A lawsuit alleging supervisory negligence in a 2013 assault by guards in a Baltimore prison can proceed against the state after a judge denied Wednesday a motion to dismiss.

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A Maryland law limiting the state’s liability for injuries caused by its employees applies even when the workers were grossly negligent, the state’s top court unanimously ruled Thursday.

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ANNAPOLIS – Maryland must be held liable for the full damages awarded when it defends a sued state employee who is later found liable for gross negligence on the job, a plaintiffs’ lawyer told Maryland’s top court Tuesday in seeking ...

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Prison guards cannot be held personally liable for deaths occurring on their watch unless they intended harm, an attorney for Maryland said Wednesday in urging the state’s top court to find a correctional officer immune from liability in one prisoner’s strangulation of another on a prison bus headed to Baltimore.

Tagged with: Maryland Tort Claims Act

The General Assembly passed legislation in the final hour of its 2015 session to raise to $400,000 the liability cap for state, county and local governments for negligent acts that injure people. The legislature also increased to $800,000 the cap on a county or local government’s liability on any single claim, regardless of the number of plaintiffs.In addition, individuals injured through the negligence of county or city employees will have up to one year from the date of their injury to notify the locality of their intention to sue.

Tagged with: damages cap Maryland Tort Claims Act

The chair of the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee said Friday he has no intention of settling for the mathematical middle ground between Senate- and House-passed legislation to raise the liability cap for state, county and local governments for negligent acts that injure people. The Senate's higher limit of $500,000 per harmed individual provides more appropriate compensation than the House's $300,000 limit, said Sen. Robert A. "Bobby" Zirkin, D-Baltimore County, although he said even the Senate limit is still woefully inadequate.

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The Senate on Thursday gave preliminary approval to legislation that would more than double the liability cap for state, county and local governments for their negligent acts that injure people.

Tagged with: damages cap Local Government Tort Claims Act Maryland Tort Claims Act