Posted on May 06, 2024 in Real Estate

What is constructive eviction?

An actual eviction occurs when a commercial landlord brings legal action seeking possession of leased premises from a commercial tenant, is awarded possession in Court, schedules an eviction of the tenant with the sheriff’s office, and the eviction is carried out by the sheriff.

A constructive eviction occurs when a commercial landlord does not physically or legally evict a commercial tenant, but rather acts, or fails to act, in a manner that interferes with a tenant’s use and enjoyment of the leased premises significantly enough to constitute an eviction in fact. For there to be a “constructive eviction,” a commercial tenant must be deprived of possession or beneficial use of the leased premises, which results in the tenant’s abandonment of the premises within a reasonable time.

To establish that there has been a constructive eviction in a commercial tenancy, a commercial tenant must prove that:

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 Posted on May 02, 2024 in Real Estate

What is the Renters’ Rights and Stabilization Act of 2024?

House Bill 693 made several substantial changes to existing Maryland landlord-tenant law:

Nonpayment of Rent Complaints

The cost for a landlord to file a Failure to Pay Rent Complaint has increased from $8 to $43 per case (plus an additional $10 in Baltimore City), along with the cost of service.

A landlord is not permitted to recover this cost from a tenant unless a court enters a judgment for possession in the landlord’s favor and the lease agreement provides that a surcharge may be assessed against the tenant.

Any deduction for this surcharge, if awarded by the court, may not be recovered from a tenant in an amount that exceeds the amount of the tenant’s security deposit.

Security Deposits

A landlord may not charge a security deposit in excess of one (1) month’s rent with very limited exception. This is a change from prior law which permitted a landlord to charge a security deposit of up to two months’ rent. The security deposit may not be forfeited to the landlord for breach of a lease, except in the amount the landlord is actually damaged by a breach, or the amount of a surcharge authorized by law.

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 Posted on April 22, 2024 in Criminal Defense

On April 15, 2024, Judge Richard Bennett of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland permanently enjoined the University of Maryland from suspending or preventing the graduation of Silverman Thompson client John Doe, a second-semester senior at College Park. Doe was the subject of a formal complaint of sexual assault filed a year after he attended a fraternity party with a student from another university.  The State’s Attorney chose not to proceed with criminal charges against him, but the University proceeded with its internal disciplinary process against Doe and imposed the sanction of expulsion, later reduced to a one-year suspension through the school’s appeal process.

With Doe’s timely graduation and the start of his professional career hanging in the balance, Silverman Thompson sought relief on his behalf in federal court, filing a complaint under Title IX and accompanying emergency motion for injunction relief against College Park. On January 3, 2024, Judge Bennett granted the temporary restraining order, which allowed Doe to attended classes in the spring semester and remain on track to graduate.

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 Posted on April 18, 2024 in Federal Crimes & White Collar Crimes

Ippei Mizuhara, an interpreter for L.A. Dodger’s star Shohei Ohtani, was recently charged by federal authorities in California with one count of bank fraud related to his alleged theft of millions of dollars from Ohtani, which Mizuhara used to bankroll his prolific gambling habit. Though federal investigations often take a long time, the IRS was investigating the illegal gambling ring Mizuhara used to place his bets, so they had a substantial head start on their investigation.

News outlets often report the maximum penalties associated with criminal charges. But the reality is that the maximum penalties are seldom imposed. Instead, federal courts are required by law to calculate a range of imprisonment based on the sentencing guidelines. The federal sentencing guidelines are advisory – meaning the court need not impose a sentence within the guideline range – but they are the starting point for every federal sentence imposed. If a court decides to impose a sentence outside the guideline range, it must provide specific reasons for doing so. As a result, the guidelines provide a far more accurate estimate of the potential penalty that a federal defendant might face.

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 Posted on April 16, 2024 in Family Law

This article discusses the application of constructive civil contempt in a recent child custody case. It is Part 3 of a three-part series. Part 1 provides an overview of the law of contempt in Maryland. Part 2 includes a summary and analysis of Breona C. v. Rodney D., 253 Md. App. 67 (2021), which clarified the law of civil contempt in child custody cases.

Lessons from the Breona C. Case

As discussed in Part 2, the opinion issued by the Appellate Court of Maryland in Breona C. v. Rodney D., 253 Md. App. 67 (2021) set forth important lessons regarding the application of constructive civil contempt in child custody cases:

1. An order finding a person in constructive civil contempt must include a valid sanction that is distinct from the purge provision and the requirement the Court seeks to enforce.

