Attorney Profile

1. John Doe/Security Guard v. Grocery Store (March 2024); I represented the Plaintiff Security Guard. The Security Guard was a contractor for a company that provided security for the grocery store. Three shoplifters entered the grocery store and separated. One shoplifter was confronted by the store manager. The shoplifter wrestled with the store manager, pulled a gun from her bag and shot the Security Guard standing nearby. The store manager violated grocery store industry standards and grocery store policy by confronting the shoplifter before the shoplifter exited the store, causing the Security Guard’s fatal gunshot injuries. The Security Guard’s heirs were awarded $1,250,000.00.
2. John Doe v. Largo Apartment Complex Owner/Landlord (September 2022); I represented the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff was robbed when trespassers drove a car through an unlocked tenant parking garage. Plaintiff was assualted and thrown off a third-floor balcony. The apartment complex owner failed to repair the malfuncting lock on the parking garage gate although tenants had advised the landlord the parking garage was unsecured. The case settled for $250,000.00.
3. John Doe v. Baltimore County Convenience Store/Gas Station Owner (September 2022); I represented the Plaintiff’s estate. The Plaintiff was shot while he was a customer standing in line inside a Baltimore County convenience store/gas station. The business owner did not have any security guards on duty in spite of the business owner’s knowledge of prior violent crimes against customers inside the convenience store. The case settled for $750,000.00.
4. John Doe v. Glen Burnie Apartment Complex Owner/Landlord (January 2023); I represented the Plaintiff’s estate. The landlord negligently conducted a background check on Tenant-No. 1. Tenant-No. 1 had a violent criminal history, including felony convictions, that prohibited any gun possession by Tenant-No. 1. During a psychotic episode Tenant-No.1 shot and killed Tenant-No.2 inside the stairwell of the apartment complex. The case settled for $950,000.00.
5. John Doe & Jane Doe v. Glen Burnie Convenience Store/Gas Station Owner (May 2023); I represented the Plaintiffs. The Plaintiffs were customers at a 24-hour Glen Burnie convenience store/gas station when they were shot multiple times when another customer had an argument with the cashier. The business owners failed to have adequate security to protect its customers. The case settleed for $850,000.00 during mediation.
6. John Doe v. Greenbelt Apartment Complex Owner/Landlord (May 2023); I represented the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff was carjacked, robbed and shot while parking his car at his apartment complex parking lot. The landlord negligent failed to hire security guards to protect its tenants in spite of numerous crimes against persons on the apartment complex property. The case settled during mediation for $85,000.00.
7. Steven Franco d/b/a Seat Market, LLC, & Si Qiang Chen, et al. v. City of Seat Pleasant & Mayor Eugene Grant (filed November 2017, case no. CAL-17-31330 pending); I represent the Plaintiffs. The Defendants enacted a municipal ordinance that increased the fiscal year 2018 real property taxes by 800% for five business properties within the municipality. The property owners are religious (Jewish) and racial (Chinese) minorities. The municipal ordinance violates the City Charter, the County Code, and the State & Federal due process, equal protection, bill of attainder, civil rights and “special assessment tax” laws. A Summary Judgment motion is pending for declaratory judgment and attorney’s fees.
8. Wilson, et al., v.  Colonial Village Apartments, et al. (July 2015); I represented the Plaintiffs. Plaintiff Jane Doe was killed in her first floor apartment by gunshots, in front of her two minor children, during a home invasion by three masked men. Jane Doe attempted to escape the home invasion through the bedroom windows, but the windows were enclosed by steel bars in violation of fire and housing codes. On the date of the homicide the security guards assigned to the apartment complex failed to show up for work, the closed-circuit television cameras in the stairwell & parking lots were inoperable. Two months before trial, during two days of private mediation, I negotiated a $3,000,000.00 settlement award for the estate and for the Plaintiff’s surviving minor children.
9. John Doe v. Liquor Licensee, Go-Go Club Operator, Property Management Company & Property Owner/Landlord (2014); I represented the Plaintiff. Plaintiff-John Doe was assaulted inside a “go-go” nightclub. Bouncers forced the Plaintiff and the perpetrators out of the go-go club and into the parking lot. The go-go club did not have any security personnel stationed in the parking lot. The Plaintiff was assaulted by a gang of club patrons while he was walking to his car, which was parked in the club parking lot. Plaintiff suffered a closed head injury, a broken spine, and remained in a vegetative state for four months after the incident. Plaintiff’s injuries necessitated the amputation of his right leg. The Plaintiff received a $5,000,000.00 settlement, during two days of mediation, seven days before trial;
10. Jane Doe, a minor v. Kenneth E. Flanagan & House of KAS Collection, Inc.(2012); I represented the plaintiff in this negligent hiring, negligent retention and negligent supervision case. The 13-year old plaintiff was awarded a $500,000.00 judgment against both defendants in civil court after the 54-year old employee plead guilty in criminal court to a 4th degree sex offense against a minor. The plaintiff was a summer volunteer at the defendant corporation’s retail clothing store when she was assaulted on four occasions by the 54-year old employee;
