Last week the U.S. Supreme Court decided an important case for those of us who practice civil litigation, or who are involved in civil suits for money damages. In Phillip Morris USA v. Williams Estate, a case from Oregon, the Supreme Court overturned a $79.5 million award of punitive damages against a tobacco company. That opinion raises the question of …

In this day and age, many parents and child rearing experts believe that spanking or other corporal punishment of children should never be allowed, while others take the more traditional approach. The Maryland courts have ruled that there is such a thing as reasonable corporal punishment, but Departments of Social Services who investigate claims of child abuse struggle with defining …

In most civil cases in Maryland and other states, the courts follow the “American rule” on attorney’s fees, which provides that each side pays their own attorney’s fees regardless of who wins. While this may seem counter-intuitive and promote more litigation, the rationale has always been that if parties risk having to pay the other side’s legal fees if they …

We have all seen in the movies or on television the car chase, where the police attempt to pull over the speeding vehicle that flees up the road. Such chases often end in a roadblock, where finally the police block the roadway to stop the vehicle from escaping. We may also remember the scene where the officer orders a passing …