Posted on December 01, 2008 in Surgery Malpractice

A Los Angeles County woman may receive more than $1.6 million to settle a malpractice lawsuit she brought against the county after being paralyzed during back surgery at a Los Angeles medical center. The L.A. county Claims Board is prepared to discuss the proposed medical malpractice settlement with legal counsel behind closed doors. If they give their go-ahead, the matter will then go before the county Board of Supervisors for final approval.

The lawsuit was brought by a woman who had two vertebrae fractured in a car accident in 2005. During surgery at the hospital, the woman, who was 20 years old at the time, was paralyzed. In her lawsuit, the woman claimed that no one explained the risks of the procedure to her and that the hospital’s staff failed to provide her with the necessary care. Although the medical center took the position that she received proper care, the settlement was proposed to avoid a potentially risky jury trial.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, the county would pay $1.5 million to the woman and assume medical bills totaling $112,999. The county has already paid more than $217,000 in attorney fees in the case.

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 Posted on November 25, 2008 in Federal Criminal Defense

I recently won a significant victory for a federal criminal client in United States District Court for the District of Maryland in a re-sentencing under Booker. https://www.silvermanthompson.com/lawyer-attorney-1301200.html In the Booker case, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the federal sentencing guidelines that apply to all criminal cases prosecuted in federal courts were no longer mandatory. The Court in Booker held that federal judges should consider the sentencing guidelines in fashioning a sentence, but that the guidelines were just one of many factors to be weighed in sentencing. These factors are laid out in federal law at 18 U.S.C.§3553(a) & (b). They include the nature and circumstances of the person, the need to protect the public from further crimes by the defendant, as well as the nature and circumstances of the offense.

While the Court’s decision in Booker was not retroactive, the case does apply to cases that were on appeal at the time of the decision. In my recent case, the client had been convicted prior to Booker and sentenced to 174 months incarceration for being part of a multi-state drug conspiracy. The client’s trial defense attorney did not ask the federal appeals court to remand the case for a new sentencing in light of the Booker decision. I represented the client in a federal habeus suit in Maryland seeking that the client be re-sentenced.

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 Posted on November 11, 2008 in Automobile Accident

Experienced personal injury attorneys know there is no question asked more often and as difficult to answer than; What is my case worth? The answer to this question is based upon many factors which an experienced personal injury lawyer can best answer.

Our system of civil justice is terrible at valuing the loss, but rather consistently values the lawsuit. For instance, there are many cases involving horrific tragedies such as the death of a child, the loss of which can never be compensated for. Nonetheless, our judicial system attempts to assign a value to such an incomprehensible losses. Hence, the value of most lawsuits never truly compensate for the irreplaceable loss of life or limb. So how do we lawyers come up with a value for injury cases? Understanding this is an imperfect science, lets get cracking.

Most experienced personal injury lawyers will consider the below factors, as well as personal experience, to provide clients with a range of what a case may be worth. The factors that determine value of a personal injury case include:

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 Posted on November 10, 2008 in Automobile Accident

LIST OF INSTRUCTIONS (Maryland Civil Pattern Jury Instructions-Unless Otherwise Indicated)

1. Introduction 1:1
2. Questions of Law During Trial 1:2
3. Witness Testimony Consideration 1:3
4. Expert Opinion Testimony 1:4
5. Impartiality in Consideration 1:5
6. Inferences from Statements of Court 1:6
7. Burden of Proof-Preponderance of Evidence Standard 1:7
8. Case Submission on Issues 1:12
9. Conclusion-Unanimous Verdict 1:13
10. Introductory Statement on Damages 10:1
11. Compensatory Damages for Bodily Injury 10:2
12. Susceptibility to Injury 10:3
13. Damages – Collateral Source Rule 10:8
14. Mortality Table – Life Expectancy of Laura Moore 10:26
15. Standard of Care 18:1
16. Definition – Negligence 19:1
17. Definition – Causation 19:10
18. Contributory Negligence – Generally 19:11
19. Last Clear Chance 19:14
20. Definition of Pedestrian 23:1
21. Duty to Pedestrians – Generally 23:2

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 Posted on November 10, 2008 in Client Resources

As a service to our clients, we are posting the following standard instructions for Maryland DUI/ DWI cases.

1. Contact alcohol counselor to set up evaluation and treatment. (List of Counselors enclosed).

2. Sign authorization for release of information with counselor and instruct counselor to send copies of evaluation and treatment plan to your attorney.

3. Respond to MVA Express office and get copy of complete driving record and send to attorney. (Copy can also be obtained on line http://mva.state.md.us/default.htm). There is a $10 charge and the record will be sent to the address that MVA has on file.

4. Prior to court or MVA hearing contact alcohol counselor for updated treatment summary. Instruct counselor to send/fax copy of update to our office and bring copy with you to MVA and court hearings.

5. If counselor has ordered AA or NA meetings procure attendance slips for all meetings and bring slips with you to all MVA and court hearings. If meetings will not provide attendance slips, create log of all meetings attended. Include date, time and location of meeting.

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 Posted on November 10, 2008 in Proof

Maryland drunk driving offenses are charged as either DUI, DWI or both.

-DUI: Under Maryland law, driving under the influence (DUI) can be proven by a test result of .08% alcohol or more or by evidence showing that the driver’s normal coordination has been substantially impaired as a result of the consumption of alcohol. The maximum penalties are 1 year and $1000 for a first offense, 2 years and $2000 for a second offense, and 3 years and $3000 for a third offense. DUI also carries 12 points with the MVA and at a hearing the driver’s license may be revoked.

