Maryland Law

Maryland Practice: Civil Procedure Forms

2008-09-18T16:33:00.003-04:00

While I get up to blogging speed, I might throw a few no-brainers out there. This is not a bad thing. With the volume of legal information out there, occasionally you need a refresher course in the basics.

I find one invaluable resource that I always rely upon when asked about Maryland forms is George Liebmann's Civil Procedure Forms of the Maryland Practice set. (Liebmann is, of course, one of the great scholarly minds of Maryland law.) This, of course, has examples of the standard and esoteric forms you will find in Maryland civil practice. If you are ever asked to write a motion you have never written before, like say a "Motion for Non-disclosure of Secret Processes on Deposition," this is the book that shows you how to do it (and with some helpful commentary to boot). If you don't own a copy, your local public law library or general public library (in Maryland of course) should have one available.

Posted by J Cannan

PG County Added To Case Search

2008-09-12T15:31:00.002-04:00

For those of you that missed this, Prince George's County recently added their records to the Maryland Judiciary Case Search. The FAQ page shows that the system now has civil dockets back to 1986 and criminal dockets back to 1982. Following the successful addition of Montgomery County dockets, Case Seach now includes dockets from every county in Maryland. Thanks to Carol Mundorf for this find!

Pleading Causes of Action, Fourth Edition

2008-09-12T13:47:00.004-04:00

I just read that the Booker Prize Shortlist has been annouced and this reminded me of one book that really deserves a prize and that's Pleading Causes of Action in Maryland by James Archibald and the ubiquitous Paul Mark Sandler. We just got our brand, spanking new Fourth Edition from our friends at MICPEL. Pleading Casues of Action has a host of sample complaints for various causes of action that might bring you into court in Maryland. The new book has information on the Protection of Homeowners in Foreclosure Act, expanded materials on family law and coverage of important cases that came out last year. If you are practicing Maryland law, this is a book you need (as well as the Maryland Rules Commentary and Modern Maryland Civil Procedure)!

Posted by J. Cannan

Researching Maryland Utility Companies

2008-07-29T09:58:00.005-04:00

The Maryland Public Service Commission regulates public utilities in Maryland. Their site provides access to a tremendous amount of information. To find a regulated utility provider in Maryland, see this page. You can also search filings submitted by a particular company, although only relatively few of these are full text. Probably the best resource on they site, though, is the case search. Although the search is designed for a case number search, you can search by company name by entering a company into the "Enter Subject/Caption" box. Most of the case files are available online. The Administrative Docket link provides information on agency filings. Select either "Rulemaking," "Public Conference," or "Other." After selecting one of the items from the search result, scan the list of documents for the company you're interested in. Finally, you can also search the Commission Orders and Letter Orders by scanning the result list for your company of interest.

Searching For Maryland Court Documents

2008-06-24T17:22:00.005-04:00

As most of us are now aware, searching for Maryland dockets is readily available through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search. However, what if you are searching for the actual documents (as opposed to simply the docket text) filed in a Maryland case (eg., complaints, motions, etc)? Is there a resource that provides that? The good news is that there are a couple of options available for this research; the bad news is that you'll have to pay for it. Lexis and Westlaw both have databases of MD trial court filings. In Westlaw, the database is Maryland Trial Court Filings (MD-FILING) and in Lexis the database is Maryland State Pleadings (MDPLDG). (You can also use Courtlink by selecting "Maryland Circuit Courts" in the Document Text Search option). Keep in mind that Westlaw sometimes attaches case documents to the docket sheet. For Maryland federal cases, in Westlaw use the Maryland State and Federal Trial Court Filings (MD-FILING-ALL) database and in Courtlink select "Maryland" and "US District Courts" in the Document Text Search option. Although full-text federal court documents are available through Pacer, Pacer does not allow you to search these documents. Outside of Lexis and Westlaw, you'll most likely have to call the court. Lexis and Westlaw also both offer Maryland briefs databases.

Searching Maryland State & Federal Cases-For Free

2008-06-03T12:16:00.002-04:00

If you're looking to search 4th Circuit and Maryland State cases, consider using The Public Library of Law, or PLOL. Although Findlaw has offered the ability to search 4th Circuit cases both by party-name (select "4th Circuit" from the drop down menu) and by full-text for some time, the search functionality in Findlaw is limited and difficult to use. Using PLOL, you can search 4th Circuit cases back to 1950 and Maryland state appeals cases back to 1997. Simply click on the "Advanced Search" link and then select your court from the drop down menu. PLOL ranks your search results by relevance and bolds your search terms in the results list--making it easier to find your case on point. To view the full text of the case, you must register with the site, but registration is free. Note that Maryland Federal district courts are currently not available on PLOL.

Maryland Home Sales

2008-05-21T09:41:00.002-04:00

The Baltimore Sun recently added this mashup of Maryland home sales. The page allows you to view a map of recent home sales. You can limit by zip code, price range, home type, and time frame. After zooming in, you can click on an individual home sale for more info. Note the caveat on the top of the page, though: not all home sales are represented here.

Researching Maryland Legislative Histories

2008-05-02T10:17:00.005-04:00

The key to effectively researching Maryland legislative histories is to first read a couple of articles by Mike Miller, the former director of the Maryland State Law Library: "Ghost Hunting: Searching For Maryland Legislative History" and "Deciphering The Codes: Researching Legislative History In Maryland." For bills going back to the mid 1990's, a large amount of information can be found online using the Maryland General Assembly site. Remember to check the Fiscal Note attached to the bill: this can be a key item in compiling a legislative history. A key piece of the puzzle not available online, though, are the bill files which contain the Committee Reports and testimony of those who supported the bill. For bills enacted between 1976 and 1995, you can find the bill files (on microfiche) at the Thurgood Marshall Law Library and at the University of Baltimore Law Library. For bill enacted outside of that period, you'll have to contact the Department of Legislative Services. As a courtesy, they'll email you one PDF copy of a bill file. After that you'll have to pay.

'08 Maryland Legislation

2008-04-16T11:14:00.001-04:00

Following on my last post, the 90 Day Report, your best option for a review of the legislative actions in the '08 session is now available. The report is organized into 12 subject areas and discusses, for each category, the majority of bills that passed as well as significant bills which did not.

Overview Of The '08 Session

2008-04-11T14:24:00.002-04:00

As of now, the 90 Report which provides the most comprehensive review what happened in a particular legislative session, is still waiting to be published for the '08 session. In the meantime, there are a number of useful resources to give you an overview of what passed and what didn't. The last edition of the Legislative Wrap-Up gives a good overview of legislation that passed. You can also see a list of legislation that was signed by the Governor, based on the date on which it was signed. So far, bill signing ceremonies took place on April 3rd and April 8th. Additional bill signings are scheduled for April 24, May 13, and May 22. This session also witnessed one legislative override (SB 497). SB 497 was vetoed by the Governor and then the legislature overrode the Governor's veto.

Report On Maryland's Real Estate Market

2008-04-10T12:26:00.002-04:00

A new report, "Trend Watch 2008: The Baltimore/Washington Commercial Real Estate Outlook,” a combined effort of the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business and the Maryland chapter of the Appraisal Institute gives a surprisingly upbeat take on the region's real estate market. “Although the warning signs pointing to a downturn in the national economy are many, Trend Watchers on the whole express cautious optimism about the Baltimore/Washington commercial real estate market,” the report states. Take a look at articles by the Sun, the Daily Record, and Commercial Property News. Unfortunately, the report does not appear to be online.

Maryland Tech Tax Repealed

2008-04-08T10:40:00.002-04:00

I realize that by blogging standards, this is already "old news." Not surprisingly, a number of papers reported on this major event. See articles from the Sun and Daily Record. None of the articles that I saw, though, provided links to the bill. So, here it is. The bill, SB 46, was passed by both Houses, and now awaits the Governor's signature. For more specifics on the bill, see the bill's fiscal note.

