Maryland roundup

  • Md. Access to Justice Commission pushes controversial Civil Gideon, lopsided fee shift rules [report]
  • Montgomery County voters will decide on extending police collective bargaining [WaPo]
  • “Baltimore: The city that sues the banks” [Fortune]
  • “New Pit Bull Dog Bite Law in Maryland? Not So Fast” [Ron Miller, earlier] “Landlords Held Responsible For Pit Bull Injuries; Tenants Face Eviction and Legal Battle” [CBS Baltimore]
  • Maryland pays far higher fees to investment managers for its pension fund than most states do. How’d that happen? And should states rely on index investments instead? [Governing]
  • Legislature not final word? State’s high court mulls ditching contributory for comparative fault [WaPo]
  • Business appalled at Montgomery County Council bill requiring 90 day severance to service contractors’ employees [Washington Examiner, Gazette]

4 Comments

  • What is “Civil Gideon”? I found nothing at the link to explain or clarify it.

  • Someone better qualified than I should reply, but in case they don’t: Gideon v. Wainwright was a Supreme Court case that said all criminal defendants must be provided with a lawyer if they can’t afford one. but that applies in criminal cases, not civil cases. So if you are poor and you get sued (or want to sue someone) in civil court, there is no guarantee of a government funded lawyer. But (the posters linked to point out) there are government funded lawyers at legal aid that may be able to help you.

  • Civil Gideon would provide indigent with lawyers for evictions, car repos, etc. I will leave it to the reader to decide if this is important and how we should fund this.

  • […] County Police ‘Effects’ Bargaining Bludgeons Public Safety” [Trey Kovacs, CEI, earlier] Time to revisit “effects” bargaining for other employee groups too […]