Author: JGL Law

The National Trial Lawyers is pleased to announce that Brian J. Markovitz of the law firm Joseph Greenwald & Laake, PA in Greenbelt has been selected for inclusion into its Top 100 Civil Plaintiff Trial Lawyers in Maryland, an honor given to only a select group of lawyers for their superior skills and qualifications in the field. Membership in this exclusive organization is by invitation only, and is limited to the top 100 attorneys in each state or region who have demonstrated excellence and have achieved outstanding results in their careers in either civil plaintiff or criminal defense law.

The National Trial Lawyers is a professional organization comprised of the premier trial lawyers from across the country who have demonstrated exceptional qualifications in their area of the law, specifically criminal defense or civil plaintiff law. The National Trial Lawyers provides accreditation to these distinguished attorneys, and also provides essential legal news, information, and continuing education to trial lawyers across the United States.

With the selection of Brian J. Markovitz by The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100, Mr. Markovitz has shown that he exemplifies superior qualifications, leadership skills, and trial results as a trial lawyer. The selection process for this elite honor is based on a multi-phase process which includes peer nominations combined with third party research. As The National Trial Lawyers: Top 100 is an essential source of networking and information for trial attorneys throughout the nation, the final result of the selection process is a credible and comprehensive list of the most outstanding trial lawyers chosen to represent their state or region.

To learn more about The National Trial Lawyers, please visit: http://thenationaltriallawyers.org/.

Check out the Fall edition of JGL’s newsletter for a recap on the firm’s recent legal successes, news stories and community involvement.

On November 1st, Inside Counsel published an article featuring JGL Principal David Bulitt​ to discuss the tax consequences of the high profile divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. David certainly has some good insight into divorce situations that all people can benefit from.  

Link to article: http://www.insidecounsel.com/2016/11/01/what-are-the-tax-implications-of-the-brangelina-di?ref=hp-top-story

Please be advised that due to Intellectual Property Rights full access to this article may require registration or purchase of a subscription.

GREENBELT, Md. – Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A. is pleased to announce that the firm has been highly ranked in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area by the U.S. News – Best Lawyers® “Best Law Firms” for 2017. The firm has achieved Tier One rankings in the areas of Family Law, Personal Injury Litigation – Plaintiffs;  Tier Two in Medical Malpractice Law – Plaintiffs; and Tier Three in Trusts & Estates Law.

“Our firm is once again honored to be recognized by U.S. News – Best Lawyers as among the top law firms in the Washington area,” said Burt M. Kahn, managing director of the firm. “We extend a thank you to both our clients for trusting our firm with their often sensitive and complex legal needs and our attorneys for their consistently high levels of commitment to addressing those needs.”

For the seventh consecutive year, U.S. News – Best Lawyers has ranked U.S. law firms in major legal practice areas nationally and by 185 different metropolitan areas or states. The evaluation process involves client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their fields, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. Client feedback addressed the firms’ expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, and whether clients would refer another client to the firm.

To be eligible for a “Best Law Firms” ranking in a particular practice area and metro region, a law firm must have at least one lawyer who is ranked by Best Lawyers in that particular practice area and region. Currently, the firm’s attorneys David Bulitt, Stephen A. Friedman, Jeffery N. Greenblatt, Andrew E. Greenwald and Timothy P. O’Brien are ranked in the most recent edition of The Best Lawyers in America.

For more than 40 years, Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A. is one of the most trusted law firms serving Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. Known for its commitment to community, confidence and character, Joseph, Greenwald & Laake has represented a variety of clients, including individuals, small businesses and multimillion-dollar corporations. From simple to complex legal needs, the firm is prepared to deliver strategic solutions with high standards. 

 

On September 22, 2016, the DC Court of Appeals issued a decision in favor of our clients in their battle over membership and control of Jericho Baptist Church Ministries, Inc., a large, nationally-known church located in Landover, Maryland. The court affirmed a lower court decision that a purported board of trustees that seized control of Jericho in 2010 and terminated our clients’ membership rights was not the valid board of Jericho. The effect of the court’s decision affirmed the return of control over Jericho to the original Board of Trustees, which includes Rev. Joel Peebles, the senior pastor whose parents founded the church more than 50 years ago. This decision marks a key victory for Rev. Peebles and is also a significant ruling in First Amendment law concerning the establishment of religion.

