Case Name/Case #
Appellant C ounsel/ Area of Law
Noriss Smith, et al. v. Thomas F. Yost, Jr., Esq. Housing Authority of Baltimore City 497-00404
410-659-6800 Lead Poisoning/
Government Liability
Judge/
Jurisdiction Stuart Berger
Baltimore City Issues
This is a lead-poisoning case arising from alleged lead expo- sure in public housing in Baltimore City. A jury returned a verdict of $630,000.00. The Trial Court originally granted a motion to reduce the verdict to $200,000.00 pursuant to the caps found in the Local Government Tort Claims Act. In a prior appeal, the Court found that the Appellants
were entitled to a judgment in the amount of the jury verdict because the Local Government Tort Claims Act did not apply to Appellant’s case. The case was then remanded for entry of judgment in conformity with that opinion. Upon remand, the Circuit Court found that it must limit
the verdict to the amount of the insurance available to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City. The Court further found that the governmental immunity of the Housing Authority was only waived to the extent that the verdict was covered by insurance. Upon testimony that there was no insurance for this verdict, the Court reduced the verdict to $0.00. The plaintiff appealed for a second time, arguing first that
the reduction of the verdict to $0.00 violated the mandate of the Court of Special Appeals, second that the Housing Author- ity was acting in a proprietary capacity in failing to properly maintain the housing unit rather than in a governmental capacity, and third; that the Court did not properly determine the extent of the Housing Authority’s waiver of governmental immunity.
Fred Whitman v Mayor and City Council of the
Brian Peter Cosby 410-213-9801
Product Liability/
Town of Ocean City Design Defect 498-1145
Thomas C. Groton, III Worcester County
The plaintiff sued the Town of Ocean City as a result of the alleged dangerous location and design of a bus stop. The bus stop is alleged to have prevented the plaintiff from seeing a portion of the crosswalk as he approached an intersection on his motorcycle. The plaintiff was proceeding on a green light when an unidentified pedestrian ran out in front of a bus against the indications of pedestrian signals and traffic control signals in the crosswalk. The bus stopped short, forcing the plaintiff to lay his motorcycle down resulting in injury. The issue on appeal is whether expert testimony is neces-
sary to establish a design defect under the circumstances of the case and whether the negligence of the pedestrian superseded that of the Town of Ocean City. The Trial Court held in the affirmative in connection with each of the issues.
Richard L. Massey, Jr. Wendy N. Hess, Esq. Jon P. Galley 499-686
410-625-9409
Doborah A. Jeon, Esq. 410-889-8550 Public Information Act
W. Timothy Finan Allegany County
This is an appeal under the Maryland Public Information Act from the Trial Court’s grant of summary judgment against the plaintiff. The plaintiff had requested public information from the warden of a prison in which the requestor was incarcer- ated. The Circuit Court found that the warden had violated the Public Information Act by not timely responding, but granted summary judgment because a response was eventu- ally forthcoming. The Court held that the case was now moot. On appeal, the plaintiff challenges whether the response was complete and therefore, whether the case was moot.
Spring 2008 Trial Reporter 57
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