Maryland Accident Law Blog

Maryland Bill Proposes Extension of Statute of Limitations for Sex Abuse Lawsuits

February 8, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, Baltimore County legislator Eric M. Bromwell has introduced a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for filing sex abuse lawsuits.

The bill calls for the elimination in 2009 of the statute of limitations for filing a sex abuse lawsuit. If passed, the statute would go up, from the victim’s 25th birthday to his or her 50th birthday. A yearlong window could allow sex abuse victims to file their injury lawsuits, regardless of how long ago the abuse occurred.

Del. Eric Bromwell said that removing the statute of limitations would allow the people that may not feel ready to file a civilsex abuse lawsuit until years after the incident(s), to sue their assailants for damages.

In Towson, Maryland, Calvert Hall College High School has expressed opposition toward the bill. Several sex abuse charges have already been made against an ex-chaplain and teacher at the school.

The two priests allegedly abused at least 14 people. The school expressed concern that removing the current statute of limitations could allow for lawsuits against the school that cannot be filed otherwise and that this would take a financial toll on the school.

Calvert Hall alumnus Bob Russell says that as a 15-year-old teenager, over 30 years ago, one of the priests molested him twice. Russell has been unable to file a personal injury lawsuit because the statute of limitations for his case has passed.

Bromwell is a graduate of Calvert Hall College High School.

The Web site Darkness to Light offers the following statistics on child sex abuse:

• 1 in 4 girls is sexually abused before the age of 18.
• 1 in 6 boys is sexually abused before the age of 18.
• 1 in 5 children are solicited sexually while on the Internet.
• Nearly 70% of all reported sexual assaults (including assaults on adults) occur to children ages 17 and under.

• An estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse exist in America today.

Many of these incidents go unreported. Child victims of sex abuse may even repress these memories for years.

As a victim of sex abuse, you are entitled to file a civil lawsuit for damages. The best way to do this is to speak with an experienced Maryland or Washington D.C. injury law firm right away.

Bill would make it easier to file sex-abuse suits, Baltimoresun.com, February 7, 2008
Lawmakers consider ‘window’ for victims of child sex abuse, Examiner.com, February 7, 2008
Statistics Surrounding Child Sexual Abuse, Darkness2light.org

Related Web Resources:

Statistics, Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network
Sexual Abuse / Trauma, All About Counseling.com

Maryland Judge Reduces Lawsuit Damages that Westboro Baptist Church Must Pay for Protesting Fallen Soldier’s Funeral

February 7, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

A federal Judge in Maryland reduced the amount of damages that Westboro Baptist Church must pay to the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, a fallen Marine whose funeral the church had picketed.

A Maryland jury had originally awarded Cpl. Snyder’s father, Albert Snyder, $10.9 million last October: $2.9 million for compensatory damages, $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy, and $2 million for emotional distress. On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Bennett ordered the award amount decreased to $5 million on.

Albert Snyder had filed the lawsuit against the church last year, citing invasion of privacy and emotional distress. He said that the picketers’ presence ruined what should have been a private ceremony for his son.

Cpl. Synder died in Iraq. During his funeral in Maryland on March 2006, Westboro Baptist Church members protested outside, with signs reading, “God hates you” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

Judge Bennett said that Monday’s ruling was based in part on the financial resources of the church. Financial records submitted to the court indicate that Fred Phelps, the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, and his daughters Shirley Phelps-Roper and Rebekah Phelps-Davis have a combined net worth of under $1 million. They are seeking to delay payment of the judgment.

Westboro Baptist Church is a fundamentalist Kansas church. Its members have picketed the funerals of military soldiers across the United States. They claim that the Iraq war is God’s way of punishing America for its acceptance of homosexuals.

To file a personal injury claim or lawsuit in Washington D.C. or Maryland, please contact our personal injury law firm today.

