The missive Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler and 10 of his East Coast colleagues sent Monday to embattled British Petroleum reads like the proverbial lawyer’s letter subtly threatening litigation if the Gulf of Mexico oil spill spreads to the Atlantic Ocean.

First, the letter from the 11 attorneys general contains the language of a legal claim for damages.

“Though the immediate area of impact from this catastrophe is in the Gulf region, portions of the East Coast are at foreseeable risk of substantial harm,” the letter states (emphasis added). “Even if our coast waters and communities are not directly impacted, there may well be significant harm to the migratory bird and fish species that form an important part of our natural resources and economy.” Read the rest of this entry »

Move over Prosser on Torts and make room for Tamber on the CSI Effect.

Writing for a unanimous Maryland Court of Appeals last week, Judge Lynne A. Battaglia displayed what we at On The Record regard as the great, good sense to cite our esteemed colleague Caryn Tamber’s seminal blog post, The CSI effect, in Maryland and Massachusetts. Battaglia referred to the landmark work in her opinion Friday overturning two second-degree murder convictions.

Battaglia concluded that now-retired Baltimore City Circuit Judge Charles G. Bernstein had improperly asked prospective jurors if they could put aside the television show “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and “convict a defendant without scientific evidence.” She said that question improperly “suggested that the [potential] jury’s only option was to convict, regardless of whether scientific evidence was adduced at trial.”

In another self-serving plug, we at On The Record note that Battaglia also cited Cynthia Di Pasquale’s article in The Daily Record of Sept. 8, 2006, Beyond the Smoking Gun: Maryland’s Legal Community Debates the ‘CSI Effect.’

Happy sweltering Monday! Here are a few law links to start a week that, as of now, is forecast to be icky-sticky every day:

• Page Croyder criticizes Baltimore City’s poor police-prosecutor relationship and its role in the delayed arrest of cop Gahji Tshamba.
• Courtesy of Carolyn Elefant, here’s a “Back of the Napkin Business Plan” template.
• Elena Kagan likes four-letter words.
• Appointed judges are disciplined less often than those who run in contested elections, a study says.
• “Your Honor, this sandwich is prejudicial and should be ordered stricken from the menu.”