The case arose after Betty Peebles, a founder of Jericho and chair of its Board of Trustees, died in October 2010. Shortly after Ms. Peebles’ death, a group of church employees and former employees claimed that they had been elected to the Board and seized control of the church entity and its assets. The group asserted that Joel Peebles and William Meadows were not members of the Board. Litigation ensued in multiple cases and has been ongoing for nearly six years.

In this case, Robert George, Paulette Shelton, and Anaya Jamison, three longtime church members whose membership rights were terminated by the new “board,” brought an action in DC Superior Court challenging the legitimacy of the purported board. Joseph Creed led the trial team. Following a three-day trial in June 2015, Superior Court Judge Stuart Nash ruled for the ousted church members. Judge Nash concluded that the purported board was not validly elected under DC nonprofit corporation law, and that subsequent actions taken by the board, including firing Peebles as pastor after his mother’s death, were invalid. The judge ordered that the board “refrain from exercising ownership or control” over any of the church’s assets. The ruling returned control of Jericho to the original Board, which included Joel Peebles and William Meadows.

Partners Joseph M. Creed and Timothy F. Maloney successfully pressed the members’ cause in the appeals court. The DC Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Nash’s ruling in its entirety.

One key assertion by the purported board was that Judge Nash should not have acted at all in the case “because it required him to exercise authority over religious matters in violation of the First Amendment.” The purported board argued that the dispute within the Jericho church was “nonjusticiable” — in other words, that it could not be subject to review by a secular court, since the dispute was an internal religious controversy that courts were not equipped or allowed to adjudicate under the First Amendment’s religion clauses. The group opposed to Peebles contended that the judge’s ruling was necessarily premised on internal church doctrine, in violation of the First Amendment.

In a significant legal holding, the Court of Appeals rejected this contention. It said that the First Amendment’s religion clauses were not implicated because the case “required only that the court determine” whether the resolution by which the purported board claimed to be elected was passed in accordance with DC nonprofit law. Thus, the court was not called upon to inquire into any specific religious principles.

The court said that church organizations are not above the law, and that as long as a court is asked to apply “neutral principles of law” and is not asked to rule on whether particular individuals conform to religious standards of belief and practice, courts are allowed to get involved in disputes of this sort. This is an important holding that could have broader implications in other cases involving internal church disputes.

Learn more about JGL partner Veronica Nannis from her recent interview with Of Counsel. Her discussion covers topics from how she got into the legal world to some of her favorite cases in her career. Read the full interview by clicking on the image below.

 

JGL’s Jay Holland and Tim Maloney are representing a Rockville man that has filed suit against a private prisoner transport company for the physical harm and emotional distress he claims to have endured during a 10-day, nine state van ride.  The story was recently covered by The Daily Record.

The legal team led by JGL’s Joe Creed won a DC Appeals Court case that has reinstated the Board of Trustees and secured the future for Jericho Baptist Church.  The story was featured in a recent article in The Daily Record.

 

A complaint that our firm has just filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland tells a powerful and appalling story of the abuse of an American citizen, convicted of no crime, at the hands of employees of PTS of America, Inc., a Nashville-based private company that is in the business of transporting prisoners and detainees.

We assert in the complaint, which we filed September 26, 2016, that our client, William Karn, underwent horrific conditions of abuse for 10 days last December while he was being transported by six PTS employees from Montgomery County, Maryland, to South Carolina. Mr. Karn was picked up in Maryland to face a trial in South Carolina, some seven hours away by car under normal circumstances, on charges of failing to pay child support. He had not yet been tried, much less convicted.

Mr. Karn, we say in the complaint, was shackled, and, along with 14 other prisoners, was stuffed into a crowded van that took a circuitous nine-day trip to South Carolina in conditions that were beyond disgusting. He and the other prisoners were forced to live in proximity to their bodily wastes, found it impossible to sleep, and were given one small hamburger and one bottle of water every six hours. They were forced to remain in the van for 36 hours at a time. Mr. Kern suffered permanent injuries and severe emotional distress, we assert.

Many of the detours, through nine different states, were made entirely for the convenience of the PTS employees who were driving and had nothing to do with the transport of the prisoners. In one instance, we assert, the drivers went out of their way just to send one of the drivers on a vacation.