Judge to review Westboro’s assets in wake of $5M payment, Examiner.com, February 6, 2008
Judge orders Westboro Baptist Church to pay $5 million damages, Examiner.com, February 4, 2008
Suit $$ award cut for protests at GI funeral, BostonHerald.com, February 6, 2008
Church ordered to pay $10.9 million for funeral protest, CNN.com, October 31, 2007

Related Web Resource:

Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church: In Their Own Words, ADL.org

John Ritter’s Family Takes $67 Million Wrongful Death Lawsuit to Court

February 5, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Jury selection in the wrongful death of actor John Ritter began in Los Angeles County Superior Court today. Ritter died at age 54 in September 2003 after he was treated in a Burbank emergency room for a heart attack when he actually had an aortic dissection. His family claims that the TV star would have lived longer if only he had undergone the correct procedure; they say that the treatment he received for a heart attack was the “exact opposite” kind of care that he needed.

Plaintiffs in the wrongful death lawsuit are Ritter’s wife, actress Amy Yasbeck, and his four children. They are suing two doctors for $67 million—the high sum is based in part on what Ritter, a successful television star, would have earned had he survived.

At the time of his death, Ritter was the star of the hit television show “8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter.” He also worked in movies and other television projects.

The two doctors named as defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit are cardiologist Joseph Lee and radiologist Matthew Lotysch. They are being sued for negligence and their alleged failure to properly diagnose and care for Ritter.

Lotysch is the doctor who performed a body scan on the actor in 2001. Lotysch detected nothing wrong with Ritter’s aorta, but referred him to a cardiologist because he noticed calcifications in the actor’s coronary arteries. Ritter did not see a cardiologist after his visit with Lotysch.

In 2003, Ritter was rushed from the set of his TV show to the emergency room of Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. He complained that he was experiencing chest pain, nausea, and vomiting.

A chest x-ray that was ordered was never conducted for some unknown reason. Lee is the doctor who treated him for the heart attack. The aortic dissection was not identified until right before the actor died.

An aortic dissection is a tear in the aorta that can imitate a heart attack.

Yasbeck and Ritter’s kids have already received about $14 million in settlements from nine medical entities, including Providence St. Joseph Medical Center, which settled with Ritter’s family for $9.4 million.

If you were seriously injured or someone you love died because a doctor made a medical error, failed to diagnose your illness, or provided you with the wrong type of medical care, you should speak with our Maryland or Washington D.C. medical malpractice law firm immediately.

John Ritter’s diagnosis at center of $67M lawsuit, CNN.com, February 5, 2008
Ritter’s family says he didn’t have to die, Los Angeles Times, January 24, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Settlement Reached in John Ritter Wrongful Death Lawsuit, 6abc.com, March 16, 2006
John Ritter, IMDB.com

Baltimore Police Officer Named in $100 Million Injury Lawsuit

January 31, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Baltimore Officer Jerome K. Hill has been named as the defendant in a $100 million police brutality lawsuit. The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore Circuit Court in Maryland, alleges that Hill assaulted Rosedale resident Steven Vernarelli on October 22 near Monument and Curley Streets. According to the lawsuit, two other police officers saw the alleged assault but didn’t try to stop it.

Last week, in an unrelated incident, Hill was charged for assaulting an undercover internal affairs detective. The undercover officer was part of a sting operation targeting Hill. The detective had stood on Clinton and Noble streets pretending to be a drug buyer. A dispatcher told Hill to go there. Hill then allegedly got out of his car and punched the undercover detective without provocation. He is charged with second-degree assault and was suspended without pay. He is free on $25,000 bond.

Police Brutality

Police officers are not supposed to use excessive violence when questioning, arresting, or apprehending a suspect. Many incidents of police brutality go unreported. Some people may be too scared to report what happened while others might wonder whether the police officer was just doing his or her job.

You are entitled to the protection of your legal or civil rights even if you have been arrested or charged with a crime. You also are entitled to file a police brutality lawsuit for damages if you have been injured or someone you love has died because of excessive and unwarranted violence by a police officer.

Common forms of police brutality include sexual assault, physical assault, racial profiling, harassment, shootings, and beatings. Injuries to a victim can be serious and can sometimes result in death.

Police officers are supposed to uphold and enforce the law, not violate the law or the rights of citizens, immigrants, or tourists. When a law enforcement exerts excessive and unnecessary force when dealing with anyone, he or she can be held liable for personal injury damages.

Our Maryland and Washington D.C. injury law firm is dedicated to helping injured persons recover compensation for the harm that they have suffered by a negligent party.