11. Oldcastle Windows, Inc. v. Gaylord National, LLC, (2008); I represented the plaintiffs in a $4,500,000.00 mechanic’s lien lawsuit concerning the construction of the atrium on the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center at National Harbor;
12. Nathaniel Williams, et al. v. Metropolitan Money Store, et al., (2007 to 2009); I represented 33 plaintiffs in the largest foreclosure rescue scam in Maryland history. The plaintiffs regained the right to re-purchase the title to their homes and settled with a title company defendant for $575,000.00;
13. Estate of Lakita Tolson & Lisa Saunders v. The Culture Club (2008); I represented the plaintiffs. Ms. Lakita Tolson was a customer at a teenage dance hall and Ms. Lisa Saunders was a parent of another teenager. A fight ensued within the dance hall, poorly trained security guards used pepper spray to control the crowd. Ms. Tolson was killed by a single gunshot as the over-capacity crowd rushed to the dimly lit parking lot. Ms. Saunders was shot in the leg as she tried to shield her daughter from the fracas. The Plaintiffs received a $950,000.00 settlement;
14. Elisa Hill v. WMATA, EEOC Charge No. 570-2007-00025 (2007); I represented Mrs. Hill, a 17-year WMATA employee, on her claim of racial & gender discrimination based on Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s failure to select plaintiff for promotion to Manager of Joint Development position within WMATA’s Office of Property Dvelopment & Management. WMATA instead selected a less qualified white candidate. WMATA and Mrs. Hill settled the case for approximately $300,000.00;
15. Estate of K. Morse v. Shell Oil Company & local gas station owner (2005); I represented the plaintiff / victim. While the victim was a customer at a local gas station he was fatally shot during a robbery. The jury awarded $1,000,000.00 to the deceased victim’s daughter and an additional $1,000,000.00 to the victim’s parents;
16. Revere National Advertising, Inc. v. Prince George’s County, MD., 819 F. Supp. 1336 (D. Md. 1993) ; I represented the plaintiff (the 10 ^th largest billboard company in the U.S.) in a First Amendment case that invalidated the County’s fifty year law that regulated the construction and development of billboards in the County;
17. Coalition of P.G. County Civic Association v. Washington Redskins, Inc., Pro Football, Inc. & P.G. County Council (1996) ; I represented the plaintiffs (a coalition of 90,000 county residents) in a construction, land-use and legislative policy case that challenged the constitutionality of state and county laws that were amended to allow the construction of the Redskins Stadium in an African American residential neighborhood (although the stadium was built, this case changed the County’s construction & zoning laws concerning large scale developments);
18. Redd v. U.S. Dept. of Treasury, Bureau of Engraving & Printing, EEOC Case No. 100-A0-8121-X (2001) ; I represented the plaintiffs in this racial discrimination, disparate impact & disparate treatment case, which was certified as class action for 600 African-American employees whom were allegedly subjected to random drug tests for four years while similarly situated Caucasian employees were not subjected to such drug tests;
19. Elizabeth Hewlett, et al. V. Bloomingdale’s Department Stores & Premier Salons, Inc. , 185 F.R.D. 211 (D. Md. 1997) ; I represented the plaintiffs in a case that was certified as a national class action in federal court that invalidated department store hair salon policies that excluded African American customers;
20. P.G. Sheriff Alonzo Black v. State of Md., Prince George’s County, Md. & Southern Management Properties, Inc. (1999); I represented the County Sheriff in complex litigation concerning state and county funding for the Office of the Sheriff’s duties related to evictions at rental garden apartments and District Court Security;
21. Martens, et al. V. Smith Barney, Inc. et al. (1999); I was appointed as a mediator and “Attorney Panel Member” pursuant to a Consolidated Stipulation of Settlement to represent claimants in the Dispute Resolution Process of this national class action gender discrimination suit, filed in the U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York;
22. Corman Construction Company, Inc. v. Potomac View Associates, LLP (1998); I represented the plaintiff concerning Petition to Enforce mechanics liens related to $2,000,000.00 contract;
23. B.P. Industrial Ltd. Partnership & T.D. Burgess v. Penn Belt Industrial Condominium Association (1997) ; I represented the defendant against condominium owner’s claims for adverse possession and prescriptive easements;
24. Department of Housing & Urban Development v. Chesapeake Village Apartments, Inc. (1995) ; I represented H.U.D. in $6,000,000.00 foreclosure sale against creditors;
25. J-Tech Corporation v. Beltsville Construction, Inc. (1990) ; I represented the plaintiff for claims against contractor’s performance bonds;
26. Asbestos Claimants v. MCIC & E.L. Stebbing, Inc. (1990-1997) ; I represented the defendants in hundreds of personal injury cases and trials on claims for asbestosis in the District of Columbia and Maryland;
27. Jane Doe v. U.S. Army (1999); Jane Doe v. Centech Inc. (1999); Jane Doe v. Andrews Office Supply, Inc. (1997); Jane Doe v. Pulsar Data Systems, Inc. (1998) ; I litigated successful six figure sexual harassment settlements against these defendants; and
28. Eichie v. Free Gospel Church of the Deliverance, et al. (1999) ; I represented the defendant in this jury trial defense of latent construction claims;

