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Hoffmann announces opening of solo practice
James Hoffmann announces the opening of The Law Offices of James R. Hoffmann, Jr., a civil practice law firm ...
To call or not to call?
An older, wiser attorney once told me, “Whenever you have the opportunity, pick up the phone. Too much communication is done over email these days.” I recently experienced firsthand the power of the phone in a personal injury case involving multiple parties. In a case with several attorneys, email is often the most efficient way […]
Contributory negligence standard safe for now
Maryland’s top court cannot switch, by rule, the standard for plaintiffs’ recovery in personal injury cases where they were partially at fault, according to a draft report released Thursday by its rules committee. After reviewing how the vast majority of other states made the change from contributory negligence to comparative fault and analyzing the litany […]
Using Excel for settlement negotiations
Telling a client that the defendant’s insurer wants to settle their case for $250,000 is equivalent to explaining the intricacies of res judicata — it is usually meaningless. In order for a client to make an informed choice about whether to settle their case, they have to know where the money is going and, most […]
Rules committee examines comparative fault
Veteran business lobbyist Bruce C. Bereano said he is not fooled by the Maryland Court of Appeals’ call for a mere study on whether it can change by rule the legal standard that bars plaintiffs in personal injury cases from recovering damages if they are partially at fault. Bereano said he believes the high court’s […]
A crack in the contributory fault line
Maryland’s top court has signaled a willingness to consider changing the standard that bars plaintiffs in personal injury cases from recovering any damages if they were partially at fault. Court of Appeals Chief Judge Robert M. Bell, in a letter released Friday, has called for a study on whether the court could alter the contributory […]
Organize your electronic files
Last week, I offered suggestions on how to find electronic documents saved on your computer. Organization should go a step further, though, and you should have some sort of system in place to save documents in logical places. The Google trick won’t always be there for you — you might change firms and computers, your […]
