Baltimore Injury Lawyer BlogI thought this letter to the Baltimore Sun was interesting. Letter writer Andrew Slutkin notes that of the ten highest paying occupations in the Baltimore area, 9 of them are doctors. The only non-doctor position in the top ten is CEO. These are the people crying for tort reform because their insurance is too expensive. Boo Hoo. God forbid you drop to 11th or 12th highest paid. You might have to start bringing your own lunch to work.
Articles Posted in Law- General
Prospective Law Students Lack Market Awareness
If I were picking a career field today, I would do my best to avoid fields that would leave me with a crushing debt load and minimal prospects of securing employment. You know, like practicing law.
But what do I know? Above the Law reports that the number of LSAT’s administered has risen every year since 2006. Who is taking this test? Attention LSAT takers: The market has spoken. It does not need more baby lawyers.
Please, people. Only go to law school if you have a passion for it and the skill set to match. Everyone else should immediately go to their college career office and find out what industries are actually growing and then take the test for whatever grad school gets you into that field. I hear nursing is big these days, as all those baby boomers get old.
Appellate Argument Techniques
Last week, I argued an appeal in a truck accident case. I was in the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, which is our state’s intermediate appellate court. My case was fourth in line on the day’s docket. That meant I got to (was forced to) sit through the argument on the cases ahead of mine.
The other arguments ran the gamut from abominable to excellent and featured a range of attorneys from young lawyers to experienced appellate advocates.
One thing I saw some of these other lawyers do was to address the questioning judges by name. For example, “Great question, Judge Hollander.” Actually, my example violates two rules of appellate argument. Never tell a judge they asked a great question. Presumably, they also thought it was a good question, or they would have remained silent.
The Maryland Board of Physicians Puts All Marylanders At Risk (Except Bad Doctors, They Seem to be OK)
Today is October 14. Each month the Maryland Board of Physicians posts on its website a report of sanction proceedings against the physicians and other medical professionals it regulates. The sanctions for September, 2009 were just posted today.
This is a big deal. That list of sanction proceedings is pretty much the only way for Marylanders to know if there has been a proceeding against their doctor’s license. Here is a great example to show why this is important, and why the Board of Physicians gives mere lip service to the safety of Maryland patients.
I have a client who was injured in an accident on January 1, 2007. She did what most people would do. She had a visit at the ER, and then followed up for treatment with her regular doctor. She was treated by her primary care doctor from January 20, 2007 to December 12, 2007. The doctor prescribed medications, physical therapy and chiropractic treatment. That all sounds great, right? Perfectly appropriate.
Juror Disclosure and Voir Dire in Maryland
The Baltimore Sun’s Peter Hermann reports about a criminal case in Baltimore City that raises questions about juror disclosure and impartiality.
Apparently, this particular case ended in a mistrial because one juror was holding out for an acquittal. After the mistrial was declared, prosecutors learned that the holdout juror was employed as a lawyer by the Office of the Public Defender.
The prosecutors are mad because this juror merely listed her occupation as “attorney.” They think she had some sort of obligation to disclose who she worked for during the jury selection process.
More On Being First To File
I recently blogged about whether there is value to the client in being first to file a lawsuit. I was talking specifically about the litigation that has already commenced as a result of the recent DC Metro train crash.
A few points have been raised by other folks that I think are interesting. First- apparently there is a very remote likelihood of settlement in any case involving WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority). Because of this, many attorneys with experience in litigating against WMATA think filing suit quickly is the best way to make a recovery for the client without delay.
I get that, kind of. It sounds like litigating against MAIF. There’s no point in negotiating, so many think it is best to just file.
Maryland’s Physician Discipline System Ranked 5th Worst in the U.S.
Today the Maryland Daily Record reports that the consumer watchdog group Public Citizen has rated Maryland’s physician discipline system as one of the worst in the country.
Public Citizen’s spokesman (who is also an M.D.) states that this “is troubling because it indicates many states are not living up to their obligations to protect patients from bad doctors.” Maryland is ranked 45th and has been one of the ten worst states for the past six rankings.
In rebuttal, Irving Pinder (Executive Director of the Maryland Board of Physicians) called Public Citizen’s findings flawed.
Baltimore City Boulevard Rule Case
Today the Court of Appeals of Maryland issued its opinion in Grady v. Brown. This is a case involving the application of the Boulevard Rule. The Boulevard Rule is the traffic rule that states that traffic traveling on the favored roadway (or boulevard) has the right-of-way over traffic entering the boulevard from a side street.
I have written about this before. This case happened in Baltimore City. The plaintiff was driving his motorcycle down Falkirk Road, when the defendant emerged from an intersecting alleyway. There were cars parked along both sides of Falkirk Road, and the defendant testified at trial that he exited the alleyway only to the edge of the parked cars, so he could see if there was oncoming traffic. The jury found the defendant not to be negligent.
The Plaintiff moved for a directed verdict that the defendant was negligent as a matter of law due to the application of the boulevard rule. This motion was denied, and that denial was the basis of the appeal.