Posted on April 16, 2024 in Child Custody

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 Child Custody

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 Guilty Pleas

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 Sentencing

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 Appellate

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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 Posted on April 05, 2024 in Driving While Impaired

What is the maximum penalty for a DUI in Maryland?

The maximum penalty for a DUI in Maryland is 1 year imprisonment and/or a $1,000 fine for the first offense, and 2 years imprisonment and/or a $2,000 fine for a second offense.  See MD Code, Transportation §§ 21-901(a)(1), §27-101. If the offense involves the transportation of a minor, the maximum penalty increases to 5 years imprisonment and/or a $ 5,000 fine.

Do first-time DUI offenders go to jail in Maryland?

If you are convicted of a DUI, the court has the discretion to impose up to the maximum sentence, even if it is your first offense. While it is unlikely that a first-time DUI offender with an otherwise clean record will be sentenced to serve time in jail, a defendant’s criminal history is just one of the many factors that judges weigh at sentencing.

Aggravating factors that increase your likelihood of receiving jail time for a DUI conviction include:

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 Posted on April 01, 2024 in Hospital Malpractice

An IV, short for “intravenous,” is a familiar medical device used by doctors and nurses to administer various medications and other fluids to patients by inserting a needle or tube directly into the patient’s vein. Once the IV is inserted into the vein, it typically is taped to the skin to prevent it from moving or otherwise coming loose. If an IV becomes dislodged from the vein but stays under the patient’s skin, the medication being dispensed can be harmful to the surrounding tissue. This is called an IV extravasation.

If the patient is awake when the extravasation occurs, they usually feel immediate pain or discomfort and can quickly notify a doctor or nurse of the problem before significant harm is caused. However, if the extravasation occurs while the patient is unconscious (for example due to anesthesia or other sedation), the harmful medication can be dispensed into the patient’s tissue for a long period of time, causing significant injury to the patient, including tissue damage and necrosis (death of the tissue).

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 Posted on April 01, 2024 in Automobile Accident

What is uninsured motorist coverage?

Although automobile liability insurance is mandatory for Maryland drivers, I cannot urge drivers enough to carry significant uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Uninsured motorist (UM) coverage protects drivers when they are in a collision caused by a driver that has failed to obtain automobile insurance or when the offending driver cannot be identified (i.e. a hit and run or phantom vehicle scenario). While Maryland law mandates that all motor vehicles must carry liability insurance, data provided by the Insurance Information Institute estimates that over 15% of all Maryland drivers are unlawfully uninsured motorists.  Moreover, neighboring states, such as Virginia and Delaware, do not have any laws mandating that drivers carry liability insurance, so victims of collisions caused by those drivers who enter Maryland may be left without recourse or a means to obtain compensation. When this occurs, you and the occupants in your vehicle may look to your own motor vehicle insurance policy to compensate you for your damages up to your policy’s UM coverage limits.

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 Posted on April 01, 2024 in Fraud

Sam Bankman-Fried was recently sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in defrauding users of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. While this sentence certainly seems harsh, and many commentators are stressing that the harm caused to investors was immense, several important federal sentencing statutes and programs will operate to significantly reduce the amount of time that Bankman-Fried actually spends in jail.

Under the First Step Act, Bankman-Fried will be able to receive “earned time credits” that will likely make him eligible for release from prison after serving 12.5 years. Under this act, inmates, like Bankman-Fried, who are convicted of qualifying fraud offenses and who complete “productive activities” can be eligible for pre-release custody (for example, home detention) at the halfway point of a sentence. The Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”) encourages inmate participation in these “productive activities” because they reduce recidivism.

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 Posted on March 28, 2024 in Real Estate

When are emotional support and/or service animals allowed in rental housing in Maryland?

Under Maryland law, landlords are required to allow tenants with disabilities to keep emotional support and/or service dog in the rental unit, with very limited exceptions.  Landlords may be able to inquire and request that documentation be provided by a tenant regarding the need for the requested reasonable accommodation for an emotional support and/or service animal, prior to granting such request.  

What is a service animal?

A service animal, under Title II and Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), means any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other disability. Tasks performed can include, among other things, pulling a wheelchair, retrieving dropped items, alerting a person to a sound, reminding a person to take medication, or pressing an elevator button. Examples of a service animal include a guide or seeing eye dog, a hearing or signal dog, a psychiatric service dog, and a seizure response dog. 

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