Maryland workers’ compensation laws provide an avenue for workers in the state to get relatively straightforward relief for injuries that arise out of their work. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals has limited the scope of the state’s workers’ compensation laws. In its opinion earlier this year in Washington Metropolitan…
A father’s long legal battle over the 2001 death of his daughter in a car accident may have come to an end in November, when a jury ruled that the state of Maryland was not negligent in its maintenance of the Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge, where the accident occurred.…
Two insurance companies have brought a declaratory judgment action, Netherlands Ins. Co. v. Phusion Projects, Inc., asking the court to declare that they are not bound to defend or indemnify Phusion in several products liability and wrongful death lawsuits relating to the company’s product, Four Loko. The plaintiffs state that…
An accident on a Nebraska highway took the lives of a Maryland family. The resulting lawsuit, Baumann v. Slezak, et al, is reportedly the first to invoke that state’s law allowing causes of action for the wrongful death of unborn children. Nebraska’s law, enacted in 2003, differs from Maryland’s wrongful…
After obtaining a verdict in a car accident lawsuit, the plaintiff sought to enforce the judgment against the defendant’s insurer. The insurance company successfully argued that the “business use” exception barred coverage of the plaintiff’s claim, as the defendant was operating his vehicle in the course of his work at…
The wife of a man who fell off a pier and drowned filed suit against an insurance company after it refused coverage for accidental death and dismemberment benefits. The insurance company cited an exclusion for accidents involving a presumption of the influence of alcohol. A federal judge ruled in Fitzgerald…
A federal judge in New York denied Phusion Projects’ motion to dismiss a putative class action lawsuit alleging damages caused by its product, the energy drink Four Loko. The lawsuit, Yourth v. Phusion Projects, LLC, alleges that the company failed to warn consumers of potential negative effects of the beverage’s…
A man and his son sued the District of Columbia for injuries sustained in a bus accident in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The lawsuit asserted vicarious liability against the District for the alleged negligence of its employee, the bus driver. The Court of Appeals of Maryland affirmed the trial court’s…
Recreational trampolines, particularly the kind found in backyards, pose a serious risk of injury to children, according to a paper published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) this month. The AAP has long advocated against the recreational use of trampolines, citing the high risk of fractures, spinal cord injuries,…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland granted a defendant hospital’s motion to dismiss a medical malpractice lawsuit, Haskins v. Washington Adventist Hospital, Inc. A woman filed suit as administrator of her late husband’s estate, alleging that inadequate care by hospital personnel caused his death. The court held…