“Along the way, human conditions in the back of the van deteriorated,” we say in the complaint, which was filed by Joseph, Greenwald & Laake partners Jay Holland and Timothy Maloney. “The guards made little or no effort to control the conduct of the prisoners crammed shoulder to shoulder in the back of the van. Sleep-deprived, hungry, in constant pain and discomfort, de-hydrated and riding in pitch-blackness for hours, nerves and tempers were short.  Prisoners fought with each other by head-butting and biting, and took each other’s food rations and water.

On behalf of Mr. Karn, we assert claims of negligence; intentional infliction of emotional distress; negligent hiring, training and supervision; false imprisonment; unlawful arrest, seizure and detention; mistreatment in custody; and violation of the Maryland Declaration of Rights by the use of excessive force and loss of liberty.

We hope and believe that this case will shed additional light on the national scandal of the privatization of much of the nation’s justice system. In August 2016, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates announced that the U.S. Justice Department plans to end its reliance on private prisons after officials concluded that these facilities are both less safe and less effective at providing correctional services than those run by the government.

“The appalling conditions that our client was subjected to are unworthy of this nation,” Mr. Holland said. “We hope that the case will not only provide some recompense for Mr. Kern but will also make state governments have second thoughts about entrusting private companies like PTS with their citizens’ constitutional rights.”

Joseph Greenwald & Laake (JGL) is pleased to announce that the District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed a decision by the DC Superior Court, returning control of Jericho Baptist Church Ministries, Inc. to the original Board of Trustees, which includes the Rev. Joel Peebles, whose parents founded the church more than 50 years ago.  JGL represented the plaintiffs in this matter, Robert George, Paulette Shelton, and Anaya Jamison, who are longtime members of Jericho. The plaintiffs had their membership rights terminated by a purported board that seized control of Jericho in 2010, but which has now been removed from power. Joseph Creed headed up the trial team for JGL.

This decision is the culmination of nearly six years of litigation for control of Jericho Baptist Church Ministries, Inc., also known as Jericho City of Praise, a large church based in Landover, Maryland. The decision affirms a previous ruling by the DC Superior Court, which returned control of the church entity to the original Board of Trustees, including the Rev. Joel Peebles.

According to Joseph Creed of Joseph Greenwald & Laake, “We are very pleased with the court’s decision. This church has a great history in the community. We are happy this lawsuit reinstated our clients’ membership and returned control to the proper board.”

The Court of Appeals concluded that, although courts generally have limited authority to resolve intra-church disputes, the court properly did so here because the decision was based on neutral principles of law that apply to all nonprofit corporations incorporated in the District of Columbia. The court ruled that the purported board was not properly elected in accordance with DC law, and therefore the original board remains in place.

The decision also establishes circumstances under which ousted church members may sue to seek reinstatement of their membership, including where they suffer harm that is unique to them (and does not apply to the membership as a whole) and have a personal financial stake in the dispute, such as through the payment of tithes and offerings.

In addition to Mr. Creed, the JGL trial team included Timothy F. Maloney, as well as Ronald Cherry, D’Ana Johnson, and Nadia Patel of the law firm of Bonner, Kiernan, Trebach & Crociata, LLP.  The case is Clarence Jackson et al. v. Robert George et al.  JGL also represents Joel Peebles and William Meadows, members of the board that was returned to power.

 

About Joseph Greenwald & Laake

For more than 40 years, Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A. is one of the most trusted law firms serving Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia. Known for its commitment to community, confidence and character, Joseph, Greenwald & Laake is the leader in bringing suits against local governments and school systems. The firm represents a variety of clients, including victims, individuals, small businesses and multimillion-dollar corporations. From simple to complex legal needs, the firm is prepared to deliver strategic solutions with high standards.

The Supreme Court of Maryland concluded that a trial judge’s declaration of a mistrial over the defendant’s objection due to the client’s absence based on a medical emergency barred retrial under the Double Jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The reported decision in State v. Hart, 449 Md. 246 (2016) is available here (PDF).

David Bulitt wrote a full page commentary for the Maryland Daily Record titled “Why Cultural Awareness is Crucial to a Mediator’s Success.” Click on the image below to read the article.