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(Pictured: Andrew Freeman)
The Maryland Trial Lawyers Association (MTLA) presented its first Trial Lawyer of the Year Award at the annual Presidents' Dinner and Installation of Officers on Friday, June 2, 2000 at the Center Club in Baltimore.
Andrew Freeman has distinguished himself and the legal profession with significant victories in two recent cases that advanced the rights and safety of tenants and their visitors. Freeman won a $7 million jury verdict for the parents of a 16-month-old boy who was killed by a pit bull dog. Affirming the verdict (which had been reversed by the Court of Special Appeals), the Court of Appeals held for the first time that a landlord has a duty to take reasonable steps to protect its tenants and their visitors from known dangerous animals. The result is that many landlords have taken steps to rid their buildings of vicious animals. The case also advanced the broader principle that landlords should take reasonable steps to protect their tenants and visitors from known, preventable dangers. In July 1999, Freeman won a $115,000 jury verdict, plus $108,000 in fees and expenses, on behalf of two tenants who were evicted without notice, despite having paid their rent, after their home was sold at a tax sale. This case also produced an important published opinion, the first in the country to hold that, following a tax sale of a property, the tax purchaser must notify tenants before evicting them. The case and Freeman's pro bono lobbying efforts also resulted in amendment of Maryland's tax sale law to require notice to tenants both before foreclosure and eviction. In both cases, Freeman provided an ideal combination of trial skills and legal analysis, which convinced juries to compensate the plaintiffs fully and persuaded judges to expand the protections of the law. Worthy of this distinguished award, Freeman is a trial lawyer who creatively, tenaciously, and successfully uses the law on behalf of the underprivileged to make Maryland a better place to live.
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