-DWI: Driving while impaired (DWI), although a lesser offense under Maryland law, is still a serious crime and can be established by evidence showing that the driver’s normal coordination was impaired to some extent as a result of the consumption of alcohol. This offense can be proved by evidence of a test result of .01% or more, but less than .08%. The maximum penalty is 60 days and $500 for a first offense and one year and $500 for a subsequent offense. DWI also carries 8 points with the MVA and at a hearing the driver’s license may be suspended.

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 Posted on November 04, 2008 in Search and Seizure

The answer to the question is no. In fact the answer is that the police may not stop a person based on an anonymous tip in any state in the country because the law on this issue comes from a Supreme Court of the United States decision, as opposed to a state appellate court decision, and thus applies to all of the states. I used this issue to win a post conviction motion that I filed on behalf of a client in the Baltimore County Circuit Court. As some are aware, post convictions are rarely granted in Maryland, but this one was because, among other issues, the attorney who represented my client at trial had failed to raise this well settled issue in a case where it clearly applied.

The case that controls this issue is Florida v. J.L. In that case the police received an anonymous telephone tip that a young black male dressed a certain way and standing at a specific corner, was armed with a handgun. The police responded to the area and observed a young black male matching the description given by the anonymous tipster. The police stopped the young man (actually he was a juvenile, hence the use of his initials in the case in place of his name). In an extremely rare unanimous decision the Court ruled that the police had violated JL’s Fourth Amendment rights and laid down the rule that an anonymous tip alone was insufficient to give the police probable cause to stop and search a person.

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 Posted on October 31, 2008 in Juvenile Causes

The answer to the question is yes, in Maryland a 16 or 17 year old can be charged as an adult. In fact if the if it is alleged that the juvenile committed the robbery with a dangerous and deadly weapon, original jurisdiction lies with the adult system in the Circuit Court. If there is no allegation that a weapon was used, the juvenile could only be charged as an adult upon the granting of a motion filed by the State to do so.

I had a case that illustrated this jurisdictional issue this week in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. My client, who was just 16 years, 8 days old at the time of the alleged offense is charged with robbery with a dangerous and deadly weapon, robbery, assault and wear carry or transport a deadly weapon. He and three co-defendants were all charged with the alleged knife robbery of a man in his mid forties. I will explain the facts in a moment, but a brief overview of the juvenile versus adult jurisdiction, a topic about which I have blogged in the past, should be helpful.

In Maryland, a juvenile can be, actually must be, charged as an adult in the first instance (that is original jurisdiction vests with the Circuit Court) if the child is charged with any of the following crimes:
Second degree murder, second or third degree sex offenses, second or third degree rape, most handgun charges, armed robbery, kidnapping, involuntary manslaughter, carjacking, first degree assault, attempted murder, robbery or rape or any other felony if the juvenile has been previously adjudicated as an adult.

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 Posted on October 22, 2008 in Products Liability

Our firm has recently had considerable success against automobile manufacturers for defective airbags. We are familiar with the technical issues involving airbags that deploy with excessive force, untimely deployment, and airbags that do not deploy at all.

We represent client’s with airbag cases throughout the United States. Our expert network is highly skilled and effective. We offer free consultations and ask that you at least obtain a police report and vehicle photographs as soon as possible. In addition, we are interested in knowing:

1. Year, make and model of the vehicle 2. Whether any air bags deployed (driver, passenger, rollover air bags, side air bags, etc.)?
3. What were the injuries?
4. Date and description of accident, including what part of the vehicle was involved (front, side, rear) and what was hit (another car, pole, tree, etc.)
5. Do they have photographs of the vehicle damage?
6. Is the vehicle available? Where is it stored?
7. Description of any prior accidents with that vehicle 8. Was the person wearing their seat belt?
9. Were alcohol or drugs involved?

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 Posted on October 21, 2008 in Sentencing

The Probation Before Judgement Statute, Criminal Procedure 6-220, was updated several years ago to allow a person to be sentenced to a period of incarceration as a condition of the Probation Before Judgement. Why you ask, would a Maryland Criminal Defense Attorney think that amending a statute to allow for someone to be incarcerated when the previous iteration of the statute did not allow for incarceration, is a good thing?

To understand the answer it is important to first understand what Probation Before Judgement is. The best way to explain what Probation Before Judgement is, is to explain what it is not. Probation Before Judgement is NOT a conviction under Maryland Law. Under the statute a judge has the authority to strike out the guilty finding in most any criminal case. (There are a few crimes for which probation before judgement is not available including first, second and third degree sex offenses, first degree murder as well as second or subsequent convictions for DUI or CDS cases if the first conviction resulted in Probation Before Judgement).

The benefit of Probation Before Judgement is that a person who receives Probation Before Judgement can honestly say or, for instance put on a job application, that the person was not convicted in the case and has no criminal record. A person who receives Probation Before Judgement is also entitled by law to have the matter expunged in three years or, for good cause shown, sooner. Prior to the amendment the statute only allowed for a judge to incarcerate a person who received Probation Before Judgement in a few of the counties in the State. The reason I say that it is a good thing that the judges are now allowed to incarcerate someone is that it will and has resulted in more people receiving Probation Before Judgement instead of having permanent criminal records that can never be expunged.

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