A brief review of the ratio of written contract dispute cases versus oral contract dispute cases in this firm reveals that a lot of money could be saved by people if they would just take the time to sit down and think about what their obligations are and then reduce them to writing.  This avoids the “he said she said” area of dispute which can be costly and time consuming.  For more information please visit www.HBDLaw.com.

There are a number of folks out there that are professional landlords and for whom being a landlord is more or less a profession.  Most landlords, though, are people that own one home besides their own, and are not looking to get rich in the real estate business.  They are just looking to recoup their costs and maybe make a little money off their house.  As such, they often do not feel it is worth their money to consult a lawyer before leasing their property.  I have always felt this was a big mistake.

Many small landlords, if they have a written lease, either use a form that was given to them or one they have created themselves.  Rarely have I seen one that is fully compliant with the law in Maryland.  In Maryland, residential tenants have a number of protections by law.  Many of them cannot be bargained away.  Many of them must be contained in the written lease.  If they are not, it can prevent the landlord from holding the security deposit for damages to the property and/or unpaid rent.  Further, if the court holds that you unreasonably withheld the security deposit in violation of the tenant’s rights, you can be held responsible for three times the amount of the deposit plus attorney’s fees.  It can be dangerous ground to walk on.

Most lawyers can either draft a lease for you for a couple hundred dollars or help you make your own lease compliant with Maryland law for about the same amount.  These leases can be used over and over.  It is a little money up front, but it can save you so much money (and headache) in the long run.  This is one of the many services we provide here at Hillman, Brown and Darrow, P.A.  Feel free to contact me or the other attorneys in the firm if you would like to discuss these types of services.

District Court Mission Statement
Maryland’s District Court is the lowest level trial court in Maryland.  Maryland’s Constitution was amended to create the District Court on July 5, 1971. It handles all claims arising in Maryland for civil claims under $5,000.00.  These claims are called small claims, and the district court is known sometimes as “small claims court.” The court also handles certain types of criminal charges, and larger civil claims up to $30,000.00, actions for repossession of personal property (replevin), landlord-tenant actions, zoning infractions, enforcement of certain administrative agency rulings, and petitions for peace orders (restraining orders) among other types of cases.

The Maryland Rules of Civil Procedure Title 3 govern the operation of the District Court for civil cases. This article will be discussing the rules and logistics of a small claims case as defined in Rule 3-701 (2009). A small claim is commenced by paying the filing fee and submitting the Complaint in a claim amount not exceeding $5000.00.  Small claims are often not tried by Attorneys, but by the individual parties themselves or corporate officers of the party.  A company can be represented by its officers only in a small claim action. In all other civil actions it must be represented by a lawyer.  A Small claim is designed to be quickly moved through to a trial to provide the parties a quick and efficient resolution of the case.  In keeping with encouraging a speedy trial schedule trials are general set for 60 from the date of the Defendant filing the Complaint.  For a small claim the rules of evidence (as set forth in MD Rules Title 3 chapter 5) are relaxed and “The Court will conduct the trial of a small claim action in an informal manner.” MD Rule 3-701.  Finally, pretrial discovery (depositions, interrogatories, requests for production of documents and requests for inspection of property or persons) available in the circuit court and other District Court claims are not available. 

The effect of these small claim rules is a quick but sometimes unpredictable trial.  Trial attorneys are notorious for leaving no stone unturned in pretrial discovery. This diligence is often reflected in a large cost for the client both in attorney’s time, document copy costs and lost opportunity cost for the time that you have to spend looking through the documents.  A small claim case avoids these costs, but as a result the trial can be unpredictable since the other side can bring documents into court that you’ve never seen before. It a tactical advantage also to be able to surprise witnesses or the other party with prior statements or documents which are inconsistent with their testimony on an issue, and which can help you discredit their testimony in the eyes of the judge.  While most cases with lengthy pretrial discovery are rehearsed and thought out in every potential detail before trial, small claims trials really can be some of the most dramatic and exciting trials to observe because of the potential for surprises. While it’s best not to get caught on the wrong side of a surprise, how you cope with an unexpected bit of evidence or a witnesses’ flawed memories are what must be accounted for on the spot, both in witness rehabilitation and in argument.  Experience counts. The more experienced the litigation or trial attorney the better the chance that they have previously encountered the surprise that they are facing and the better equipped they will be to react and recover and importantly mitigate the damage.