$100 million lawsuit filed over police brutality claim, BaltimoreSun.com, January 30, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Police Brutality and Accountability in the U.S., HRW.org
§ 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights, Cornell University Law School

Five People Are Injured in Multi-Vehicle Accident in Northeast Baltimore, Maryland

January 29, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Five people were injured in Northeast Baltimore, Maryland on January 17 in a multi-vehicle collision. The accident occurred early in the morning on I-95, close to the divide with Interstate I-895.

Two sports utility vehicles, a box truck, and a work van were t involved in the crash. One person had to be extricated from the Jeep SUV by crew workers because part of the truck’s rear end had fallen on top of the Jeep.

A preliminary report by the Maryland Transportation Authority Police said that the Jeep and the box truck crashed into each other after trying not to hit the van and the other SUV, which had already collided with one another. The first accident appeared to have occurred because either the van or the SUV had stopped or slowed down.

One person was taken to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. Two of the other injured persons were taken to University of Maryland Medical Center. The other two victims were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. The Maryland Transportation Authority Police said that the injuries were not life threatening.

Multi-Vehicle Accidents

If you are injured in an accident involving more than one motor vehicle, a good personal injury lawyer can help you identify the driver who was liable for causing the injury. If there was more than one liable party, your Maryland or Washington D.C. injury lawyer can determine that for you also.

Our Maryland and Washington D.C. law firm works with car accident experts who can determine the exact cause of your motor vehicle accident. We have helped many people obtain recovery for their injuries and we can determine how much compensation we should claim so that our injured clients have the financial resources that they need to get better.

Do NOT deal with the other party’s insurance companies directly or you may find yourself agreeing to a compensation sum that is less than what you are entitled to or need. Our car accident law firm can talk with all parties involved in the accident for you and make sure that your interests are protected.

Four-vehicle crash snarls morning traffic, Baltimoresun.com, January 18, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Maryland Transportation Authority Police

What to do after a car accident, MSN.com

Former Maryland Volunteer Firefighters File Sex Abuse Lawsuit Against Anne Arundel County Government and a Local Fire Company

January 25, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, two men, former volunteer firefighters in Anne Arundel County have filed a sex abuse lawsuit claiming that Louis A. D’Camera, a former president of Odenton Volunteer Fire Company, sexually abused them on multiple occasions when they were teenage recruits. The men said that fire officials ignored them when they reported the incidents. The Anne Arundel County government and the fire company are named in the sex abuse lawsuit.

The two men are accusing D’Camera of repeatedly forcing them to perform sexual acts, take off their clothes, and sit on his lap. The former volunteer firefighters say that when they reported the incidents to supervisors, they were told not to say anything and that the matter would be taken care of. One of the plaintiffs says that defamatory statements made about him resulted in the loss of a job opportunity.

D’Camera was a 26-year veteran of the fire company and a member of the Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Hall of Fame. He killed himself in 2005 after Baltimore police charged him with perverted practice after seeing him perform a sexual act on a man.

In 2003, according to the lawsuit, D’Camera had ordered one of the plaintiffs, who was 19-years-old at the time, to take off his clothes and masturbate in front of him. D’Camera called it a “rite of passage.” The plaintiff says he was sexually assaulted over 15 times.

When he finally reported the incidents to police in 2005, Robert L. Rose, now the the Odenton fire company president and Chief Charles Rogers informed the volunteer that he needed to “get over it.” Another captain told him that he should leave the company because he had made lots of adversaries. The volunteer soon resigned.

The other plaintiff, who had resigned after a series of assaults and then returned to the company after D’Camera’s suicide, also was allegedly verbally harassed by company members after filing his assault complaint with police. He also alleges that he was assigned the undesireable jobs.

The two plaintiffs say that the Odenton Volunteer Fire Company knew about D’Camera’s habit of ordering volunteers to take off their clothes. D’Camera was charged with the third-degree sexual assault of another teenage volunteer in 1998. In several suicide notes, D’Camera allegedly confessed to assaulting the two plaintiffs. No criminal charges were filed because D’Camera was already dead.

If you have been sexually assaulted or molested, you may be entitled to personal injury compensation. If your sexual assault took place because others created an environment that allowed the crime to occur or did not take enough safety precautions to ensure that no such crime could take place, you also may have grounds to file an inadequate security claim or lawsuit against these parties.