Baltimore City Bans Trans Fats

2008-03-27T16:24:00.002-04:00

Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon signed into law City Council Bill 08-0034 which prohibits food service facilities from serving, storing, distributing, or holding food containing trans fat. The bill will take effect in the Fall of '09. See this BBJ article for more. Also see this City of Baltimore Law Department letter which was included as an attachment to the bill.

Draft Computer Service Tax Regulations

2008-03-14T15:24:00.005-04:00

Up until now, no one knew how the computer services tax (Section 3 of SB2), adopted as part of the 2007 Maryland General Assembly special session legislation, was intended to be implemented. The Comptroller's office just today released draft regulations implementing the law. The Comptroller's office also released this FAQ. Barring any unforseen challenges, final regulations are scheduled to be released sometime after the close of the legislative session on April 7. For more, see this BBJ article.

Baltimore City Green Bills

2008-03-05T09:57:00.003-05:00

Today's Daily Record article, "Proposals Before City Council Would Offer Big Tax Breaks To 'Green' Buildings," (subscription) reports on two bills introduced into the Baltimore City Council which would provide tax incentives for green buildings. One bill, Bill 57, would provide a 100% property tax incentive for the construction of "high performance buildings." The other bill, Bill 58, would provide a tax credit for the installation of "qualified energy devices."

Advanced Medical Directives

2008-03-04T17:31:00.002-05:00

The Maryland Attorney General's site contains a 17 page brochure entitled "Maryland Advance Directive: Planning For Future Health Care Decisions." In addition to providing background information, the brochure also includes an 8-page form which can be used in Maryland. For resources on making medical decisions for someone else, see this overview or this in-depth 23-page guide.

Bioscience Companies In Maryland

2008-02-25T17:22:00.004-05:00

MdBio, part of the Tech Council of Maryland, provides some very useful information on the bioscience industry in Maryland. Part of it's report provides a listing of all the bioscience companies in Maryland. Another part (see page 57) of its report lists the publicly traded Maryland bioscience companies. This same part (page 58) also lists the Maryland region's life science venture capital and angel groups.

Judgments & Liens Search

2008-02-19T14:40:00.003-05:00

The Maryland Judiciary Case Search recently (apparently in December) added additional content to it's database: the ability to search for judgments and liens. Once you sign into the main screen there's a link at the top of the page for Circuit Court Judgments and Liens. Search options are similar to the regular case search: you can search by either the name of the company or individual and you can choose to limit by date or by court. Searching by case number, though, does not seem to be an option.

Maryland Smoking Ban Law

2008-01-31T15:48:00.000-05:00

Maryland's new law (The Clean Indoor Act of 2007) banning smoking in indoor public areas goes into effect this Friday. See articles from the Sun, the Baltimore Business Journal, and the Gazette.

Report On Identity Theft

2008-01-31T15:38:00.000-05:00

The Maryland Task Force to study Identity Theft recent published it's report. Over 230 pages, the report recommends, among other things, that the penalties for felony identity theft be increased, that the State ban credit card skimming devices, and that the State should enact legislation to enable a court to order the forfeiture of all property of a criminal convicted of identity theft obtained from the crime.

New Maryland Rules Now Free Online

2008-01-31T09:42:00.000-05:00

As an update to my previous post, both the Lexis and West free versions of the Maryland Rules are now fully up to date to reflect the most recent changes. (Thanks to Andy Zimmerman for this catch).

Monitoring New Maryland Bills

2008-01-28T14:41:00.000-05:00

One option for keeping current with legislation introduced into the ’08 Session is by reading blogs which cover the Session. There are at least four blogs dedicated to legal coverage of this year’s legislative session: The Maryland Chamber Blog, The Daily Record: Eye On Annapolis Blog, The Baltimore Sun’s The Session Blog, and The Maryland Association of CPA’s Legislative Insider. Another way to stay current, is by searching for bills on specific subjects using the Maryland General Assembly’s website. For more on how to do this, see this previous posting.

MD Code Annotations Free Online?

2008-01-23T12:04:00.001-05:00

Many of you know that one of the major benefits of commercial publications of state statutes is the inclusion of case annotations which help clarify the statutory text. I was recently on the site for the Oregon State Legislature and noticed something I've never seen elsewhere: annotations to state statutes. Might this be something that the Maryland legislature (Department of Legislative Services, perhaps?) would consider?

Technology Transfer Database

2008-01-16T10:52:00.000-05:00

InvenioIP, developed by the University of Maryland with a grant from the Maryland Technology Development Corp., provides a database of technologies created in the academic sphere and available for commercialization. You can search either by institution or by keyword. The site currently has 4 institutions signed up listing over 1900 entries. See this Washington Business Journal article for more info.

New Maryland Rules

2008-01-11T11:57:00.000-05:00

If you've received new volumes of the Maryland Rules, you might think you're using the most current version of the Rules. You're not. The Rules were modified subsequent to the books being published. As a result, the volumes are only current through Nov. 1, '07 and don't include the most recent Rules Order (filed on Dec. 4) which updated the Rules. Generally, the online version of the Rules is more up to date than the print version. In this case, though, that is also not the case. The free version of the MD Rules (provided by Lexis) is still not up to date. I spoke to one of the editors and was told this should be updated soon. Pocket parts for the print volumes only come out in June.

Maryland Legal Blogs

2007-12-04T13:40:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a listing of Maryland law blogs, try the ABA's Blawg Directory. From the main tabs select "Region," and then "Maryland" or simply click here. The ABA's list includes 14 Maryland legal blogs. Included in the list is The Maryland Intellectual Property Law Blog. Begun in July of this year, the blog is authored by Brian Wm. Higgins, as associate at Blank Rome in DC. Definitely worth a look.

Searching For Maryland Donors

2007-10-08T17:12:00.000-04:00

Until recently, if you wanted to find a donor for your Maryland non-profit, you would have had to turn to Foundation Directory—a well established, well organized, but expensive list of potential donors. Enter Noza. Using this free online database, you can search either by company/donor name (and then see a list of their contributions and who received them) or search using the “Search By Cause” option and search for a Maryland donor for a specific cause. Data is gathered from freely available sources on the web. Entries in the database are limited in how much information they provide, but provide a good jumping off point for further research.

Access to district court case files in question?

2007-09-07T10:34:00.000-04:00

[Another guest post from Andy Zimmerman, Director of Library Services at Gordon, Feinblatt, Hoffberger, and Hollander]

On August 24th, The Gazette reported that the Maryland court administrator "told clerks they could require people to fill out a form seeking access and then return 24 hours later for the paperwork." According to the article, the Montgomery district court is already doing this.

The new procedure would delay access to court records and would increase the cost of retrieving court documents through document retrieval services, because the runner would have to visit the court twice.

Daily Record Blog

2007-08-17T11:16:00.001-04:00

In case you haven't heard, the Daily Record recently began publishing a blog entitled, appropriately, On The Record. From what I can see, the content appears to be a mix of serious and not-so-serious articles--some of which are related to articles published in the Daily Record and some of which are new.

Maryland Case Search

2007-07-06T10:20:00.000-04:00

This is an update to a posting by Andy Zimmerman from March of '06 on the Maryland Judiciary Case Search. Since that posting, the system has undergone a number of improvements. First, at that time we mentioned that the system provided only skeletal information about a case. That has since changed. Almost every docket that I've seen now contains a full case history. Second, we mentioned that back in '06 Montgomery and Prince George's counties did not exist on the system. That too has changed. The system now contains docket information for Montgomery County Circuit Court (civil back to 1978 and criminal back to 1979) and criminal dockets for Prince George's County Circuit Court back to 1982. Unfortunately, civil case docket information is still not available for Prince George's County. For a detailed listing of what information is available on the system, see the FAQ page.

