By: Steve Lash
ON THE COVER: Top court returns — The Court of Appeals begins its September 2009 term this week. The high court will hear cases addressing the cap on non-economic damages, legal malpractice and whether a truck driver can be guilty of vehicular manslaughter for leaving the scene of a gravel spill from his truck.
Also on the Court of Appeals — the judges recall their summer break; columnist Chris Brown ranks last year’s votes; and plaintiffs’ lawyers Henry E. Dugan Jr. and George S. Tolley III explain the importance of last term’s landmark informed-consent decision.
In Breaking News, Baltimore City Councilwoman Helen L. Holton fights new charges; an immigration lawyer is disbarred after pleading guilty to fraud; and an attorney owes fees for having filed suit without sufficient justification.
In Verdicts & Settlements, a motorcyclist receives $200,000 in damages after colliding with a hand truck that fell from a passing box truck.
U.S. District Magisitrate Judge Charles B. Day of Greenbelt has no plans to take it easy after stepping down from the Federal Magistrate Judges Association after a decade in senior posts at the group.
Stay up-to-date with our Law Digest, which includes cases from the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Court, Maryland.
By: Steve Lash
On the Cover: Right on the Money – Murder. Larceny. Can this really be a civil insurance case?
Also, a 2-1 panel of the 4th Circuit upholds the federal sex offender registration law and a regulation that makes it apply retroactively.
In Breaking News, a retired Rockville lawyer escapes disbarment by a single vote on the Court of Appeals, and Baltimore County Circuit Judge Lawrence R. Daniels says he will not run for re-election.
Read about a settlement between a Baltimore dry cleaner and a Lutherville couple who claim the store ruined their wedding attire, in Verdicts & Settlements.
In this week’s Pro Bono, real-estate lawyer Sophie Dagenais discusses her effort to get arabbers — horse-and-cart produce vendors — a new headquarters.
Joe Surkiewicz explains why IOLTA doesn’t work, in his Of Service column.
Stay up to date with our Legal Briefs and Case Digest, with cases from the Maryland Court of Appeals, Maryland Court of Special Appeals and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
By: Barbara Grzincic
From our sister paper south of the Potomac comes this story of a health insurance company that refused to pay on a $100,000 claim for a motorcycle rider’s injuries from a crash after he pleaded guilty to reckless driving, a misdemeanor. (He had been charged originally with drunken driving, Virginia Lawyers Weekly reported.)
Anthem Health Plans of Virginia figured there was no coverage because the General Provisions of its policy specify that it “does not cover any loss that results from the covered person committing … an illegal act.”
Roderick Bailey’s lawyer, though, argued that “illegal acts” is too broad a term to go undefined in the policy, which separately excludes the results of the insured’s felonies — under the “War” exclusion, 20 pages away from the General Provisions.
Misdemeanor reckless driving, by contrast, is essentially unintentional conduct, Bailey argues; and isn’t that what insurance is for? In other words, letting insurers deny coverage for unintentional conduct should be against public policy.
The lower court ruled for Anthem, which I’m told caused a stir among trial lawyers. Now, though, it’s the defense bar’s turn to worry: the Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear Bailey’s appeal.
A quick look online yields this similar case (pdf), decided in 2006 by a federal judge in Shreveport, La., but it’s hard to believe the situation doesn’t come up all the time. How do you think it would turn out here in Maryland?
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