Recent Articles from Ben Mook
Feds raid five Cecil liquor stores
As part of a years-long investigation into suspected liquor smuggling between Cecil County and New York retailers, federal investigators have raided five shops where people are suspected of illegally acting as middlemen for hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of alcoholic beverages since 2009.
Payments plummet at Client Protection Fund, in number and amount
Even as potential claims facing the Client Protection Fund of the Bar of Maryland exceed $20 million, fiscal 2012 claims reached their lowest level in at least six years, both in number and amount.
Surgeon pays price for defaulting on loan deal
A surgeon has agreed to work at an underserved hospital in Arizona for the next three years as part of a deal to work off half of $1.07 million in unpaid medical school loans, interest and treble damages she incurred by defaulting on a federal loan-forgiveness program.
Friends, colleagues mark Preston’s passing
Wilbur D. “Woody” Preston Jr., a founder of Whiteford, Taylor & Preston LLP and the Maryland Legal Aid Bureau’s Equal Justice Council, died Monday at age 90.
Top court overturns 2006 conviction for felony murder
Even though he did not try to stop the crime when he was out of immediate danger, a murder suspect was entitled to have a jury consider whether he was acting under duress, the Court of Appeals has held.
Public housing lawsuit nears an end
In a move that could wrap up more than 17 years of legal wrangling over fair housing options in Baltimore, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the city housing department have filed a proposed settlement agreement of a class action by public housing residents.
Conaway plans suit over water-bill policies
Baltimore City Circuit Court Clerk Frank M. Conaway is planning to file a class action lawsuit that targets the city’s water department for allegedly permitting business customers to rack up millions of dollars in delinquencies while homeowners risk losing their homes for as little as $350 in unpaid bills.
Cops can test DNA from breath-test straw
According to the state’s highest court, police did not violate the rights of a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, who was on probation for drunk driving, when they used saliva from a required alcohol test to tie him to an unsolved homicide.
Managing ‘the largest law garden in the U.S.’
When he’s not up to his ears in work as the managing partner of Kramer & Connolly, you can often find Irwin R. Kramer out back, up to his ears in peppers, tomatoes, squash and herbs behind the four-lawyer firm’s historic Main Street office in Reisterstown.
Top court gives speed-camera suit a red light
Despite being unpopular to the point of people taking bats and rocks to them, speed cameras in one Maryland county are not going anywhere after the Court of Appeals last week upheld the dismissal of a class action lawsuit that challenged their legality.
‘SDAnon’ hit with lawsuit
An Australian “theological detective” with a team of hired hackers stole thousands of digitized pages of unpublished documents belonging to the estate of the co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a federal lawsuit alleges.
Top court limits pit bull liability to purebreds
In a surprise move, Maryland’s top court on Tuesday said it had reconsidered its contentious ruling on liability for pit bull attacks and decided that, for now, it should apply only to purebred pit bulls.