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Opinions – 10/15/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Criminal Procedure Competence to stand trial BOTTOM LINE: After defendant was granted a new trial on assault charges, the fact that his first trial had been delayed for four years while he was deemed incompetent to stand trial did not require the judge at his second trial to assess his competency, since neither defendant nor […]
Opinions – 9/10/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Administrative Law Driving with suspended license BOTTOM LINE: Evidence was sufficient to convict defendant of driving with a suspended license even without evidence that she had actual knowledge of the suspension; based on the previous suspensions of defendant’s license and her failure to notify the Motor Vehicle Administration of her change of address for over […]
Law digest – 4/10/14
MARYLAND COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS Evidence, Confrontation Clause: The trial court did not violate defendant’s right of confrontation by admitting into evidence assistant medical examiner’s autopsy report through the testimony of the supervising medical examiner because, even though the person who performed the autopsy was not available for cross-examination, the supervising medical examiner wa[...]
Opinions – 4/10/14: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
Criminal Law Restitution BOTTOM LINE: The district court did not err in ordering that defendant, who was convicted of bankruptcy fraud and related charges, pay the victim company’s attorneys’ fees incurred in the bankruptcy proceeding as part of the restitution. CASE: United States v. Abdelbary, No. 13-4083 (decided March 11, 2014) (Judges TRAXLER & Floyd)(Judge […]
Opinions – 4/10/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Evidence Confrontation Clause BOTTOM LINE: The trial court did not violate defendant’s right of confrontation by admitting into evidence assistant medical examiner’s autopsy report through the testimony of the supervising medical examiner because, even though the person who performed the autopsy was not available for cross-examination, the supervising medical examiner was present during the [...]
Law digest – 4/3/14
MARYLAND COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS Civil Procedure, Default: Defendant was not entitled to a default judgment against plaintiff for failure to answer defendant’s counterclaim because defendant did not show a substantial and sufficient controversy as to the merits, plaintiff’s failure to plead was excusable given that his original attorney had left his firm and paperwork […]
Opinions – 4/3/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Civil Procedure Default BOTTOM LINE: Defendant was not entitled to a default judgment against plaintiff for failure to answer defendant’s counterclaim because defendant did not show a substantial and sufficient controversy as to the merits, plaintiff’s failure to plead was excusable given that his original attorney had left his firm and paperwork was inadvertently neglected, […]
Opinions – 3/27/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Administrative Law Client protection fund BOTTOM LINE: A lender who advanced funds to an attorney in exchange for an interest in expected fees was not entitled to recover its losses from the Client Protection Fund when the attorney defalcated, because there was no attorney-client relationship between the lender and the attorney. CASE: American Asset Finance, […]
Law digest – 3/20/14
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Criminal Procedure, De facto arrest: When police detained and transported defendant to the police station in an ongoing criminal investigation for the limited purpose of executing a warrant for his DNA and fingerprints, the three-hour delay in obtaining that evidence did not render his continued detention “unreasonable”; even if detectives could […]
Opinions – 3/20/14: Maryland Court of Special Appeals
Civil Procedure, Attorney’s fees BOTTOM LINE: Although the circuit court was required to recognize that appellants were entitled to an attorney’s fee award from appellees and was required to fashion a reasonable fee award to compensate appellants, the court was not necessarily required to apply the “common core of facts” doctrine to award a fully […]
Opinions – 3/20/14: Maryland Court of Appeals
Criminal Procedure De facto arrest BOTTOM LINE: When police detained and transported defendant to the police station in an ongoing criminal investigation for the limited purpose of executing a warrant for his DNA and fingerprints, the three-hour delay in obtaining that evidence did not render his continued detention “unreasonable”; even if detectives could have executed […]
Law digest – 3/13/14
MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS Administrative Law, Exhaustion of remedies: When final administrative orders of County Board of Appeals limited the paving of, and structures placed on, park land leased to a private entity for use as a restaurant, neighbors and local community association were not required to initiate a new administrative process as a prerequisite […]