Office of Foreign Assets Control Search

2007-07-03T18:16:00.000-04:00

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a part of the US Teasury, enforces sanctions against countries and individuals involved in terrorism and drugs. Following 9/11, it has become increasingly common for businesses doing deals with foreign nationals to run an "OFAC Search." Generally, this involves checking whether the names of the individuals or businesses appear in OFAC's Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list which is updated regularly. To run a search, download the PDF version of the list and then run a "find" using Acrobat's search feature. The SDN list is also available on Westlaw but, from what I've been able to determine, there doesn't seem to be any clear benefit using their database over the free version.

Mapping Baltimore Homicides

2007-06-29T11:39:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's beSpacific reports on a mashup developed by the Baltimore Sun to map homicides in Baltimore City. The mashup combines Google's map technology along with data from the City to document the locations and types of homicides in Baltimore City.

Biotech In Maryland Report

2007-06-29T11:28:00.000-04:00

Today's Daily Record ("Study: To Better Compete, Baltimore Should Think Regional") [subscription] and today's Sun ("Bioscience 1st") both contained articles on a new report entitled "Biosciences In Greater Baltimore" from The Economic Alliance of Greater Baltimore (the report is a free PDF, but you must register to access it). The Sun article also contains a graphic comparing the Northeast's biotech industry with that in California.

Baltimore City Green Building Law

2007-05-04T12:18:00.000-04:00

Today's Daily Record ("New plan for Legg headquarters, green building requirements OK’d"; subscription) reports that Baltimore City Council bill number 07-0602 (the "Baltimore City Green Building Law") was recently approved by the Baltimore Planning Commission. The bill would require commercial developers who receive loans, tax credits or other benefits from the city to be certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. The bill also requires developers not receiving assistance from the City to incorporate "green" elements into their design, although the they would not require certification. Although approved by the Planning Commission, the bill is still in committee in the City Council. For more on this issue, see this report from the Baltimore City Council and Baltimore City Green Building Task Force.

An Overview Of The Maryland Legislative Session

2007-04-27T15:45:00.000-04:00

Published by the Department of Legislative Services, the 90 Day Report for the '07 legislative session provides a "discussion of the majority of bills passed in [a particular] policy area, including comparisons with previous sessions and current law, background information, and a discussion of significant bills that did not pass." The report is organized into 12 parts, each dealing with a major area of policy.

Finding Environmental Problem Sites

2007-04-20T13:46:00.000-04:00

If you're interested in finding Maryland (or any state, for that matter) sites which may have been cited for enviornmental violations, your best bet is a number of databases from the EPA. The EPA's Superfund Program designates specific sites around the country as being contaminated with hazardous waste. Included in the Superfund Program are National Priorities List--"a list of national priorities among the known releases or threatened releases of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants throughout the US." To see the National Priorities List for a paricular state, see this page; to search the NPL database, click here. You can also search ECHO (Enforcement and Compliance History Online), a database that provides access to compliance and enforcement information for approximately 800,000 EPA-regulated facilities. To search ECHO click here. You can search by zip-code or city and state (eg., "Baltimore, MD"). In addition to EPA data, certain state environmental agencies (Maryland not among them) also provide access to compliance and enforcement data.

An Overview of The Maryland Judicial System

2007-04-16T10:25:00.000-04:00

A couple of years ago, I created a document entitled "Going To Court In Maryland" while working as an intern at the Maryland State Law Library. It took us a while to get the document reviewed, edited, and formatted for the web, but we finally got it up. Although intended for individuals unfamiliar with the judicial system (all legal terms are linked to their explanations), others (particularly legal practitioners from other states) may find it useful as a quick means for finding basic info about the Maryland Judiciary.

New Maryland Law Blogs

2007-04-06T15:54:00.000-04:00

A number of Maryland legal blogs have sprung up in the past year or so. If you haven't heard of these sites, you may be interested in checking out the following: Maryland Employment Law, Maryland Accident Law blog, Maryland Injury Lawyer blog, and the Maryland Family Law blog. Each of these blogs appear to provide substantive content in a clear, understandable format. If anyone knows of other Maryland law blogs, please leave a comment.

Structure of State Courts

2007-03-30T15:11:00.000-04:00

Legal practitioners often need to know the structure of other state's court structure. Where do you go for this information? The National Center for State Courts has a great page on this. Simply choose your state from the map and the site gives you a visual overview of that state's court system. These charts can be particularly useful given that some states use confusing names for their courts. One notorious example is NY State's reference to its trial court as the "Supreme Court." These charts are also useful for states with complex judicial structures--Pennsylvania is an example.

Maryland Residency

2007-03-26T15:30:00.001-04:00

What establishes whether or not you're considered a Maryland resident? The answer seems to depend on what the issue is. The Maryland MVA requires you to obtain a MD drivers license 60 days after you become a resident of the State. So, when are you a resident of the State? COMAR 11.11.06.02 defines a resident as someone who: (1) Owns, leases, or rents a primary place of residence in Maryland for more than 6 months; (2) Has no other residence in any other state or country (see COMAR section for further details). For income tax purposes, the definition is similar. There, a resident is defined as: 1. is domiciled in this State on the last day of the taxable year; or 2. for more than 6 months of the taxable year, maintained a place of abode in this State, whether domiciled in this State or not (Tax General Article of the MD Code 10-101). Finally, as far as voter registration, the Maryland Law Encyclopedia quotes Roberts v. Larkin, 340 MD 147, 1995 as defining residence as "the place of a person's fixed domicile."

Free Index To The MD Code & Rules

2007-03-16T16:59:00.000-04:00

(UPDATE: Since this posting, the index seems to have disappeared from the site. If anyone knows why Lexis may have pulled this, please feel free to post comments). Lexis recently revamped their online version of the Maryland Code and Rules. As far as I can tell, most of the changes to the site are aesthetic. However, unless I missed this feature on the original edition, Lexis has added an online index for both the Code and the Rules. To access the index, click on either the Code or Rules and then click through until you reach the last folder in the sequence. Citations in the index link back to sections in the Code or Rules. The free West version of the MD Code and Rules does not offer an online index.

Uniform Laws

2007-03-14T18:45:00.000-04:00

If you're interested in finding out which states (including Maryland) have adopted a particular uniform law, check out the following page from the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. For example, to find out which states adopted the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, select this Act from the drop-down menu, hit search, and then click on "Legislative Fact Sheet." This page then lists all states that have adopted the Act. In addition, for states which have not adopted the Act, the site also lists those states (under the "Bill Tracking" section) considering adopting the Act, along with links of where to locate the relevant bills. Apparently, you're also able to find all uniform laws adopted by a particular state by selecting your state from the drop-down menu and not selecting a particular act. I tried this, but it didn't seem to work for me. Maybe you'll have better luck.

Researching Maryland Regulations

2007-03-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

The University of Baltimore Law Library recently posted this document, entitled "Research Guide For Maryland Regulations," on their site. This publication is also available from the MD State Law Library's "Sources of Maryland Laws" page. The Guide provides a history of MD regulations and an overview of how regulations are promulgated in Maryland. The Guide also contains a section on finding old (pre-1974) regulations and on finding out-of-date regulations from 1974 to the present.

Baltimore City Bills & Ordinances

2007-02-16T13:38:00.000-05:00

Following up on an old post from Jan. 23, 2006, on Baltimore City's Legislative Information Center, there's one more point worth mentioning. The site allows you to search Baltimore City bills and ordinances. In Baltimore City, an item of legislation is referred to as a "bill" from the time it is introduced until its final reading in committee. The moment the bill is signed by the Mayor, it becomes an "ordinance." Bills and ordinances, though, have different numbering systems. What makes things a little tricky is that the option to search by "File ID" (on the advanced search option) automatically searches only for bill numbers. So, if you enter an ordinance number into the "File ID" you won't get the bill you're looking for. Therefore, if you only have the ordinance number, the best option is to search using the "Keyword" search option on the main screen. That should help you find what you're looking for. If you're still confused, call the Baltimore City Dept. of Legislative Reference at 410-396-4730. Their staff is very helpful.

