Maryland

January 31, 2024

Window Tint Laws in Maryland and D.C.

Window tints laws require a significant amount of light to be transmitted in car windows. Once pulled over, a police officer may check to see if your car’s window tints are legal or not. You may ask yourself how police officers can do that. In addition to knowing how to check for too much tint, you must know the window tint laws in both Maryland and D.C.

How do the police determine if a window has too much tint?

The only way to determine if there is an actual violation of the statute is for the officer, after stopping the vehicle, to conduct a test utilizing a “two-piece window tint meter.” This handheld tool can read whether a car’s window has too much tint based on state or local laws that regulate the level of visible light transmission (VLT) that is allowed through a car’s windows.

If the VLT level is below the legal limit, the officer may issue a citation for a window tint violation.

January 9, 2024

Baltimore Auto Accident Lawyer

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

The Baltimore car accident lawyers at Miller & Zois have delivered millions in compensation to the victims of auto collisions over the years.

Our goal in every Baltimore, MD car accident claim our attorneys take is to get the maximum amount of compensation for our clients. Our accident lawyers work on a contingency fee basis, which means you pay nothing unless and until we get compensation in your case.

This page will look at the topics and questions that really matter to people who are considering whether to file an auto accident lawsuit and which personal injury law firm in Baltimore to hire:

November 1, 2023

Informed Consent Malpractice Lawsuits in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

This page will look at medical malpractice lawsuits based on the theory of lack of informed consent by the doctor or healthcare provider. In non-emergency situations, doctors are required to obtain a patient’s informed consent before rendering any type of medical treatment or performing any sort of procedure. If they fail to obtain informed consent, the doctor can be held liable for medical malpractice.

Lack of Informed Consent Claims

In Maryland, the law requires doctors and healthcare providers to fully explain any proposed treatment or medical procedure to the patient before moving forward. This includes a duty to explain both the benefits of the procedure or treatment, and warning the patient of any material risks or dangers inherent in the therapy or procedure. The explanation from the doctor must enable the patient to reasonably understand the risks and benefits and make an intelligent and informed choice about whether or not to undergo such treatment.

December 12, 2013

$1 Million Nail Salon Settlement in Baltimore City

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Here’s an interesting case that I saw looking at settlements and verdicts last night.

July 24, 2013

Lawsuit Against Morgan State Will Continue

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

A Baltimore City Circuit Court judge has given the “go ahead” for a student’s lawsuit to proceed – for now, at least – against Morgan State University, denying a Motion to Dismiss the lawsuit.

Awful details here. The 23-year-old Plaintiff has filed suit against Morgan State for failing to act to protect students and visitors on the university campus. The lawsuit, which seeks more than $75,000 on each of three counts consistent with Maryland’s new law not to ask for specific damages in the Complaint, was filed as a result of a horrific beating that the Plaintiff received by the hands of a man later found not criminally responsible due to mental illness.

The lawsuit alleges that there was foreseeability on the school’s part that something bad would happen. That’s where the claim gets a little tricky. The attacker, prone to violent outbursts at college events, attacked the Plaintiff with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, blinding him in one eye. The lawsuit states that the warning signs were there, but that Morgan State failed to act. Previously found wielding a machete on campus, and known to leave satanic rants on social media sites, the attacker has since been arrested on a separate case. Charged with murder, it is alleged that he killed and dismembered a family friend, and consumed some of the deceased’s organs.

March 31, 2011

North Carolina Medical Malpractice Statistics

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

These are North Carolina medical malpractice statistics of interest. Unless otherwise indicated, the statistics are from 1998-2009.

There are an average of 566 medical malpractice lawsuits filed in North Carolina each year, or one-quarter of one percent of the lawsuits filed in North Carolina. For those who think malpractice lawsuits are increasing in number: there were 496 malpractice lawsuits in 2009, the last year studied.
Said another way, from 1998 through 2009, the number of all civil case filings in North Carolina

October 15, 2008

Phantom Vehicle Uninsured Motorist Claims in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Mr. Miller:

Hi, I am a Maryland attorney and would like to get little mentoring on any differences between an unidentified motorist claim and an uninsured motorist claim. Please call or send me an email and I promise I’ll be brief. Thanks so much for any help!

Dear Maryland Attorney:

August 20, 2008

First Bad Faith Car Accident Insurance Claims in Maryland

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

Bob Zarbin and Jim MacAlister write a telling article in this month’s journal of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association about Maryland’s new bad faith law. The authors note that the avalanche of bad faith claims the insurance companies said were coming down the pike with Maryland’s new bad faith law was actually only 12 in the first quarter of the 2008 and only 12 all last year.

Similarly, on the medical malpractice front, Maryland malpractice insurers claimed the sky was falling one minute and the next they are declaring $74 million profit to their doctor shareholders and lowering malpractice insurance rates. The legislative process requires that the viewpoints of all stakeholders. But can we at least make sure we put the proper discounted value on “the sky is falling” on the next go around? I’m hoping the next go around includes a revised bad faith law with more teeth than mere costs and expenses.

In the same issue, Kevin Goldberg, who is with Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester in Silver Spring, Maryland, writes a great article laying out a great checklist of avenues to explore when you have a catastrophic accident and what appears to be limited coverage.

July 3, 2008

Medical Malpractice Opinion | Jury Issues

by Ronald V. Miller, Jr.

In Brockington v. Grimstead, 176 Md. App. 327 (2007), the Maryland Court of Special Appeals considers a bizarre set of facts involving juror deliberations. The underlying action is a Maryland medical malpractice case in Baltimore tried before now retired Judge Thomas E. Noel for failure to diagnose cancer. The jury awarded $4,414,195, including $ 3,000,000 for non-economic damages, or $1,959,195 once the award was reduced consistent with the cap on non-economic damages.

The issue on appeal involved the judge’s decision to include alternates in the jury room. Judge Noel, over strenuous objection from the plaintiff’s lawyer,seated for deliberations six regular jurors and two alternates who were instructed to remain silent during deliberations. Later, when two ostensibly pro-defendant jurors backed off the jury, the defendant’s malpractice lawyer flip flopped and withdrew his consent to the substitution, an objection he apparently repeated about 5 million times over the course of the deliberations.

The issue was whether the Defendant waived his right to complain when he agreed to let the alternate jurors sit in on the deliberations. The Plaintiff argued that the substitution of an alternate juror for a regular juror is forbidden once the regular jurors have retired to deliberate. In other words, the malpractice defendant cannot un-ring the bell by withdrawing his consent when the logical conclusion of his agreement did not go his way. Plaintiff’s attorney further contended that because there was consent to the alternate process, the trial court’s rulings should be evaluated for abuse of discretion, not the obvious legal error.