Maryland Lawyer Blog

Talbot County Mooring Referendum: New CSA Opinion

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:13:37 -0500

In Koste v. Town of Oxford, Judge Robert A. Zarnoch starts out the Maryland Court of Special Appeals opinion like this:

Which comes first: a law's enactment or a referendum drive? In this case, we consider the classic chicken/egg casualty riddle in the legislative/political setting. And in the context of petitioning to referendum of a municipal annexation resolution, we conclude that the Legislature has required enactment to precede petitioning. We turn form the abstract to the concrete.

Honestly, I'm not sure what this means. In the bubble of personal injury cases in which I live, it is amazing to me how many other legal issues there are for judges to get there minds around.

In any event, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in favor of the Town of Oxford in a this case regarding petition signatures stemming from a dispute over the regulation of mooring regulations for buoys adjacent to the town. This opinion reverses a Talbot County Circuit Court judge's summary judgment ruling in favor of a resident who had granted a judgment in favor of an Oxford resident who had challenged a town resolution on mooring.

You can read the opinion here. I tried to understand it and gave up.

Maryland DNA Collection Law Turned on Its Head

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:33:09 -0500

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled today that significant portions of a law authorizing police to collect DNA samples at the time of arrest for suspects of violent crimes is unconstitutional.

The court found that if you are only arrested - as opposed to charged and processed - and there is no warrant, , you should be free from "unreasonable" searches. Accordingly, the court tossed a significant portion of the Maryland DNA Collection Act which authorizes law enforcement to collect DNA samples from suspects who have been arrested.

Judges Barbera and Wilner dissented from the majority opinion. I would have, too. I just don't think DNA is an unreasonable search, I really don't.

You can find the full opinion in King v. State here.

Yes, That Sounds About Right

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:51:02 -0500

I like this summary of the Maryland Court of Appeals opinion in Attorney Grievance Commission v. Camus:

Disbarment is the appropriate sanction when an attorney is unprepared and repeatedly late for court appearances, fails to enter her appearance in a case after being directed to do so by the court, sends an unreasonable bill to a client in apparent retaliation for the filing of a complaint with the Attorney Grievance Commission, takes funds from a trust account purportedly for fees without notice to, or assent by, the client, and fails to respond to reasonable requests for files relating to clients after termination of representation. MLRPC 1.1, 1.2(a), 1.3, 1.4, 1.5(a),(d), 1.15(a),(d), 1.16(d), 3.4(c), 8.1(b), 8.4(b),(c),(d).

Ah, yeah, disbarment sounds about right.

Maryland Law School Politics

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:45:31 -0500

Maryland state Senator Richard Colburn wants to help the University of Baltimore School of Law with a $500,000 grant. Okay. Deal.

Oh, wait. Nothing is really free, is it? Senator Colburn is upset because the University of Maryland Environmental Law Clinic is doing what law clinics do: fight for causes. Their cause is a lawsuit against a local chicken farm. Colburn represents Caroline, Dorchester, Talbot, and Wicomico Counties, so he loves Purdue Chicken and chicken farmers.

Coburn wants to take the Maryland money and give it to the University of Baltimore Law School to assist "farmers in the state with estates and trusts issues, compliance with environmental laws and other matters necessary to preserve family farms." The measure failed this year. I'm sure it will be back next year.

I'm not attacking Colburn, really. He's fighting for his constituents which is all well and good, I guess. But if the Maryland legislature ever goes along, it will prove our worst suspicions about our state politics.

Here is the Baltimore Sun article. I get the Sun so I refuse to pay to read the paper online. But, if you cut and paste real quick, you can get the article. More fun than breaking and entering.

New 4th Circuit Judge

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:28:19 -0500

The U.S. Senate has confirmed Stephanie Dawn Thacker, a West Virginia lawyer, 4th Circuit appointment. Soon to be Judge Thacker takes the vacancy created by the death of Judge Blane Michael in March. The surprisingly leftward moving court covers North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia.

Thacker has been a partner at Charleston law firm, Guthrie & Thomas, for the last six years. Before that, she spent seven years with the U.S. Justice Department and has also served as an assistant federal prosecutor and worked for the state attorney general’s office.

Over that time, she must have impressed the heck out of a lot of people to grab a 4th Circuit seat.

E-Book Lawsuit Against Apple

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 11:34:51 -0500

It is anticipated that the U.S. Department of Justice will file suit today against Apple, as well as several publishing companies. The reason? A scheme to fix e-book prices.

In 2010, when iPad was released, and iBookstore was new, Apple reached an agreement with five publishers to release books on iBookstore. Before the release of the iPad, Amazon's Kindle was the preeminent e-book reader. Amazon forced publishers to sell most books at $9.99, a price that came in below the cost of the books. Apple's agreement placed many books on the market for approximately $12.99, and gave Apple a 30% cut, resulting in Amazon raising its prices.

The European Commission, in an investigation similar to the DOJ, is probing whether Apple conspired to raise the price of e-books with CBS's Simon & Schuster, News Corp.'s HarperCollins; Hachette Book Group; Pearson's Penguin unit and Macmillan.

Are these allegations fair? The lawsuit alleges that:

[S]tarting no later than September of 2008 and continuing for at least one year, the Publisher Defendants' CEOs (at times joined by one non-defendant publisher's CEO) met privately as a group approximately once per quarter. These meetings took place in private dining rooms of upscale Manhattan restaurants and were used to discuss confidential business and competitive matters, including Amazon's e-book retailing practices. No legal counsel was present at any of these meetings.

That certainly does sound like the beginning of every story that ends in antitrust violations. But it worth noting these companies are not exactly shaking in their boots: all 5 defendants have seen their stock prices rise today.