Justia Federal District Court Search

2007-02-13T10:36:00.000-05:00

Today's beSpacific reports on a new database from Justia. The database allows you to search for cases filed in federal district courts, with the option to limit by state and by nature of suit. For example, you can search for all franchise cases litigated in Maryland federal district court from Jan. 1, 2006 (the earliest date available in the database) until today. In truth, you can run the identical search in Pacer. And, in fact, Pacer has the benefit that it includes cases prior to Jan. 1, 2006. In addition, Pacer also includes federal appellate courts. On the other hand, one benefit of the Justia site is a more user-friendly interface.

MD Court Rules On Quick Take

2007-02-09T10:54:00.000-05:00

In a significant opinion published Thursday, Mayor and City Council of Baltimore City v. George Valsamaki, et al., the Maryland Court of Appeals severly limited Baltimore City's streamlined eminent domain procedure known as "Quick-Take." The Baltimore City Quick-take statute, located at Section 21-16 of the Code of Public Local Laws of Baltimore City, allows the City to take immediate possession of a property deemed to be in the "public interest" without having to wade through a lengthy court process. The Daily Record ran a story on the ruling entitled "Ruling A Blow To City’s ‘Quick Take’ Condemnation Practice" (subscription). The Sun also ran a story entitled "'Quick Take' Takes A Hit."

MD Bill To Curb Excessive Compensation

2007-02-07T09:26:00.000-05:00

Today's Daily Record features an article entitled "Bill Would Tax Md. Firms On ‘Excessive’ Exec Pay" (subscription) on Senate Bill 395. The bill would require a corporation to pay income taxes on compensation that exceeds 30 times the annual salary of the company’s lowest paid worker. The debate over legislative involvement in curbing excessive compensation has swirled at the national level for some time. As far as I know, though, this is the first time such a bill has been introduced in Maryland.

Changes To The FTC Franchise Rule

2007-01-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

Following on my post from Dec. 23, 2005, the FTC recently amended the so-called Franchise Rule (16 CFR 436) which governs disclosure obligations in the sale of franchises. The new rule becomes fully effective July 1, 2008. From July 1, 2007 until July 1, 2008 you have the option of following either the old rule or the new. Take a look at the FTC's Press Release on the new rule. For the text of the new rule, click here (warning: large file). The new rule updates the old Code of Federal Regulations section (16 CFR 436) and adds a new section, 16 CFR 437.

New Federal Cases Filed In Maryland

2007-01-22T13:45:00.000-05:00

Most of us use Pacer to find information about a particular federal case. To do so, you simply register with Pacer, log-in through the US Party/Case Index, and then search for docket information and/or full text documents related to a particular federal case. But what if you're not searching for a particular federal case--instead, you're interested in obtaining a list of newly filed federal cases on a particular subject? Can you use Pacer to do this? The answer is, you can, but instead of accessing Pacer through the US/Party Case Index, you access it through the CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files) log-in page. For example, if you're interested in obtaining a list of Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases filed since January of this year in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, select the appropriate link from the CM/ECF page. After you log-in, select "Reports" at the top of the page and then "Cases" on the next page. On this page, select your case type (bankruptcy), chapter (11), and date range (eg., Jan 1-Jan.22) and then hit "Run Report." The system will then give you a listing of all Chapter 11 cases filed this year in the Maryland Bankruptcy Court. You can also do this for civil and criminal cases. Simply log-in to the CM/ECF page for the US District Court for the District of Maryland and then follow the same steps as above. In this case, though, you'll be selecting from a "Nature of Suit" list as opposed to a type of bankruptcy.

Monitoring New MD Legislation

2007-01-09T16:56:00.000-05:00

With the new legislative session about to begin tomorrow, January 10, you may be interested in ways of monitoring bills on specific subjects. If you're a real estate attorney, for example, you may be interested in keeping up to date with new bills affecting your practice area. So, how do you do that? If you need instantaneous updates and can afford the pricetage ($800 per/yr) the Maryland General Assembly (MGA) provides a service called the Legislative Subscription Service. For the rest of us, the Assembly as of now does not provide a free email update service or feed. However, with a couple of manual steps, you can stay current. In the "Bill Indexes" part of the site select "One Or Two Subjects." All bills in the MGA are classified by one or more subjects. To find bills relating to your subject use either the drop-down subject list or, if you don't see your term listed, use the thesaurus on the bottom of the page. Back on the main page, select "Statute" to search for bills affecting a specific code section.

New Blog On Maryland Law

2007-01-04T14:59:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a way to stay updated on new Maryland case law developments, you should check out the newly published Maryland Courts Watcher Blog. Authored by Stuart Levine (of Tax & Business Law Commentary fame) and a team of talented writers, the blog reports on newly published cases which are freely available on the web. Previously, if you wanted to stay updated on Maryland case law developments you really only had to check one or two sites. Today, MD opinions are published on a number of sites, including Baltimore City Bus. & Tech Ct. Opinions, Baltimore City Cir. Ct. Civil Opinions, MD Bus. & Tech. Ct. Opinions, MD Courts of Appeals Opinions, MD Tax Court Opinions, MD U.S. Bnkrptcy Ct. Opinions, and MD U.S. District Court Opinions. The Maryland Courts Watcher Blog makes the job of staying current that much easier by collecting the opinions published on these various sites and presenting them in one location.

Report On Maryland Bioscience Industry

2006-12-13T09:52:00.000-05:00

Today's Daily Record (subcription) reports on a new publication by MdBio, Inc. (a bioscience industry association) on the current status of Maryland's bioscience industry. Although the report itself doesn't currently appear to be online, you can take a look at the powerpoint. Among other things, the report states that there are currently 365 bioscience companies in Maryland employing some 23,200 employees.

4th Circuit: Federal Spam Law Pre-empts State Law

2006-11-30T09:57:00.000-05:00

A November 27 National Law Journal article (subcription) entitled "Ruling Trims Reach of State Anti-'Spam' Laws" reports on a recently published 4th Circuit decision, Omega World Travel v. Mummagraphics, which ruled that the federal CAN-SPAM law pre-empts state spam laws. The case is the first federal appellate ruling to limit the reach of state spam laws. In this case, the Court ruled that the federal act partially limits Oklahoma's spam law allowing damages.

Court of Appeals To Begin Airing Webcasts

2006-11-29T15:31:00.000-05:00

Following on my post from a few days about the Court of Appeals beginning to provided selected briefs online, this Baltimore Sun article reports that the Court has now decided to begin airing webcasts of oral arguments. The Court's website already contains a page about the webcasts. The page states that the Court's first webcast is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 30. The page further states "Webcasts will be archived and made available on this site a few hours after the conclusion of the last argument scheduled each day." Unclear is whether the Court plans to webcast all oral arguments, or selective cases. (Once again, thanks Scott Stevens from the Baltimore County Law Library for this).

If you're looking for webcasts for the Maryland legislature, you won't find any. But, since 2000, the Maryland General Assembly has posted audio recordings on the MGA website of House and Senate proceedings from the legislature's most recent session. The MGA also has audio taped recordings of Senate floor debate archived back to 1992. Contact the Department of Legislative Services for obtaining copies of these tapes.

Court of Appeals Briefs Online

2006-11-16T17:20:00.000-05:00

To be sure, the Court of Appeals has a way to go (if ever) before placing all of its briefs online, but it has taken a small step by deciding to place briefs of selected "highlighted cases" online. For example, briefs for the same-sex marriage case, Conaway v. Deane, scheduled for December 4, are now online. This latest action by the Maryland Judiciary seems to follow a trend for courts throughout Maryland: a little while ago, we noted that the Baltimore City Courts had begun placing selected "high profile" opinions online. (Thanks to Scott Stevens from the Baltimore County Law Library for this catch).

