Baltimore City Circuit Court draws sparse crowd at UM School of Law

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Mar 28, 2006 by Daniel Ostrovsky

Baltimore City Circuit Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. held court at the University of Maryland School of Law Ceremonial Court Room yesterday, giving students a unique opportunity to observe summary judgment arguments in a business case potentially involving more than $400 million in damages.Last week, Matricciani said he looked forward to offering students a chance to see a real life case and that there is a lot of interest at University of Maryland in business and technology topics. But after the hearing, the judge admitted that he was a little disappointed with the student turnout. It's the first time that we have done this and I was hoping that we would get more students, said Matricciani, the director of the Business and Technology Case Management Program at Baltimore City Circuit Court.Roughly 30 students attended yesterday's proceedings, some staying for as little as 15 minutes of the three-hour hearing. No more than a dozen students were present at any given time. (The ceremonial courtroom holds about 100 people and was filled to capacity when the Court of Special Appeals visited last November.)At the free lunch that started at noon - billed as an opportunity for a question-and-answer session with counsel - no students were in evidence at 12:10, although a school official said some came later.Assistant Dean Teresa LaMaster said she was happy with attendance yesterday, noting that it was the first day after spring break.I think that you had the students who were really interested in the topic, she said. It's a pretty sophisticated issue in business law.That sentiment was echoed by Andrew J. Graham, of Kramon & Graham in Baltimore, who represents the defendants in the case heard yesterday but did not speak during the hearing.I honestly didn't expect some giant turnout for a case that involves issues this arcane, he said.

$417.5 million soughtA fire alarm forced a brief evacuation and interrupted the proceedings as the hearing in the case of Dennis M. Devetter et al. vs. Alex. Brown Management Services Inc., Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. et al., got underway shortly after 9 a.m. yesterday.The case involves 17 plaintiffs, who in 1997 contributed large amounts of concentrated stock in return for a share in the fund.According to the complaint, the investors were either restricted from selling the stock or did not want to pay capital gains taxes related to such a sale.The plaintiffs allege that the fund had a risk hedging strategy which was primarily focused on the purchase of additional securities and equity collars.Yet, the complaint states, as the fund began to experience problems certain information was concealed from the investors.The plaintiffs are seeking $83.5 million in actual damages and $334 million in punitive damages.Dallas-based lawyer William C. Carmody, of Sussman Godfrey LLP, yesterday said he anticipated having no trouble explaining the complex financial issues involved in the case to a jury.After the hearing, Carmody compared the financial loss of his clients to being stabbed in the back by a best friend.The fund's New York-based lawyer John M. Vassos, of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, also said a Baltimore jury could relate to the issues in the case and added that he was happy to provide the students with a sense of how these kinds of business issues are argued.University of Maryland law school alumni Paul D. Bekman and Benjamin Rosenberg did not get to make oral arguments yesterday, but were on hand as counsel for the plaintiffs.Matricciani unilaterally moved the hearing to the law school, but none of the parties involved objected to his decision.