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Law Digest — Md. Appellate Court — Nov. 9, 2023
Maryland Appellate Court Attorneys; fee splitting: Where an attorney and a law firm entered an agreement at the inception of her employment about how they would divide a contingent fee if she left the firm, the agreement did not violate the Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct. Bennett v. Ashcraft & Gerel LLP, No. 31, […]
Law Digest — Md. Supreme Court, Appellate Court — Nov. 2, 2023
Maryland Supreme Court Sanctions; indefinite suspension: Where an attorney failed to file a motion on behalf of his client, failed to properly communicate with the client and violated multiple Maryland Attorneys’ Rules of Professional Conduct, he was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law. Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Davis, AG No. 28, Sept. […]
Law Digest — 4th Circuit — Oct. 26, 2023
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Criminal ACCA violent felony BOTTOM LINE: Because reckless conduct does not satisfy the definition of “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act, or ACCA, and one of the modalities of Maryland first-degree assault can be committed with a mens rea of recklessness, Maryland first-degree assault cannot […]
Law Digest — Md. Supreme Court, Appellate Court — Sept. 14, 2023
Maryland Supreme Court Criminal; no-communication order: Where an attorney defending a man charged with murder failed to object to the trial court’s order barring the defendant from talking with his counsel during an overnight recess prior to the final day of testimony, that resulted in actual denial of the assistance of counsel, requiring a new […]
Law Digest — Md. Supreme Court, Appellate Court — Sept. 7, 2023
Maryland Supreme Court Criminal; ineffective assistance of counsel: Where a man argued that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance because the attorney failed to compel the production of Internal Affairs Division files and other potential impeachment evidence regarding a police officer prior to a pre-trial suppression hearing, but the man failed to overcome the presumption […]
Law Digest — 4th Circuit, Md. Supreme Court — Aug. 31, 2023
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Civil Rights; deliberate indifference: Where the record established there was a substantial risk that correctional officials would attack a detainee in retaliation for his role in the attack on another officer, and that the warden must have known about this risk but that he did nothing to […]
Law Digest — 4th Circuit, Md. Supreme Court — Aug. 24, 2023
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Constitutional; standing: Where parents challenged a portion of school guidelines that permit Montgomery County school officials to develop gender support plans and then withhold information about a child’s gender support plan from their parents, but the challengers failed to allege any facts that indicate they have a certainly […]
Law Digest — Maryland Appellate Court — Aug. 10, 2023
Maryland Appellate Court Contract; de jure homeowners’ association: Where a majority of homeowners in a townhouse community purported to amend the declaration to retroactively approve prior alterations to units, but the authority to amend the declaration applied only to a homeowners’ association, and there was no homeowners’ association, the purported amendment was unenforceable. Harold A. [[...]
Law Digest — 4th Circuit, Md. Supreme Court, Appellate Court — Aug. 3, 2023
U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit Consumer Protection; Rule 60 relief: Where this court held in 2014 that § 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act impliedly grants district courts the authority to award consumer redress, joining every other circuit to consider the issue at the time, but the Supreme Court held in […]
Law digest — Md. Supreme Court — July 20, 2023
Maryland Supreme Court Administrative; mandatory exhaustion: Where businesses challenged a tax on annual gross revenues derived from digital advertising services in Maryland, but the companies failed to exhaust the mandatory administrative and judicial review remedies provided in the Tax-General Article for the resolution of tax disputes, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction to enter a declarator[...]
Law digest — Md. Supreme Court, Appellate Court — July 13, 2023
Maryland Supreme Court Criminal; withdrawal of consent to search: Where a man initially consented to the government copying his hard drive so that it could be searched, but then withdrew that consent before the government examined the data, he retained an expectation of privacy in the data that had not been searched. State v. McDonnell, […]
Law digest — Maryland Appellate Court — July 6, 2023
Maryland Appellate Court Criminal; jury instruction: Where the trial court refused to instruct the injury on the voluntariness of the defendant’s statements to law enforcement, it erred. There was within the province of the jury to determine whether a defendant’s statement to law enforcement was voluntarily given and there is a very low bar imposed […]