Maryland Facebook Password Law

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:15:29 -0500

The Maryland General Assembly has approved a bill that would prohibit employers from seeking Facebook and other social media passwords from either job applicants or existing employees. The bill was passed by a wide margin in the House of Delegates and unanimously by the state Senate, and now awaits Governor Martin O'Malley's signature which it will most certainly get.

Here is what you need to know about the Maryland Chamber of Commerce: they opposed the bill. Why? The Maryland Chamber of Commerce is informed only by what it thinks will help Maryland businesses. If a bill was introduced in the Maryland General Assembly that all employees have to work a weekend shift of 8 hours for no compensation, the Maryland Chamber of Commerce would immediately jump behind the bill.

More Leopold Fallout: Police Chief May Get Arrested Himself

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:36:07 -0500

Anne Arundel County's police chief may be arrested if he does not play ball with the Anne Arundel County Council over his refusal to testify as part of an inquiry into corruption charges against County Executive John R. Leopold, a lawyer for the county said today.

Police Chief Col. James E. Teare Sr.'s attorney is telling his client not to testify because it could result in the disclosure of information relevant to Leopold's criminal indictment.

Well, right. That would be the point.

I can't believe my tax dollars are going towards this garbage.

Alleged Maryland Lottery Winner Hires New Lawyer

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:29:46 -0500

The Baltimore woman who says she has the winning Maryland Multi-Million (or whatever it is called) lottery held a news conference with her lawyer yesterday.

Her lawyer went after the media:

I cannot say with any certainty that this ticket exists and I would caution anybody, until it’s presented to the lottery commission for processing, that it does exist. We are only preparing in the event that people might challenge what we believe to be a legitimate claim....
“I think the easiest way to be over with all this is for you all to go home and then when we get ready, Ms. Wilson gets ready then we can do what she desires to do. I think that sometimes there are external forces that work on us, that push us into situations that we just have to deal with. And this is one of them. I don’t know where it came from. I can’t identify who it was. But I do know that it has to be dealt with in a way that the law affords her due process.

I was going to do a rant about the different levels this is insane. But, really, we all get it, right?

Strip Search Okay with Supreme Court

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 13:20:50 -0500

A divided Supreme Court took a break from solving our health care woes by rejecting a claim that it is unconstitutional to force everyone to strip down for inspection. A New Jersey man argued that his strip search was unconstitutional after an arrest by a state trooper because of an error in the state's records that mistakenly said he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for an unpaid fine. Even if the warrant had been valid, failure to pay a fine is not a crime in New Jersey.

I am a lawyer and this is the Internet. So I'm supposed to have an opinion on this. But I really don't.

Good Samaritan Hospital Settles False Claim Allegations

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:14:45 -0500

Federal prosecutors have announced that Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $800,000 in order to settle allegations that it submitted false claims to health benefits programs between January 2005 and December 2008.

The government alleges that Good Samaritan claimed malnutrition as a secondary diagnosis, throwing off the results of its coding system, and making its patients appear worse than they actually were. In doing this, the federal government claims that the hospital was able to receive more money from the Health Services Review Commission in reimbursements than it should have.

The settlement states that Good Samaritan was reimbursed for inflated rates that the hospital submitted. Good Samaritan, of course, denies the allegations.

Making a Better Law Library

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:50:05 -0500

The Maryland State Law Library is conducting a 12-question survey on access to legal information and law libraries. The survey is designed to advance the Study Committee's goals: 1) assessment of the court library system with respect to the needs of its users; 2) exploration of ways to enhance statewide access to legal information; and 3) discussion of strategies for ensuring the fiscal sustainability of court libraries.

The Study Committee hopes to provide recommendations in a report to be issued later in 2012. If you wish to know more about this initiative, you can provide your contact information in the box at the end of the survey.

You can take the survey here.

New Voir Dire Opinion

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 12:56:32 -0500

Washington v. Maryland is a new criminal court case that gives some insight into how much discretion trial court's have on voir dire.

Example voir dire in Maryland (suggested voir dire)
Great voir dire tips for Maryland lawyers (if we actually had real voir dire in Maryland)
How to pick jurors without voir dire (how to guess at who is inclined toward your client)
Judge Sweeney answers my questions about Maryland voir dire

University of Baltimore Ranked #113 in U.S. News & World Report

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:00:38 -0500

The latest U.S. News and World Report has the University of Baltimore ranked #113. Last year, UB was #117. Improvement is good, sure. Still, I wonder if the Dean Closius debacle hurt the school's ranking.

These U.S. News and World Report rankings are so silly. And, geez, does U.S. News have much relevance anymore beyond those rankings? I subscribe to just about every world news magazine except U.S. News and World Report.

Yet they mean everything. Dean Closius brought UB into the 21st century, by pulling a "don't hate the player, hate the game" and doing what every other smart dean in the country was doing: gaming the system. It did not push UB ahead of where it should be; it allowed the school to catch back up to where it belonged. Because, did I say this yet?, EVERYONE is gaming the system. UB suffered for years from a lack of gaming the system because everyone else was doing it.

I hope the next dean, whoever that is, gets this. I'm glad I don't have the burden of hiring the next dean at UB. Because it is going to be the most important choice in the school's history.

Enforcement of Settlement Opinion: No Review for Erie

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:44:02 -0500

The Maryland Court of Appeals has changed its mind and decided not to review the Maryland Court of Special Appeals opinion in Erie v. Reeside. The CSA opinion contains some interesting points of law on the enforcement of settlement agreements. Basically, Erie tried unsuccessfully to enforce a contingent settlement agreement.