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 Posted on April 16, 2024 in Family Law

This article includes a summary and analysis of Breona C. v. Rodney D., 253 Md. App. 67 (2021), which clarified the law of civil contempt in child custody cases. It is Part 2 of a three-part series. Part 1 provides an overview of the law of contempt in Maryland. Part 3 addresses the application of Breona C. and constructive civil contempt in a recent case.

Constructive civil contempt in child custody cases

In 2021, the Appellate Court of Maryland (formerly known as the Court of Special Appeals), issued a landmark opinion clarifying the application of constructive civil contempt in child custody and access matters. See Breona C. v. Rodney D., 253 Md. App. 67 (2021). In the wake of the Breona C. opinion, many family law attorneys remarked that the decision may result in contempt ceasing to be a useful mechanism to enforce child custody orders. Although the Breona C. opinion limits the application of constructive civil contempt, contempt remains a viable means to compel compliance with custody orders in the right circumstances.

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 Posted on April 16, 2024 in Family Law

This article includes a brief overview of contempt in Maryland. It is Part 1 of a three-part series. Part 2 addresses the landmark case of Breona C. v. Rodney D., which clarified the law of civil contempt in child custody cases. Part 3 addresses the application of Breona C. and constructive civil contempt in a recent case.

What is contempt?

Put simply, contempt, also referred to as contempt of court, is a violation of a court order or conduct that disrupts the orderly functioning of the court. There are multiple different forms of contempt under Maryland law. Contempt can be either civil or criminal, and each variation can be either constructive or direct. Maryland law recognizes four main forms of contempt: (1) constructive civil contempt, (2) constructive criminal contempt, (3) direct civil contempt, and (4) direct criminal contempt. These different forms of contempt are not always distinct. In some situations, the same occurrence could be categorized as multiple types of contempt or entail features of multiple types.

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 Posted on April 16, 2024 in Criminal Defense

The Rights a Defendant Waives: Qualification Guide for Defense Attorneys

As a service to members of the Maryland Bar, below you will find a typical criminal litany given by the defense attorney to the defendant before a guilty plea is accepted. Different lawyers have different styles when advising a defendant of the rights he/she is giving up in exchange for a guilty plea. This framework is typically effective and comprehensive as long as the proper elements and below questions are included.

As an experienced Maryland criminal defense attorney, I have essentially given the same litany over 5,000 times in Circuit Courts throughout Maryland, dating back to my days as a felony Public Defender in Baltimore City (1991-1994). There are rare occasions when this litany needs tweaking due to the uniqueness of a particular case, but you should feel confident in using this verbatim in almost all instances.

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 Posted on April 12, 2024 in Criminal Defense

At Silverman Thompson, we put our experience as former federal prosecutors to work to secure favorable outcomes for our clients. In March 2024, we successfully secured the dismissal of felony charges including armed carjacking, kidnapping, and armed robbery, among a host of related charges, against our client before he even appeared in Court.

What is the Interstate Agreement on Detainers?

The Interstate Agreement on Detainers ("IAD") is an agreement between 48 states and the District of Columbia that streamlines the resolution of charges pending against sentenced prisoners. Louisiana and Mississippi are the only states that have not adopted the IAD.

Among other protections, the IAD:

• Prevents sentenced prisoners from being shuttled between state and federal authorities;
• Permits sentenced prisoners to request a speedy trial in cases brought in another jurisdiction; and

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 Posted on April 09, 2024 in Appeals - State & Federal

You’ve just lost your case in a Maryland trial court and want to appeal – how do you do it?  For the purpose of this article, we’ll assume your case is in a Maryland circuit court (different rules may apply if you’re in the district court).  We’ll also assume your case allows a direct appeal; most, but not all, cases are of this type. We’ll further assume you want to exercise your right of appeal to Maryland’s intermediate appellate court, called the Appellate Court of Maryland. In very limited cases, there may be a right of direct appeal to the Supreme Court of Maryland.  A litigant can also try to skip the intermediate appellate court and go straight to the Supreme Court, but that’s rare.  These two situations are beyond the scope of this article.

How to Appeal a Circuit Court Decision in Maryland

With those qualifications out of the way, we can get down to business.  Fortunately for lawyers and litigants, filing an appeal is relatively easy.  Maryland Rule 8-201 states that, subject to an exception not addressed here, "the only method of securing review by the Appellate Court is by the filing of a notice of appeal within the time prescribed in Rule 8-202."  So, what’s a notice of appeal?  It’s a simple document that informs the lower court of a party’s intention to appeal.  Rule 8-201 states that "[i]t is sufficient that the notice be substantially in the following form":

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