvement contractor without a license and failure to perform a home improvement contract which usually means failure to complete the contract to the homeowners satisfaction as it was in this case. Many people, including many new contractors, don’t realize that it is illegal to operate as a home improvement contractor without a license or to fail to perform the contract and that violations of this sort carry significant criminal sanctions or just how broad the definition of home improvement is.

The Annotated Code, Business Regulation Article defines both what constitutes home improvement as well as what the criminal penalties are for violations. According to Section 8-101 Home Improvement means: The addition to or alteration, conversion, improvement, modernization, remodeling, repair, or replacement of a building or part of a building that is used or designed to be used as a residence or dwelling place or a structure adjacent to that building; or an improvement to land adjacent to that building. In addition to the obvious things like building an addition or finishing a basement, home improvement includes work such as repaving a driveway and the connection, installation or replacement of a dishwasher, disposal or refrigerator. It also includes work such as landscaping or building a fence.

As far as penalties are concerned, as I indicated previously, they can be quite severe. For a first offense of acting as a contractor without a license a person can be sentenced to 30 days in jail and be fined up to $1000. For a second or subsequent offense the maximum penalty is 2 years in jail and a fine of $5000. In addition to the criminal penalties a contractor can be forced by the court to refund the entire contract price to the homeowner, even for work that was satisfactorily completed. The maximum penalty for failure to perform a contract is 6 months and a fine of up to $1000.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 13, 2008 in Medical Malpractice

A jury awarded approximately $11 million to a woman who became partially paralyzed after waiting two hours for a hospital brain scan. Jurors found that the hospital was negligent in caring for the woman after she fractured her skull in a fall in 2004. The woman was cleared for a brain scan two hours before she got one. The test was ordered to check for bleeding. Because of the delay, the woman allegedly lapsed into a coma in the emergency room less than an hour after the scan. She now has no movement in her left side and uses a wheelchair.

I have successfully handled a number of emergency room medical malpractice cases in Baltimore and other counties in Maryland. Emergency room doctors are required to recognize serious medical conditions and admit patients who require significant treatment. Some of the cases I have handled alleged a failure to properly diagnose a heart attack, failure to diagnose and admit a suicidal patient, failure to diagnose pulmonary embolism, failure to diagnose an abdominal aortic aneurysm, failure to diagnose brain injury, etc.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 11, 2008 in Medical Malpractice

A Seattle hospital must pay the family of a girl about $4.25 million after the hospital’s negligence during her delivery caused severe brain damage. Approximately $2.5 million of the money is to cover future medical expenses for the 5-year-old girl who cannot walk or talk, must be fed through a gastric tube and suffers from cerebral palsy. About $350,000 is meant to cover previous medical expenses, and the remaining $1.4 million covers general damages. After three days of deliberation, the jury ruled in partial favor of the hospital, rejecting an additional $3.75 million for the girl and about $4 million for her parents.

The family blamed the hospital for at least 20 minutes of oxygen deprivation to the girl after the placenta prematurely separated from the mother’s uterine wall. At 8:25 p.m. on May 30, 2003, the mother checked into the hospital with contractions; it was a day before her scheduled C-section. The woman had a history of placental abruption – a serious complication that can deprive the baby of oxygen and cause heavy bleeding in the mother – but the obstetrician went home for dinner without having been notified of the high-risk case. When the fetal monitor began to show signs the baby was in distress – around 8:45 p.m. – the nurses did not immediately call the obstetrician. At 9 p.m., the baby was "down," meaning her heart rate had dipped below 90 beats per minute. A normal heart rate in a baby is between 130 and 190 beats per minute. Nurses called the obstetrician, who arrived at 9:18 p.m. and immediately performed an emergency C-section, he said. The child was born lifeless at 9:24 p.m. after suffering at least 20 minutes of asphyxiation but was resuscitated.

Continue Reading ››

 Posted on October 11, 2008 in Medical Malpractice

The United States Government has agreed to pay a former Utah family nearly $1 million to settle a medical malpractice case involving failure to treat infection / sepsis. The man was being treated for leukemia at at a Veterans Affairs hospital in 2004 when he developed a severe infection and died. His surviving wife and daughter filed suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act, alleging that the hospital told him to take gas-x instead of going to the emergency room to get antibiotics. He died of sepsis from a low white-blood-cell count.

The man was diagnosed with leukemia in June 2004 and received chemotherapy at the VA in October. Three days after his last treatment, he had diarrhea and abdominal pain. After calling the hospital to see what to do, his wife was told by an oncology doctor that the man should take an over-the-counter medicine for gas. What he really needed were antibiotics immediately to fight off a severe infection. His white blood cell count was low, due to the chemotherapy, which led to a bacterial infection in his colon. The man died four days before his 46th birthday and his 18th wedding anniversary. His leukemia was in remission and he was expected to live for at least another five years.

Continue Reading ››