The 20 Largest Companies In Baltimore

2006-11-09T14:13:00.000-05:00

So you're asked to find a listing of the 20 largest (by revenue) companies in Baltimore. Sure, you say, that sounds simple enough. So you hop on Google but, surpisingly, this isn't as easy a question as it seemed. In fact, as far as I can tell, there doesn't seem to be a readily available site on the net which provides this info. So, where did I go? The Baltimore Business Journal annually publishes The Book of Lists which gives you listings of the largest companies in Baltimore for various fields (including a listing for the largest law firms). The book includes a list of the "Largest Public Companies In Baltimore." The only tricky part is that some of the largest companies in Baltimore are private. Thankfully, the book provides a separate list of the "Largest Private Companies In Baltimore." To come up with a true listing of the "20 Largest Companies" you'll have to pull info from both lists to compile a third list.

Maryland Energy Efficiency Incentives

2006-10-19T14:29:00.000-04:00

If you're interested in researching Maryland laws and regulations relating to renewable energy/ energey efficiency the first site you should check is the Maryland Energy Administration. If you're interested in financial incentives in particular check out this page and follow the link to the Database of State Incentives For Renewables and Efficiency. This is a fantastic site which includes a full page on Maryland. This page includes links to much of the major Maryland legislation providing incentives for renewables and energy efficiency. Worth mentioning, though, are a few links the site left off.

For additional Maryland state laws, see the following:

HB 804 Property Tax Credit - High Performance Buildings (2004) (Tax Property 9-242); SB 485 Solar Energy Grant Program (2004) (State Government 9-2006); SB 314 Maryland Clean Energy Incentive Act of 2006 (2006) (Tax General 10-720);

For additional Maryland regulations, see the following:

Executive Order 01.01.2001.02; COMAR 14.26.02.

Baltimore City Circuit Court Opinions

2006-10-03T15:56:00.000-04:00

The Circuit Court for Baltimore City has decided to begin posting select opinions online. There are currenlty only a small number of civil opinions posted on the site. As far as I know, this is the first county in the state to begin posting trial court level opinions online. According to the folks I spoke with there is currently no policy in place which governs whether or not an opinion is selected for publication. Instead, the assigning judge simply has the option to suggest a particular opinion for publication. The earliest opinion posted on the site is from November, 2004. The site also contains a number of opinions from the Business & Technology Case Management Program--a division within the civil division created specifically to hear cases involving business and/or technology issues.

Professional Licenses Followup

2006-09-25T12:38:00.000-04:00

Following up on my post about researching whether someone is licensed to work in a particular profession in Maryland, I've located a few more professions that were not listed in the original post. For taxi cab drivers, check out this site from the Maryland Public Service Commission. For professional solicitors see this page from the Office of the Secretary of State. For respiratory therapists and physician assistants use the same site used to search for physicians. Finally, for optometrists, use this site.

Maryland Lobbying Disclosure Reports Now Online

2006-09-19T15:58:00.000-04:00

(The following is another guest posting from Andy Zimmerman, Director of Library Services at Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC).

Earlier this year the Maryland State Ethics Commission began posting PDFs of the disclosure reports filed by professional lobbyists. Three kinds of reports are available: Lobbying Registrations, Activity Reports and Event Reports. The Lobbying Registrations tell you who signed up to lobby in Maryland, who they intended to work for, and on what matters. The Activity Reports tell you who actually lobbied, who they worked for, on what matters and how much they were paid. The Event Reports (Forms 13E and 13F) tell you who hosted lunches, dinners and other receptions, who was invited and how much they spent. All of the reports are searchable by the lobbyist’s name and employer – so you can tally up how much a particular lobbyist earned, as well as how much a company spent to influence Maryland legislation. The Registrations and Activity Reports are also searchable by subject matter, and the Event Reports are searchable by date. Altogether, the Lobbying Reporting System is an easy-to-use system that makes it easier to see where the money flows in Annapolis.

4th Circuit Update Tools

2006-09-18T09:53:00.000-04:00

There are two services on the net (that I know about) which alert you via email when new 4th Circuit opinions are published. Both services are free. One option is on the 4th Circuit's own site. From this page, you can register to receive summaries of newly published 4th Circuit cases. Findlaw provides a similar service. You can sign up on this page by checking the appropriate box. If anyone knows anything about the differences between these two services please feel free to comment.

Maryland Professional License Information

2006-08-24T12:19:00.000-04:00

Perhaps you'r interested in hiring a new electrician to work on your house. Or perhaps you're interested in hiring an accountant to work on your taxes. Wouldn't you first want to check that the person is licensed in Maryland? For certain professions, you can check that relatively simply by checking the Department of Labor Licensing & Regulation's page on Professional Licensing. On this page, simply select the type of profession and then search by either name or location. To check whether an attorney is licensed to practice in Maryland see the website for the Client Protection Fund of the Bar of Maryland. The site has a simple name search. If the attorney is in the database they are licensed in MD. For doctors, search the Practitioner Profile System from the Maryland Board of Physicians website. In addition to telling you whether a particular doctor is licensed in MD, the system also includes information about malpractice and/or disciplinary actions filed against the physician. For other regulated professions not covered by the above, the information does not seem to be available online. For example, audiologist, hearing aid dispensers, and speech pathologists require licensure in Maryland, but there is no searchable database online. Instead, the Maryland Department of Health & Mental Hygiene website provides a number to call to check whether someone from these professions is licensed. The same seems to be true for psychologists, dentists and other professions not listed above. If anyone knows anything further on this, as usual, please feel free to post a comment.

Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals

2006-08-14T17:24:00.000-04:00

The Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals, an executive branch agency, has jurisdiction over cases involving disputes between the state and contractors doing business with the state. This is a bare bones site, but it does provide access to the Board's most important resource: its opinions. The opinions on the site go back to '99. You can either flip through the pages or enter the party name in the Google box hosted on the site. On a related note, you may also want to check out the Board of Public Works list of people and organizations debarred from doing business with the state. For more info about the Board of Contract Appeals see this site.

MD Land Records Online

2006-07-17T16:57:00.000-04:00

Some time ago, the Maryland Judiciary and the Maryland State Archives teamed up to provide e-access to Maryland land records. The result is MDLandRec.Net. Much of the information contained on this site is contained on the MD State Dept. of Assessments and Taxation Real Property Data Search. What makes this site different is that it provides you with full text PDF access to the original documents--deeds, deeds of trusts, etc. From the MD Judiciary homepage, select "Search Court Records" from the box on the left, and then select MDLandRec.net. You'll need to register for the service, but registration is free and simple. Once you're on the site, simply select the county (currently, you don't seem to be able to search across counties), the time period you wish to search (either 1653-1964 or Aug. 1, 1964 - Jul 6, 2006) and then search either by the book/page number or by the individual's name. The site is still under production but aims to have all records in by September of this year.

Comparing Maryland's Hospitals

2006-07-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

A July 11 article in the Daily Record (subscription) entitled “Web Site Gives The Lowdown On Maryland Hospitals” reported on a new publication from the Maryland Health Care Commission called The Maryland Hospital Guide. The Guide is actually composed of three separate guides, each intended for a different audience: the patient guide, the practitioners guide, and the hospital leaders guide. The patient guide helps members of the public find the best hospital for a specific medical condition. The practitioners guide helps doctors compare the performance of hospitals in Maryland, and the hospital leaders guide helps hospital executives compare their hospital's performance with other hospitals. To compare the costs for particular medical procedures at various Maryland hospitals see the pricing guide.

