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in January, the Espina family challenged Maryland’s cap on damages when
suing a local government employee.
Manuel Espina was fatally shot by a Prince George’s County police
officer in 2008, and as a result, a jury found that the officer acted with
malice and awarded the family $11.5 million in damages. However, with the cap in place, that award
was only limited to $400,000. This case
had been closely watched as the Court of Appeals heard arguments and made its
decision. Although Maryland’s Court of
Appeals had upheld the cap on damages several times before, some thought this
might be the case that would change the Court’s pattern of upholding the
damages cap. Unfortunately for the Espina
family, the Court of Appeals
upheld the cap on damages in a 7-0
decision.
The
County argued that doing away with the cap would subject the County to use taxpayer
money in making payouts. That would take
away substantial amounts of money from projects that would improve the County’s
infrastructure. On the other hand, the
Espina family’s attorneys argued that keeping the cap on damages would never
deter local governments from combatting police brutality and it would not stop
officers from repeated misconduct either.
With
the Court’s ruling yesterday, Maryland victims suing a local county or city
government will still be subjected to a cap on the amount of damages they can
recover.
If
you or a loved one has been injured or killed as a result of the negligence of
a local government employee and would like to schedule an appointment to meet
with one of our attorneys for a free case evaluation, please call us at (301)
854-9000 or visit us online at: http://www.portnerandshure.com/Personal-Injury/
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