Areas of Practice:

Premises Liability-Inadequate Security Litigation, also known as Crime Victim Compensation Lawsuits:

We litigate negligence and wrongful death lawsuits to recover monetary damages for consumers, tenants or their guests, against landlords/property owners, property management companies, security guard companies, business owners and property owners concerning home invasions, wrongful death, robbery, rape, sexual assault, and carjacking crimes, etc. that occur at rental apartment buildings, condominium complexes, nightclubs, office buildings, shopping centers, parking lots, etc.

Consumers, tenants or their guests, may recover monetary compensation whenever they are on commercial property and they experience personal injury due to a third-party’s criminal act.

The legal claims may include negligence, inadequate security, negligent security, premises security liability, private nuisance, negligent hiring, negligent supervision, video voyeurism & invasion of privacy (Peeping Tom incidents), personal injury and wrongful death. Consumers, tenants or their guests, may recover for their loss wages, pain & suffering, medical expenses and wrongful death.

Real Estate, Zoning & Land-Use Litigation

Bar Admissions:

Maryland, 1988

District of Columbia, 1990

U.S. District Court District of Maryland, 1988

U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia, 1990

U.S. Court of Appeals District of Columbia Circuit, 1990

U.S. Court of Appeals 4th Circuit, 1988

Education:

University of Richmond, Va., School of Law, 1987 , Juris Doctor

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, 1984, M.U.R.P

Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia, 1981 , B.C.P.

Published Cases:

Revere National Advertising, Inc. v. Prince George’s County, Md., 819 F. Supp. 1336 (D. Md. 1993)

Hewlett. v. Premier Salons International. Inc., 185 F.R.D.211 (D.Md. 1997)

Martens, et al. v. Smith Barney, Inc. et al. (1999)

Professional Associations and Memberships:

Maryland Coalition Against Sexual Assault (MCASA)

Sexual Assault Legal Institute (SALI)

National Crime Victim Bar Association, Member

Maryland State Bar Association, Judicial Appointments Committee, Member

Prince George’s County Bar Association, Member

National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Trial Lawyers, Member

American Bar Association, Member

American Association for Justice, Member

J. Franklyn Bourne African American Bar Association, Member

Charlotte Ray Inn of Court, Member

National Association of Consumer Advocates, Member

Community Advocates for Family & Youth, Inc., General Counsel

Past Employment Positions:

Stan Derwin Brown Law Office, LLC, Managing Member, 1999 – Present

Prince George’s County, Maryland, People’s Zoning Counsel, 1998 – 2018

McCarthy, Bacon & Costello, LLP, Partner, 1990 – 1999

O’Malley, Miles, McCarthy & Harrell, LLP, Law Clerk & Associate Attorney, 1985 – 1990

Pro Bono Activities:

Prince George’s County Hospital Authority, Member, 2008 – 2011

Community Advocates for Family & Youth, Inc., General Counsel