Law Digest

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 16, 2008

MARYLAND COURT OF APPEALS

Professional Responsibility, Disbarment: Disbarment was the appropriate sanction for attorney who, while decertified for failure to pay Client Protection Fund assessments, continued to practice and committed serious violations of several rules of professional conduct. Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Walker, Misc. AG No. 2, September Term, 2007. RecordFax No. 8-0529-00, 7 pages.

COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS

Civil Procedure, Forum non conveniens: Trial court properly granted motion to transfer case for forum non conveniens where county in which underlying tort occurred had a public interest in the litigation and majority of parties and likely witnesses resided there. Payton-Henderson, et al. v. Evans, et al., No. 1326, September Term, 2007. RecordFax No. 8-0602-01, 27 pages.

Consumer Protection, Breach of warranty claim: Circuit court properly granted defendants summary judgment where plaintiff produced no expert evidence as to defect, and thus failed to establish legally sufficient evidence in support of breach of warranty claims. Laing v. Volkswagen of America, Inc., No. 1040, September Term 2007. RecordFax No. 8-0529-02, 34 pages.

Criminal Procedure, Search and seizure: Where there was no requirement of reasonable, articulable suspicion for police to conduct a drug dog scan of defendant's car, trial court properly denied defendant's suppression motion. Padilla v. State, No. 212, September Term 2007. RecordFax No. 8-0530-01, 28 pages.

Family Law, Paternity: Circuit court erred in granting genetic paternity test for presumed father of a child born during his marriage, and in failing to consider the best interests of the child in terminating child support obligation. Dept. of Human Resources, Garrett Co. Dept. of Social Services, Bureau of Support Enforcement, ex rel. Duckworth v. Kamp, No. 2871, September Term, 2006. RecordFax No. 8-0530-00, 44 pages.

Premises Liability, Lead paint: Circuit court did not abuse its discretion by allowing defendants to read deposition transcripts of plaintiff's lead-testing expert, rather than playing videotape of the deposition. Brown v. Daniel Realty Company, No. 1965, September Term, 2006. RecordFax No. 8-0529-00, 24 pages.

Workers' Compensation, Statute of limitations: Regular wage received by employee for work on date of independent medical exam was not a "reimbursement" of wages under LE [section]9-667, thus that payment did not re-start statute of limitations. Yingling v. Millennium Inorganic Chemicals, et al., No. 75, September Term, 2007. RecordFax No. 8-0529-01, 13 pages.

U.S. SUPREME COURT

Civil Procedure, Recovery of paralegal fees: A prevailing party that satisfies the Equal Access to Justice Act's requirements may recover its paralegal fees from the Government at prevailing market rates. Richlin Security Service Co. v. Chertoff, No. 06-1717. RecordFax No. 8-0602-30, 21 pages.

Criminal Law, Money-laundering 'proceeds': Use of the term "proceeds" in the federal money-laundering statute was ambiguous, thus making rule of lenity applicable; accordingly, "proceeds" referred to "profits," not "receipts" in prosecution for illegal gambling operation. United States v. Santos, No. 06-1005. RecordFax No. 8-0602-31, 48 pages.

Criminal Law, Proof of money laundering: Although the federal money-laundering statute does not require proof that the defendant attempted to create the appearance of legitimate wealth, neither can it be satisfied solely by evidence that the funds were concealed during transport. Cuellar v. United States, No. 06-1456. RecordFax No. 8-0602-32, 22 pages.

U.S. 4TH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS

Bankruptcy, Fraudulent transfers: Trustee was not entitled to recover from the debtor's ex-wife the value of certain assets fraudulently transferred from the bankruptcy estate, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. [section]550(a)(1), because she was not the entity for whose benefit such transfer was made, under [section]550(a)(1). Roy Terry v. Darlene Meredith, No. 07-1509. RecordFax No. 8-0603-60, 7 pages.

Constitutional Law, Removal from public meeting: County Commission did not violate First Amendment rights of citizen acting in a hostile and disruptive manner by removing him from public meeting. Steinburg v. Chesterfield County Planning Commission, No. 07-1181. RecordFax No. 8-0529-60, 22 pages.

Constitutional Law: 'Shocks the conscience' standard: District court properly granted summary judgment to county where 42 U.S.C. [section]1983 claim brought by personal representatives of fireman who died during training exercise overlapped with state tort law claims. Waybright v. Frederick County, Md., et al., No. 07-1289. RecordFax No. 8-0602-60, 16 pages.

Zoning, Preemption of local legislation by federal law: County zoning bill regarding the siting of liquefied natural gas terminals was preempted by the Natural Gas Act. AES Sparrows Point LNG, LLC v. Smith, No. 07-1615. RecordFax No. 8-0519-60, 10 pages.

U.S. DISTRICT COURT, MARYLAND

Civil Procedure, Removal of state interpleader action: U.S. District Court held that removal of state interpleader action was inappropriate where complete diversity was lacking. County Commissioners of Worcester County, Md. v. Tingle, Civil No. AMD 08- 1138. RecordFax No. 8-0527-40, 4 pages.