On Thursday, December 5, 2019, F&P attorneys Imoh Akpan and G. Calvin Awkward, III, successfully achieved summary judgment in a negligent security/wrongful death matter located in Prince George’s County. The case involved a triple murder in an apartment complex. The killer was a known assailant as well as the ex-boyfriend of one of the tenants/decedents. The ex-boyfriend had also been barred from the apartment complex.

The events in the incident transpired as follows. The ex-boyfriend was let into the apartment by the ex-girlfriend’s mother. There was a family gathering going on, and the ex-boyfriend stayed and mingled with the family. After most of the family members left, the ex-boyfriend shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, her mother, and another person. The legal issues were (1) whether there was a duty owed since the murders happened inside the apartment as opposed to the common areas and (2) whether the alleged breach of duty – broken locks on the front door of the apartment building – was the proximate cause of the murders. While there was a perceived dispute about the functionality of the lock to the decedents’ apartment building, there was no dispute that the lock to the front door of their apartment was in working order.

Under Hemmings v. Pelham Wood, LLP, 375 Md. 522 (2003), the fact that an injury happened in the leased premises as opposed to the common area does not absolve or relieve the landlord from its general duty to take reasonable security measures. A plaintiff can claim that failure to remedy a defect in the common area led to an injury in the leased premises. In addition to alleged faulty locks on the front door of the apartment building, the plaintiffs argued that the owner/property manager failed to enforce our barring notice against the ex-boyfriend. Ultimately, the trial court found that there was no proximate causation because even if the ex-boyfriend had entered the apartment building due to the alleged faulty locks, the decedents were still “safe” inside their apartment until they voluntarily let him in.

The U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers released their “Best Law Firms” rankings for 2020 on November 1st. F&P received the Tier 1 designation for Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers and Tier 2 for Employment Law – Management in Baltimore as well as Tier 3 Workers’ Compensation Law – Employers in Washington, D.C. metro area.

Rankings are determined by ratings from clients and peers. A firm must also have an attorney recognized in Best Lawyers in America, which includes the top 5% of private practicing lawyers in the United States. For the 2020 rankings, 14,931 law firms were reviewed, including 75 practice areas, the outcome being 2,106 firms receiving the national law firm ranking.

To find out more about these rankings and the “Best Law Firms” process, please visit the website at https://bestlawfirms.usnews.com/.

Franklin & Prokopik welcomes three new liability associates and one workers’ comp associate to the firm this September.

Tiffany Vrabac joins the Herndon office focusing her practice on construction, insurance coverage, liability defense, product liability, and trucking and transportation. Prior to joining F&P, Tiffany worked as a litigation associate at an insurance firm in Florida. She represented insureds in bodily injury defense, property damage, complex litigation, and catastrophic cases.

Matthew West is the newest workers’ compensation associate in Baltimore. Matthew, a Baltimore native, is the first attorney in his family. After graduating from law school, Matthew completed a one-year clerkship with Magistrate Theresa A. Furnari in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. His hands-on experience has provided him with both a unique perspective and the ability to perform in the courtroom.

Joining Baltimore’s liability and trucking and transportation teams are David Fraser and John Simanski. David Fraser comes to F&P from the law firm of McCabe, Weisberg & Conway, LLC where he concentrated his practice handling foreclosure cases. He represented banks and loan servicers in residential foreclosure cases, handling all aspects of the foreclosure process from pre-sale to eviction.

Before coming to F&P, John Simanski served as Judicial Law Clerk to the Honorable Robert E. Cahill Jr. in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County. While in law school, John worked as an adjuster for Travelers in the Special Liability Group. Furthermore, John served as a law clerk at Rollins, Smalkin, Richards and Mackie, L.L.C.