Fastcase: A Preliminary Assessment

2006-06-29T15:47:00.000-04:00

On May 22, the MSBA announced that it had partnered with Fastcase to provide MSBA members with free access to state and federal case law. In doing so, the MSBA follows a number of other bar associations around the country that have made a similar move. So…what’s to like and what’s not to like? After using Fastcase for almost a month now, allow me a few preliminary reactions. The greatest selling point about Fastcase is that it’s free and easy to use. Like Westlaw and Lexis, Fastcase provides an intuitive interface. Like Wexis (as some have dubbed the two main legal information providers), it provides Boolean, natural language, and citation searching. And, like Wexis, it provides a results list with your terms in bold and the option to print the case in two-column format. But, UNlike Wexis, which comes with a hefty price tag, assuming you’re an MSBA member, Fastcase is free. That’s right: FREE. So now that we have Fastcase, should we all cancel our Wexis accounts? Not quite, and here’s why. First, the scope of the content Fastcase provides is limited. Although it provides access to all Supreme Court cases back to 1754 and all Federal Circuit court cases back to 1924, unless you opt for the fee-based upgrade, it doesn’t provide access to Federal District court cases outside of Maryland. Furthermore, its state appellate court cases go back only to 1950. Furthermore, Fastcase provides just the cases and nothing more: no headnotes, no Key Numbers, and no Sheppards or Keycite. Finally, in my own use of the system, I’ve encountered a number of errors. For example, I’ve clicked on a number of links that don’t go where they’re supposed to go. A number of the more recent Maryland cases also don’t include the official citation in the text of the case. As a result, when you search by citation, nothing comes up. One search I ran in the Supreme Courts database brought up state Supreme Court cases. When I called Fastcase to query this, I was told that they had wrongly coded a number of cases and were working to rectify the matter. As a result, at this point Fastcase appears, at least in some ways, to still be in Beta. (Granted: as time proceeds most of these issues will likely be ironed out). Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Fastcase can be a powerful research tool. Although perhaps not a substitute for Wexis, Fastcase can provide a very useful supplement to the larger online legal research providers. Fastcase can particularly benefit solo practitioners with limited accesses to Wexis. Larger organizations can also benefit from Fastcase by using it to reduce their monthly Wexis bill. Particularly for non-billable research and to find “a few good recent cases,” Fastcase can be highly effective. To access Fastcase, go to the MSBA site and select “Fastcase” from the menu on the left. Your account number is your MSBA number. To receive your password you’ll need to activate your account.

Unreported Opinions

2006-05-30T16:43:00.000-04:00

Recently, Michael Wein authored an article in the Daily Record (subscription) entitled "Should Maryland adopt the new federal rule permitting unpublished cases to be cited as persuasive authority?" The article discusses the new Proposed Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 which would permit the citation of unreported opinions--making these opinions, in effect, of persuasive authority. Wein argues that Maryland should follow suit in permitting unreported opinions to be cited, if not for precedential authority, than at least for persuasive authority. Maryland Rule 1-104 currently provides that an unreported opinion "is neither precedent...nor persuasive authority." The Maryland Judiciary maintains a list of unreported opinions.

City Sues PSC Over Rate Plan

2006-05-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

Following on yesterday's posting, the Sun reported today that Mayor Martin O'Malley sued the Public Service Commission (Mayor And City Council Of Baltimore vs Baltimore Gas And Electric Company, case number 24C06003976, Baltimore City Circuit Court; available online through the Maryland Judiciary Case Search) over the Commission's proposed plan to deal with increased electric bills. The suit claims that the proposal does not go far enough to deal with the rate increases and requests judicial review of the PSC proposal.

Electricity Rate Hike Plan

2006-05-01T10:56:00.000-04:00

Officials at the Maryland Public Service Commission announced late Friday a plan for dealing with rate hikes for Maryland BGE customers. For news stories about the agreement see this story from the BBJ and this one from the Sun. Also see the the official agency press release. The Commission is composed of 5 commissioners and the plan was approved by a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Harold D. Williams was the sole objector to the plan.

While you're on the Public Service Commission site, it's worth spending a few minutes to see what else the site has to offer. The site allows you to search for cases, administrative dockets, official filings, and letters/orders. Also check out the "Online Brochures" page and the service territory maps for gas and electric (under "Utility Areas" on the top toolbar).

Office of Legislative Audits

2006-04-03T14:39:00.000-04:00

Housed within the Department of Legislative Services, the Office of Legislative Audits (OLA) is charged with providing "the General Assembly and the citizens of Maryland...independent, objective, and non-partisan audits and evaluations of State government agencies." For basics of how the agency operates see the FAQ page. The real meat of the site, though, is in "Publications" section. The OLA provides full access to its published audit reports, organized by agency. So...if you're researching possible wrongdoing by a state agency, this can be a very useful tool.

Filing A UCC For A Maryland Company: Where To File?

2006-03-27T12:12:00.000-05:00

When a lender (also termed a creditor) loans money to a borrower (also termed a debtor) and the borrower secures the loan with collateral (eg. a car), the transaction is said to be a "secured transaction" because if the borrower defaults on the loan, the lender is entitled to take control of the asset. To notify other creditors that this particular asset has a lien on it, the creditor files a UCC financing statement.

The question is, though, where exactly does one file this statement? Generally, one files in the location of the debtor. So, if the debtor lives in Maryland, one files in Maryland. But what if the debtor is an organization which has offices both in and outside of Maryland? The answer seems to depend on whether the or not the organization is a considered a "registered organization" as defined in 9-102(a)(71). A "registered organization" is one which files a public record with the state and includes businesses such as corporations, LLPs, LLCs, but NOT general partnerships. For a debtor which qualifies as a "registered organization," the proper filing location is the state in which is is incorporated (9-307(e)). In Maryland, this would mean filing with the SDAT. If the organization is not defined as a "registered organization" then the UCC filing location is wherever the entity has its "chief executive office" (9-307(b)(3)).

MD Trial Court Info Hits the World Wide Web

2006-03-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

For an update to this posting, see the following post.

(The following is another guest posting from Andy Zimmerman, Director of Library Services at Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC).

For the first time, the Maryland Judiciary has posted information about Maryland Circuit and District Court cases on the Web. The new Maryland Judiciary Case Search is free, easy to use and updated daily. This will be a useful tool for looking up case numbers online and checking on whether a person has been sued in Maryland.

To be sure, the new Case Search provides only basic case information such as party names, case numbers, case types, filing dates and trial dates. The Case Search also does not cover the Circuit Courts for Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties. For more comprehensive docket information, and for case information from the two missing Circuit Courts, you still have to use the JIS System, Westlaw or Courtlink, discussed in an earlier posting entitled “State Court Docket Information.” The Judiciary plans to fill in these gaps in the future and, eventually, to use the Judiciary Case Search system to replace the JIS System entirely.

Martindale-Hubbell Law Digest

2006-02-13T15:01:00.000-05:00

If you're starting out with a Maryland statute or point of law and are trying to locate a similar statute in another jurisdiction, think about using the Martindale-Hubbell's Law Digest. As the name implies, the Digest provides an overview of the current law in each of the 50 states (as well as many international jurisdictions). So...rather than running searches in that other state's code, you'll find the same information much faster using the Digest. Better yet, once you've found your reference in the Digest, you can simply follow the references to find the full text in that state's code. (Thanks to Bob Levin for reminding of this useful resource).

Spoliation As Independent Tort

2006-02-10T09:35:00.000-05:00

A recent Daily Record article entitled ““Cleanup Wasn’t Spoliation: CSA Rejects Calls For Separate Tort” (subscription) reported on the case of Goin v. Shoppers Food Warehouse Corporation in which the plaintiff argued that, following her slip-and-fall, a Shoppers employee deliberately removed the evidence which gave rise to the fall. One of the questions raised by the case is whether one can use spoliation (destruction) of evidence as a separate tort in and of itself. This case held that no such independent cause of action exists. The Court of Special Appeals similarly refused to recognize such a tort in a 1985 case, Miller v. Montgomery County (not online). Other states have dealt with the issue differently. California was the first state to explicitly recognize spoliation as an independent tort in Smith v. Superior Court 151 Cal. App. 3d 491 (1984) (not online). For more on this issue, see “Preserving Evidence of Disaster.”

