Author Archives: Heather Cobun

Heather Cobun is the trial courts reporter at The Daily Record. Got news? Call her at (443) 524-8191. Follow her on Twitter: @hcobun.

ACLU appeals dismissal of lawsuit over Baltimore police settlement confidentiality clauses

December 27, 2017 Leave a comment

In this March 31, 2016, file photo, Baltimore Police Department Officer Jordan Distance stands on a street corner during a foot patrol in Baltimore. Baltimore police officers routinely discriminate against blacks, repeatedly use excessive force and are not adequately held accountable for misconduct, according to a harshly critical Justice Department report being presented Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

The plaintiffs challenging Baltimore’s policy of including non-disparagement clauses in police misconduct settlements are appealing a federal judge’s dismissal of their lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis ruled last month the clauses do not violate free-speech and free-press rights, ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals aclu of maryland first amendment police misconduct U.S. District Court

Monitoring plan for consent decree coming as Baltimore grapples with soaring violence

December 26, 2017 Leave a comment

‘It’s wrong to conflate police reform and the crime control problem but it’s also a mistake to discount how much the focus on crime control and the quick fixes that are being proposed threaten to upset efforts to change how policing is done in Baltimore,’ says David Jaros, a criminal law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. (Photo illustration by Maximilian Franz)

Experts say three straight years with more than 300 homicides and frustration over a perceived lack of accountability for officers threaten to stymie efforts without a sustained push from the community.

Tagged with: Baltimore Police Department consent decree Freddie Gray police reform policing

Public defenders appointed for Oaks in federal case

December 22, 2017 Leave a comment

Sen. Nathaniel D. Oaks, D-Baltimore City (Bryan P. Sears/The Daily Record)

A federal judge Thursday signed an order appointing a public defender for Maryland state Sen. Nathaniel T. Oaks, who had been represented by private counsel since his he was charged with wire fraud in April.

Tagged with: bribery fraud nathaniel t. oaks public defender

Divided panel votes to discipline Howard County judge

December 21, 2017 Leave a comment

A divided judicial discipline panel determined a Howard County judge committed sanctionable conduct in a 2015 relationship violence case and recommended she attend specialized training and be assigned a mentor judge.

Tagged with: carroll county Howard County judge mary c. reese judicial misconduct Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities women's law center

Investors sue Md. real estate company for fraud, misrepresentation

December 21, 2017 Leave a comment

A group of investors in a local real estate company filed suit earlier this month alleging the owners and operators of the business, who had been close family friends, materially misrepresented the state of the business to induce new and ...

Tagged with: fraud lawsuit mt vernon financial services Real Estate

ACLU accuses Anne Arundel prosecutor, police of abusing grand jury process

December 20, 2017 1 Comment

The ACLU of Maryland is accusing Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Wes Adams and the Annapolis Police Department of abusing the grand jury process to obtain lists of Annapolis public housing residents after the housing authority director ceased providing them ...

Tagged with: aclu of maryland annapolis police department anne arundel county state's attorney grand jury

Judge: Baltimore food truck restrictions too vague to enforce

December 20, 2017 Leave a comment

Joey Vanoni, owner of the Pizza di Joey food truck, slices a buffalo chicken pizza in his mobile kitchen. Vanoni is suing Baltimore city over a rule that prevents him from setting up within 300 feet of a brick-and-mortar restaurant that specializes in pizza. (Maximilian Franz/File photo)

A Baltimore judge ruled Wednesday that the city’s proximity ban on mobile vendors is unconstitutionally vague and cannot be enforced. Two food truck owners sued in Baltimore City Circuit Court last year alleging the 300-foot rule, which prevents them from operating ...

Tagged with: baltimore city circuit court food truck maryland constitution mobile vendors

Md. high court rejects bank’s pursuit of mortgage reformation

December 19, 2017 Leave a comment

A trial court judge can send a jury back in for deliberations to resolve inconsistent verdicts when the verdicts are not final and the jury has not been discharged, Judge Shirley M. Watts wrote as a divided Court of Appeals upheld a felony-murder conviction in Prince George’s County. ‘At the risk of stating the obvious, this method of correcting any inconsistency in the verdicts is unavailable where a defendant raises an issue as to inconsistent verdicts after the verdicts have become final and the trial court has discharged the jury,’ she wrote. (File photo)

The Court of Appeals rejected a second attempt to reform a mortgage and foreclose on a Cockeysville couple’s property Monday, finding the bank trustee was barred by claim and issue preclusion from bringing the second lawsuit. The Court of Appeals affirmed a ...

Tagged with: Collateral estoppel deed of trust mortgage res judicata