Lawsuit claims sexual abuse at Odenton fire unit, BaltimoreSun.com, January 25, 2008
Sex abuse claimed at firehouse, HometownAnnapolis.com, January 23, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Odenton Volunteer Fire Company

Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Association Hall of Fame

NTSB Calls for Better Injury Accident Prevention Measures to Protect Metro Train Workers

January 24, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The National Transportation Safety Board is calling for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to implement proper safeguards to protect workers on train tracks.

Among its recommendations, the safety board suggested that Metro implement pre-work briefings, conduct surprise inspections, and immediately install new technology that automatically warns track employees when trains are approaching and lets train operators know that there are workers in the area.

The safety board’s assessment follows two deadly train accidents that claimed the lives of three train track workers. In two separate incidents in 2006, three Metro employees died after being hit by Metrorail trains. During both accidents, the Operations Control Center only announced one time to train operators that workers were on the tracks.

One of the fatal accidents involved Jong Won Lee, a senior mechanic, who died after he was hit by a Red Line train in May 2006. In the other accident, on November 30, 2006, train operator Lynne Harris did not ask for permission to leave her last stop, failed to slow down, and may have been using her cell phone while operating the train. Track inspectors did not properly watch out for the train. Track workers Leslie Cherry and Matthew Brooks died from their injuries.

It wasn’t until after the November 2006 accident that Metro mandated that announcements be made every 20 minutes to informi train operators that workers were on the tracks.

Metro believes that implementing protection policies and making sure that they are followed will create a strong safety culture for train workers. Between 2001 and 2006, about 1.5 train worker fatalities have occurred involving Metro trains.

If someone you is a train employee who was injured while working on the train tracks, you should speak with a Maryland or Washington D.C. personal injury lawyer who is experienced in dealing with train accident injuries and is familiar with FELA, the Federal Employees Liability Act, which allows train workers to seek injury compensation.

Being struck by a train is often fatal. And the injuries that can be sustained if the injury victim survives can be catastrophic. Traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, neck and back injuries, massive internal injuries, and broken bones can result.

Safety Procedures Not Followed, NTSB Says, Washington Post, January 24, 2008
NTSB: Metro’s culture deadly, Examiner.com, January 24, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority

National Transportation Safety Board

Maryland to Close Rosewood Center After Multiple Reports of Neglect and Abuse

January 21, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Rosewood Center, a Maryland facility for the developmentally disabled located in Baltimore County, will close in the next year and a half. The decision by the state to shut down the facility comes in the wake of reports of serious cases of abuse and neglect over the past several years. The decision to shut down Rosewood was announced by Maryland’s Governor Martin O’Malley on January 15.

In December, Maryland’s Office of Health Care Quality reported 130 cases of neglect, abuse, mistreatment, and injuries at the center over an 8-week period. Unnecessary restraints, wrong medication doses, missed feedings of residents that were intubated, and assaults between residents are some of the abusive and neglectful incidents that reportedly occurred.

About 150 people live at Rosewood, which opened in 1888 as the Asylum and Training School for the Feeble Minded. At one point, the center had 3,700 residents.

Last year, however, new admissions were banned at Rosewood three times. Poor conditions at the center have placed it at risk of losing its federal funding.

In February 2007, the Maryland Disability Law Center issued a report about Rosewood that included information about injuries, neglect, and the unnecessary and lengthy isolation of some of its residents.

Workers at Rosewood claim the abuse reports are exaggerated. They worry that residents will be traumatized because they have to leave the facility. Patients will be placed in group homes or released to guardians over the next 18 months.

Nursing home abuse and Neglect

State residential homes are supposed to provide its residents with proper medical and residential care. A failure to do so violates the law and can also be grounds for a nursing home abuse lawsuit.

If you believe that someone you love has been abused or neglected while staying at a residential care facility, you should talk to a Washington D.C. or Maryland nursing home abuse law firm right away. Physical and emotional injuries and even death can result because of the abuse or neglect and the law entitles your injured loved one to nursing abuse compensation.