Resources From The Real Property Section of the MSBA

2006-02-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

The Real Property Section of the Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA) has a number of useful publications on their website. First, the site offers a link to current County Tax Rates. The site also provides access to a document entitled “Recording Seminar” (both the 2002 and the 2004 versions) dealing with recordation issues related to real property transactions and a memo entitled “Like-Kind and Reverse Like-Kind Exchanges.” The site also provides summaries of recent cases and legislation relevant to real estate attorneys in Maryland.

Banks As Real Estate Developers

2006-02-03T11:18:00.000-05:00

Today’s Daily Record featured an article entitled “Realtors Fearful As Banks Move Into Real Estate Development” (subscription) discussing recent interpretive letters issued by the Office of The Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) permitting banks to get involved in the real estate sales and development market. Critics argue such a move would give banks a monopoly on the real estate market. The OCC’s four Interpretive Letters, published in December of 2005, feature two previously unpublished letters from 1993 (Interpretive Letter 1042 and 1043) and two from ’05 (Interpretive Letter 1044 and 1045).

Is Using Your Cell Phone While Driving Illegal In MD?

2006-02-01T16:00:00.000-05:00

Maybe not quite yet, but we may be heading there. The Sun reported today on a new bill pending in the MD General Assembly that would make using your cell phone while driving illegal in Maryland. In fact, the bill, HB 30, not only outlaws cell phone use while driving but outlaws any distractive activity while driving, including reading, writing, personal grooming, ect. This bill has been introduced before but has died every time. A similar law was enacted in 2004 in DC (enacted at 50 DC Code 1731; online but not linkable--see this site under heading "DC Official Code"), but that law defined "distracted activity" more narrowly, as applying solely to using your cell phone. See this article for more on that law.

Legal Research Institute 2006

2006-01-30T17:04:00.000-05:00

For those of you follow this blog, are in the general Baltimore area, and are interested in becoming a better legal researcher, the Law Library Association of Maryland (LLAM) will be hosting its annual Legal Research Institute on March 22 at the University of Baltimore. Topics include Basic Legal Research, Corporate/Securities Law, Family Law, Immigration Law, Business Law, Criminal Law, Bankruptcy Law, and Health Law. Yours truly will be presenting along with a host of researchers with considerable more experience than myself. To find out more, contact either me or Catherine McGuire at Catherine.McGuire@courts.state.md.us.

Business Info From Your Local Library

2006-01-30T14:01:00.000-05:00

Searching for information about a particular business? You may want to try the free databases offered by your local library. For example, the Baltimore County Public Library offers a couple of databases which might be helpful. (Go to the "Local Info & Links tab at the top and then click on "Business & Investing"). Business Source Premier offers company profiles, country reports, industry profiles, and market research reports. Reference USA is another database that offers access to information on 13 million US companies and public records information about individuals. To be sure, almost all the business information here is about public companies. Nonetheless, these databases might well be useful and might save you a lot of money. Note: these databases require you to input your library card number. There are also additional library databases which are available only to someone accessing the database from within the library.

Maryland Spam Law Held Constitutional

2006-01-26T17:03:00.000-05:00

Today's Sun reports that the Maryland Court of Special Appeals has overturned a 2004 decision by a Montgomery County judge that declared Maryland's anti-spam law unconstitutional. At issue in the case, Marycle LLC v. First Choice Internet Inc., is whether the Maryland Commercial Electronic Mail Act, Commercial Law Article 14-3001, violates the Commerce Clause, Article I, Sect. 8, Clause 3 of the US Constitution. The Montgommery County judge ruled that it did; the decision today rules that it does not.

Biotech Incentive Bills

2006-01-25T09:41:00.000-05:00

For those of you interested in the biotech industry, you might have missed an article in today's Daily Record entitled "Lawmakers Pushing Biotech Tax Credit Measures" (subscription). The article discusses two biotech incentive bills which are currently pending in the Maryland General Assembly. SB 218 would increase from $3 million to $6 million the total amount of credits that may be approved by the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development for any calendar year for each component of the Maryland research and development tax credit. SB 219 would provide tax incentives of $50,000 for an individual investor and $250,000 for a corporation who invest in a "qualified Maryland biotech company" as defined in the bill.

Baltimore City Council

2006-01-23T14:12:00.000-05:00

The Baltimore City Council unveiled a new Legislative Information Center which provides online access to council bill information. Currently, the full text of council bills is available for bills from 1999 through today. (To be sure, I didn't seem to be able to find '06 bills). New information is still being added. There are two search options available: simple and advanced. The simple search allows you to search by keyword and supports boolean searching (eg., AND, OR, etc.) whereas the advanced search allows you to search by File ID, sponsor, or subject term. This resource should definitely make Baltimore City research easier. Also on this page you can find the full text of Council Agendas. Finally, it's worth checking out "How A Bill Becomes A Law." (Thanks to Anita Evans for alerting me to this).

Effective Dates for Maryland Legislation

2006-01-19T14:46:00.000-05:00

(The following is a guest posting from Andy Zimmerman, Director of Library Services at Gordon, Feinblatt, Rothman, Hoffberger & Hollander, LLC).

When does new legislation take effect in Maryland? Article III, Section 31 of the Maryland Constitution provides that, "A Law passed by the General Assembly shall take effect the first day of June next after the session at which it may be passed, unless it be otherwise expressly declared therein or provided for in this Constitution." Article XVI, Section 2 says that, “No law enacted by the General Assembly shall take effect until the first day of June next after the session at which it may be passed.”

In practice the legislature uses June 1 as the effective date for bond bills, July 1 as the effective date for budget, tax and revenue bills and October 1 as the date for most other legislation. A key exception is “Emergency” legislation, which is effective on enactment, under Article XVI, Section 2.

There is a special rule for laws passed without the governor's signature. Article II, section 17(d) of the Maryland Constitution says that, "Any Bill enacted over the veto of the Governor, or any Bill which shall become law as the result of the failure of the Governor to act within the time specified, shall take effect 30 days after the Governor's veto is over-ridden, or on the date specified in the Bill, whichever is later." (Again, there is an exception for "Emergency" legislation, which takes effect on the date of the override.) The Maryland General Assembly website posts an updated list of 2006 Veto Overrides.

For more on the effective dates of Maryland legislation see Section X(17) of the Legislative Drafting Manual posted by the Department of Legislative Services.

Retail Properties On The Web

2006-01-18T09:26:00.000-05:00

Today's Daily Record (subscription) reports that KLNB Retail, an arm of KLNB LLC, a Towson-based real estate brokerage company, has launched a website for users looking to buy or lease commercial space. You can search by property type (eg., office, shopping center, etc.) and by county. A number of brokerage firms have begun marketing their properties online. What makes this site unique is that it provides extensive demographic and other information about the location of the property. The site also includes a site plan and a brochure for each property.

Eminent Domain Bills

2006-01-16T17:00:00.000-05:00

The Baltimore Business Journal recently ran a story about a number of bills introduced into the Maryland legislature which seek to limit the Supreme Court's landmark eminent domain decision in Kelo v. New London. Currently, there are 7 bills in the Maryland General Assembly which seek to limit the scope of Kelo in some way or another. The BBJ article quotes Thomas Saquella, President of the Maryland Retailers Association, as saying that the proposed bills "include everything from bills that call for doing away with this governmental power altogether, to more modest proposals that offer more safeguards for private property owners."

Building Codes

2006-01-12T12:47:00.000-05:00

COMAR Section 05.02.07 (referred to as the Maryland Building Performance Standards (MBPS)) adopts the International Building Code (IBC) and the International Residential Code as the basis for construction law in Maryland. Maryland does, however, make some modifications to the IBC. These modifications are listed in COMAR Section 05.02.07.04. The IBC is also incorporated into county codes, although each of the counties also make further modifications that relate to the laws of their specific county. These local modifications are collected and presented in a page from the Maryland Codes Administration. The only “county” whose IBC modifications have not been presented here is Baltimore City. The Baltimore City Building Code can be found at this page. The full text of the IBC can be obtained from the International Code Council, or from a number of local libraries, including the Maryland State Law Library.

