Maryland News

On the heels of a Wall Street Journal editorial questioning the motives behind prominent plaintiffs attorney Peter Angelos’ attempt to revive 13,000 asbestos claims, the Maryland Attorney General’s office said it would not comment on the matter yet.

Readers of these columns may recall federal Judge Janis Graham Jack, who in 2005 blew the lid off the silicosis scam and shut down that fraudulent tort industry. A similar opportunity is unfolding in Baltimore City Circuit Court, but this time the subject is asbestos litigation.

An airport shuttle driver in Baltimore who worked under a franchise agreement with Shuttle Express Inc. must arbitrate his Fair Labor Standards Act and state law wage claims against the company despite a class action waiver in the agreement’s arbitration clause, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled April 1. 

The Orioles' team doctor, William H. Goldiner, tended to orange-clad ballplayers at the same time as he diagnosed thousands of blue-collar workers with asbestos-related illnesses whose cases were taken up by prominent lawyer and team owner Peter G. Angelos.

A Maryland appeals court yesterday reversed the punitive damages and returned the case to a new trial in Baltimore County Circuit court in Towson, Maryland, for a new trial. Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil had argued that the award, handed down in 2011 to 160 homeowners and businesses as part of a $1.5 billion jury verdict, was excessive.

An effort to revive more than 13,000 lawsuits filed by people who contend they were sickened by absestos was met with sharp objections Monday by lawyers for potential defendants.

A Baltimore judge on Monday will hear an ambitious plan to revive the long-dormant cases of more than 13,000 people who say they have been sickened by asbestos, an attempt by the Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos to return to a strategy that made a fortune for its founder.

A Maryland lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would prevent the state's highest court from changing the rules about who can sue following an accident.

Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler said Wednesday that more agreements might be coming in the wake of a $25 billion national settlement with five banks.

The Court of Appeals in Annapolis will decide whether to ditch the state’s long-standing all-or-nothing approach to assessing fault in civil lawsuits, which opponents consider harsh and outdated.