Yet all this drama can be essentially for naught, because either side has the right to a De Novo Appeal in the Circuit Court.  For a nominal fee the district court trial will be thrown out and a new trial will be conducted in the Circuit Court by a different Judge.  A De Novo Trial mean that the case is re tried be a new judge. The witnesses all have to come back and given their testimony, the evidence and documents will need to be presented, and the new judge will consider everything fresh and ignore the results of the prior trial.  Because of this rule, it often does not make financial sense to have a lawyer represent you at the first trial in District Court, because for a small fee you can get another chance to present your case if things go poorly at the first trial.  The second trial however is the last automatic appeal that the parties are entitled to. If the outcome of the Circuit Court appeal (trial) isn’t favorable you will have to file a Petition for Certiorari with Maryland’ highest Court the Court of Appeals in Annapolis. That court judge like the U.S. Supreme Court decides which cases it will hear and only grants review for a handful of cases compared the number of Certiorari Petitions filed. The second appeal will be based on the record e3stablished during the second trial.
 So next time you have a dispute for a claim that is valued less than $5,000.00 you shouldn’t hesitate to head to small claims court to try to work it out. Most cases do settle without a trial, because the parties still control to some degree the outcome.  If any attorney guarantees you a result or tells you that you cannot lose your case, be wary. You may have a strong case, but anytime you put on a case before a Judge there are no guarantees.  For a small claim, the good news is that you can get another shot, and will have had at least one trial to gain experience and information from before you head on to circuit Court for a De Novo appeal.

A. Recently, a client put up for auction on e-bay a Rolex watch worth $11,000.00.  The winning bidder was instructed to wire the funds into the seller’s account.  The seller instructed  buyer to wire into his Bank of America account funds.  Upon receipt, he would UPS the watch and all would be wonderful.

The seller emailed his contact at Bank of America and asked them to “check on a wire coming in to the San Francisco office of Bank of America”.  He explained that he was selling a watch and did not want to ship it until he was sure he had the money.  Unfortunately, the bank contact in Maryland failed to verify whether or not there was even a wire.  In fact, the buyer in California deposited eleven (11) fictitious money orders.  The bank here in Maryland, simply assumed that it was a wire and informed their customer, the happy Rolex seller, that sure enough the funds were there!

The watch was shipped and low and behold, five (5) days later, the seller finds that Bank of America takes his $11,000.00 back when it is discovered that the money orders were fraudulent.

When the Bank of America customer demanded the bank to replace the funds or give an explanation as to what happened, the bank’s “defense” was “you told us it was a wire!”.  Thus, Bank of America/seller was forced to sue the bank for negligence.

Happily for our client, the Court agreed.  It found it was obvious that the bank should have known that the seller wanted to make sure that the money was there before he shipped the watch and the bank had a duty to properly investigate when they knew that their customer was relying on them.

So a word to the wise; the next time you sell something on e-bay, make sure you get clarifications from your bank as to whether or not your money is really there.

Contact HBD Law for more information.

Ms. Spurgin, a partner in the firm, came to Annapolis after a judicial clerkship in Baltimore and practice for several years in Prince George’s County.  She worked part-time for many years while raising children and still managed to develop her practice and serve the community in such areas as extensive volunteer work both locally and nationally for her church.  Ms. Rice, also a former judicial law clerk was an assistant state’s attorney before joining HBD.  She is excited about working with a firm that values client service while at the same time places family first and encourages her to continue her many activities such as teaching law, working with the Bar association and running marathons.

Both Evelyn and Stacey agree that Hillman, Brown, & Darrow’s top quality service, commitment to the community and family friendly attitude make the firm a great place to work. “I have been fortunate to learn the law from the experts, maintain my family life and serve the firm’s clients,” shares Ms. Rice.  When asked what words of wisdom they had for other women in business, Ms. Rice offers– “Never think that you can not do it all but know that it is not easy.” Ms. Spurgin’s advice comes from years of experience – “Women can have it all, it just may not be at the same time.” Hillman, Brown, & Darrow, P.A, 221 Duke of Gloucester Street, Annapolis MD (410) 263 3131, www.hbdlaw.com