MD State Board of Contract Appeals

2006-01-10T15:19:00.000-05:00

The Maryland State Board of Contract Appeals has jurisdiction of appeals cases involving disputes between contractors and the State. Regulations governing the Board are found at 21 COMAR 10. The full text of appeals decisions are available in PDF all the way back to 1997. Like the Maryland Judiciary, the Board has also added a Google search to their page.

Franchising Resources

2005-12-23T12:55:00.000-05:00

Franchising law in Maryland is governed by Business Regulation Article 14-201 and applicable regulations at COMAR 02.08.02.01. These laws largely take their lead from the federal regulation--enacted at 16 CFR 436 by the FTC in 1978--which imposes disclosure requirements on the sale of franchises. For an overview of the rule, see this summary from the FTC. The FTC rule requires the seller of a franchise to disclose to the prospective buyer basic information--arranged in a standardized form--about the franchise. The FTC has ruled that a franshisor can use either the FTC format or the more common Uniform Franchise Offering Circular (UFOC) format deleloped by the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA). The UFOC format consists of a list of 23 disclosure items. For more background see "Franchising 101." Although the FTC rule requires disclosure to a potential franchise buyer, it doesn't require you to file the form with the FTC. As such, there's no database on the FTC website which affords you access to these documents. Moreover, even though Maryland does require the franchisor to file with the state, these documents are not online. The only online resource for these documents seems to be a vendor called Frandata.com. Frandata.com sells UFOC's for typically around $220. If you don't need the info right this minute, though, you may be able to get it free from the Securities Division of the Maryland Attorney General's Office. If you're just interested in locating the franchise agreement (and not the UFOC) you might get lucky finding this online, simply by searching using a regular search engine like Google. (Thanks to Andy Zimmerman for getting me started on this).

County Publications Checklist

2005-12-15T16:38:00.000-05:00

Looking for a go-to source for all county level publications? Maxine Grosshans from Thurgood Marshall Law Library has done us all a service by collecting this information into a well organized website. For each county, the site provides info on how to access not only codes and zoning regulations, but other publications like the Subdivision and Land Development Regulations for Howard County, for example. If the resource is available online, a link is provided; if not, the site instructs you how to go about purchasing it.

Office of Thrift Supervision

2005-12-14T09:55:00.000-05:00

A little while ago, I did a post entitled "Researching Maryland Banks." In that post, we discussed using the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) as a research tool to research Maryland banks. The FFIEC is the overarching umbrella organization that provides oversight for a number of other institutions. One of those institutions is the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS). OTS is the primary body charged with regulating federally chartered and many state-chartered thrift institutions, including savings banks and savings and loan associations. While the OTS site doesn't provide the kind of detailed financial information found on the FFEIC's site, it does provide some useful information about Maryland banks. The "Corporate Directories" page allows you to search the institution directory for a Maryland bank. The directory provides contact information for the bank, name of its primary officer, and its total assets. The site also provides a "Related Organization Directory." You simply type in the name of your bank and the system lists the names of other organizations related to it.

New Treatise on MD Constitutional Law

2005-12-12T10:52:00.000-05:00

Dan Friedman, an attorney at Saul Ewing, has recently authored a new treatise on Maryland Constitutional Law. Entitled The Maryland State Constitution: A Reference Guide, the treatise is the first full-length treatment of the topic since 1915. The treatise provides both a history of
Maryland's constitution and a section-by-section analysis of Maryland's current constitution. (Thanks to Stacey Digan for this information).

Updates To The Maryland Rules

2005-12-09T14:33:00.000-05:00

The website of the Standing Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure provides information on updates to the Maryland Rules. The site posts both proposed rule changes and the final Rules Orders. In my mind, the content on this site would benefit greatly from some sort of update service (either through RSS or through an email sign-up which would update you when new content is posted). The folks at Lexis publish this same info in a pamphlet called Advance Court Rules Service. The only content which Lexis adds are editor's notes to each new rule, which can be helpful.

Google Search of MD Court Opinions

2005-12-08T15:54:00.000-05:00

For those of you who hadn't yet noticed, the Maryland Judiciary added a nice feature to their search of court opinions: a Google search. Granted, this feature is not particularly well placed, but if you scroll down on the page, you'll see an option to search using Google. Previously, the site had only supported ranking search results by case docket number, party name, etc. Now, though, you can search the opinions full text. (Thanks to Jenny Smith and Jim Gernert for suggesting).

US Dept. of Industry And Security

2005-12-05T16:57:00.000-05:00

Some of you may have seen a recent article in the Baltimore Business Journal. The article discusses how a Baltimore company, Bluefire Security Technologies, is being investigated by the US Dept. of Industry and Security. Housed within the Dept. of Commerce, the Dept. of Industry and Security is "responsible for implementing and enforcing the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), which regulate the export and reexport of most commercial items." For an overview of export controls, see this page. For an overview of encription technologies specifically, see this page. For export regulations generally, the site has a link to another site put out by GPO. The site also has an overview of the major multilateral export agreements.

Links To State Court Websites

2005-11-29T14:08:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a single page which provides links to state court websites in all 50 states, take a look at the following page from the National Center for State Courts. Aside from providing links to court websites, the site also includes a schematic for each state's court structure, like this one for Maryland. (Thanks to Jim Gernert for suggesting).

New Anne Arundel Code

2005-11-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

Anne Arundel recently published a new county code. The new code was brought into being on November 8 by Bill No. 82-05. (Thanks to Carol Mundorf for alerting me to this).

Researching Maryland Banks

2005-11-11T13:00:00.000-05:00

Most of us know that public companies have disclosure obligations with the SEC and that members of the public can use these publicly available documents as a primary resource for finding information about a company. But fewer of us are aware about how to locate information about banks. Unlike public companies, banks do not file disclosure documents with the SEC. Instead, banks are required to file with the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC). And, like the SEC's EDGAR database, the FFIEC has a website called the National Information Center where members of the public can do research and view documents about specific banks. From the links at the top of the page, select "Financial and Performance Reports." From the drop-down menu you will then be asked to select what type of document you're interested in viewing. As a start, select "Schedule HC-Consolidated Balance Sheet." Click "Submit" and then type in the name of a Maryland bank, select MD from the state menu, and you're done. The system will then lead you to a full financial report about the bank. This system also provides another very useful link on the left entitled "Institution Organization Hierarchy." Clicking this link provides a detailed description of how other entities are related to the entity you are researching.

Better Business Bureau

2005-11-08T14:07:00.000-05:00

The Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland is a non-profit supported by the dues of its over 3,000 paying members. One of the most useful services Better Busines Bureaus around the country provide is the publication of reports on businesses in their area. The Baltimore bureau is no exception. You can search their database by either business name, phone number, or URL of the business. You can also search by business category. If you don't see your business listed, you may want to try searching the national database.

Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings

2005-11-03T17:24:00.000-05:00

The Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) is Maryland’s answer to streamlining the process of adjudicating disputes between state agencies and their employees. Prior to the OAH’s creation, an employee seeking to bring an action against an agency would appear before an ALJ of that agency. Now, all actions from all state agencies are heard before the OAH. The OAH regulations are governed by Title 28 of COMAR. The OAH also has an FAQ which looks pretty useful.

New Maryland Code Article

2005-10-31T16:29:00.000-05:00

For those of you that received your new supplements to the Maryland Code, you would have noticed that the code now has a new article: Housing and Community Development. The editors of the Maryland Code have for some time now been involved in the process of transfering sections from the chronologically arranged code into separate subject sections. This newest article is the most recent in that process. This Article represents information that was previously housed in Article 83B of the chronologically arranged code. Through Chapter 26 Acts 2005, this information was transferred to its own article. Interestingly, only the Lexis version of the online Code has updated their material to reflect this change.