The Injury Litigation Blog

Facts and Opinions.
Feel free to disregard the opinions.

Lodowski Verdict Restored

By Byron Warnken

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled this past week in Barnes v. Greater Baltimore Medical Center.  According to the Maryland Daily Record, the Court reinstated a $1.1 million dollar verdict.  The trial judge, Hon. Ruth Ann Jakubwoski, had granted a defense motion for a judgement notwithstanding the verdict and Barnes appealed.

For you laypeople … A judgement notwithstanding the verdict or JNOV simply means the trial judge has the power to overrule what the jury did.  The judge must, in making this decision, view the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff.  If the judge still believes the defendant should have won, she can simply make it so.

The trial attorney in this medical malpractice case was Christian Lodowski.  The appellate attorney was Andrew Baida.  While the Injury Lawyer Database does not keep appellate statistics, Baida is known to be an excellent appellate litigator.  Likewise, Lodowski has a good reputation.  ILD shows Lodowski as having 49 closed cases and 10 open cases, of which Barnes is one.  With the exception of some motor tort (car accident) cases, the majority of Christian Lodowski’s cases are medical malpractice or other professional malpractice.  Other tort cases, of which Lodowski has quite a few, are often med mal matters.  Stips and settlements make up a large percentage of his results, with only a few cases listed as going to verdict.

Defendant GBMC has had numerous matters.  Being a large Baltimore area hospital, the cases are, not surprisingly, nearly all malpractice matters.

How Can I Find Out How Good a Lawyer Is?

By Byron Warnken

I’ve been asked this question before many times.  For so long, I said, simply, reputation. However, reputation is such a loose concept.  Reputation according to whom? For a long time, when someone I know needs an out-of-state lawyer, and I don’t know anyone personally, I recommend this approach: Call up to five lawyers, in the […]

Soft Launch Today

By Byron Warnken

The Injury Lawyer Database has launched.  We use the word “soft” because we are not marketing the site yet.  There are still bugs to get worked out.  We are feverishly working to eliminate them. Some of the bugs are small, like the use of singular possessive versus a plural possessive.  Some are major, like search. […]

Maryland Case Search

By Byron Warnken

The Maryland Judiciary, in 2004, became one of the more progressive state judicial branches in the country via its use of technology.  In October of 2004, Maryland Rules 16-1001 through 16-1011 were enacted.  Records of Maryland cases went online.  The website is officially called “Maryland Judiciary Case Search.”  It is known to residents and lawyers […]

Case Types

By Byron Warnken

In our attorney listings, one of the more useful tools is the case types pie chart.  The case type represents numerous kinds of litigation.  For example, criminal, divorce, and professional malpractice are three different kinds of case types. The information is vital.  Attorneys hold themselves out to be many things.  Criminal attorneys often tell you […]

Pinkbook – Highest Average Permanent Partial Award

By Byron Warnken

Earlier this week, this blog gave a list of the workers’ compensation lawyers in Maryland with the best average final settlements in comp cases.  The list saw the top of the list with an average final settlement of over $70,000. Generally, final settlements are higher than permanent partial awards.  Final settlements mean the case is […]

Hip Replacement Lawsuits in Maryland

By Byron Warnken

There was an article on Bloomberg this week about hip replacement lawsuits in Maryland state courts.  The first case appears to be going to trial in circuit court in Prince George’s County.  The case is against Depuy, a subsidiary of J&J, or Johnson and Johnson for all you literally literal lawyers.  This caused me to […]

The Top Ten Workers’ Comp Lawyers

By Byron Warnken

This list is the top ten workers’ comp lawyers in Maryland, according to the first edition of the Comp Pinkbook, measuring a period from the beginning of 2011 through June 2012.  “Top” is measured by most number of awards.  The lawyers being measured represent claimants.  Defense lawyers are part of a different list. Are these […]