State to Shutter Home for Disabled, Baltimore Sun.com, January 15, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Rosewood Center: A Demand for Closure, Maryland Disability Law Center, February 1, 2007 (PDF)

Rosewood Center, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Maryland Family Files Medical Malpractice Complaint In Woman’s Blood Clot-Related Death

January 17, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In Maryland, the surviving family members of Nicole Letrice Smith,22, filed a medical malpractice complaint saying that the improper medical care that Smith received at Union Memorial Hospital following a 2006 car accident was the cause of her death. The complaint was filed with the state’s Health Care Alternative Dispute Resolution Office and the family plans to file a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Smith was injured in a car accident when a Johns Hopkins pathologist driving the wrong way on the freeway hit her car. The family claims that improper treatment resulted in her death when a blood clot traveled from her broken leg to her lungs.

The claim says that her doctors should have notified Smith, who was obese, taking birth control pills at the time, and immobile because of her broken leg, that she was at risk for blood clots.

Named as defendants in the complaint are Union Memorial Hospital, Yuhwan Hong, and Lew Schon. Schon treated Smith when she was admitted to the hospital on July 8, 2006 and Hong treated her later before discharging her from the hospital. Three days after her release, Smith had a heart attack and died.

The driver of the motor vehicle that smashed into Smith’s car, Dr. Todd B. Sheridan, pleaded guilty to DUI and automobile manslaughter. He will be sentenced in April.

It is up to your doctor to warn you of any potential side effects that can result from your treatment or care. If failure to do so results in injury or death, you should talk to a medical malpractice attorney about filing a medical malpractice claim or lawsuit.

In order to receive medical malpractice compensation, you must file your claim or lawsuit before the statute of limitations ends. In Maryland, the statute of limitations for medical malpractice action is five years from the time the incident occurred or three years from when medical malpractice as the cause of injury or death is discovered. The statute of limitations for medical malpractice claims and lawsuits in Washington D.C. is three years.

If you or someone you love is the victim of medical malpractice in Washington D.C. or Maryland, you should contact a medical malpractice law firm immediately.

Family files malpractice complaint against hospital, Baltimore Sun, January 17, 2008

Related Web Resources:

Medical Malpractice Overview, Wrong Diagnosis, January 17, 2008
Medical Malpractice, Statute of Limitations

NTSB Says Design Error Caused Deadly 2007 Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

January 15, 2008 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

The National Transportation Safety Board says that a design flaw is what led to undersized gusset plates holding the steel beams on Interstate 35-W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota to snap and the bridge to collapse into the Mississippi River last August. More than 100 people were injured and 13 others were killed.

According to NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker, investigators discovered 16 fractured gusset plates—which were reportedly half the thickness that they need to be and were installed that way. Rosenker said investigators could not locate the design calculations to determine the source of the design flaw. He also stated that there was no evidence to indicate that corrosion, cracking, or other wear was responsible for the bridge collapse.

Investigators have suggested that a construction going on at the bridge at the time of the accident may have been put much weight and pressure on the bridge’s structure.

After the accident in August, Minnesota officials said that the eight-lane bridge, open since 1967, had passed inspections for years—albeit without flying colors. During a 2006 inspection, the Minneapolis Bridge rated a 4 out of 9 for its supporting structure, which was in reportedly poor condition.

As far back as 1990, the federal government had categorized the bridge as structurally deficient. The bridge, like many bridges built in the 1950’s and 1960’s, was missing the redundant protection needed to reduce the types of single structural failures that can cause the bridge to come crashing down.

When flaws in the design of a product results in serious injuries, the manufacturer of the product, the companies that installed or made the product available for use, and the person responsible for authorizing the product’s use can be held liable in a products liability lawsuit.

The owner of an unsafe premise—whether public or private—can also be held liable if a person is injured on a property because the premise itself or a condition on the premise was unsafe, hazardous, or improperly maintained. A premises liability lawsuit may even name a local, state, or federal government entity if the plaintiff has grounds to hold them responsible for the injuries or deaths.

NTSB: Minneapolis bridge that collapsed had design flaw, CNN.com, January 15, 2008
Design Flaw Said to Have Caused Minn. Bridge to Collapse, Washington Post, January 15, 2008
Minneapolis Bridge Had Passed Inspections, New York Times, August 3, 2007

Related Web Resource:

National Transportation Safety Board