Wood Law Offices, LLC
Experienced, Trial Tested and Proven
William T. Wood, Esq.
Mr. Wood has been a member of the Maryland Trial Lawyers Association for over 25 years, served as President (1999-2000), President-Elect (1988-1999), Vice-President (1997-1998), Secretary ( 1996-1997), Treasurer (1994-1996) and has been chair and member of numerous MTLA committees.
He has also served as Treasurer of the President's Council of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (1998-1999), as Delegate from the State of Maryland to ATLA (1992-1994), and was elected Governor of the Maryland State Bar Association (1986-1987), elected Fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation (1992-present), and elected Bencher, Montgomery County, Maryland Inns of Court (1985-present-now emeritus).
In 2005, Mr. Wood concluded a Court case for an infant who suffered a misdiagnosed twisted small bowel causing multiple subsequent surgeries resulting in a significant condition known as Short Gut Syndrome.
In 2003, he won a verdict in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Southern Division, for over $7 Million for a severely disfigured young man injured in a motor vehicle crash by a grossly negligent driver.
He also won the tenth highest settlement at the time against the U.S. Navy for wrongful death due to medical malpractice for a female tennis champion.
Mr. Wood has also represented many other victims of tortious conduct including:
- The estate and children of a woman and mother who was struck and killed during a police chase by the motorist being chased.
- An autistic adult struck by an automobile while lawfully crossing a public street with his caretaker.
- An elderly male who suffered from adult onset diabetes who lost one leg due to the disease and the other recently due to not being periodically turned while immobilized in an improperly equipped hospital bed.
- The estate and widow of a construction worker who was directed to cut the cables in a post and tension constructed multi-deck parking garage as member of a demolition crew when the building collapsed burying him in the debris and causing his tragic death.
- A female who underwent routine heart bypass surgery and had her saphenous vein harvested by an unlicensed surgeon resulting in interruption of her lymphatic system and uncontrollable and chronic leg swelling.
- A motorcyclist who was riding and was caught in the neck below his helmet by a utility wire hanging five feet off the surface of the traveled surface of a public street.
- A passenger in a truck on the way to work who was struck by an oncoming car in the wrong lane and on his side of the road resulting in catastrophic injuries.
- An elderly woman nearing retirement who loved her work as a crossing guard who was struck from behind by a driver coming around a corner as she was crossing small children on the way to school.
- A female who, while undergoing a sterilization procedure, sustained a major laceration and a puncture, both of the small bowel, resulting in substantial and permanent damage.
- A female who, while undergoing removal of an ovarian cyst, sustained a through-and through-puncture of the vena cava (a major heart vessel) and an improper surgical approach to stop the resultant bleeding resulting in serious permanent damages.
- A destitute and uninsured male who was abandoned in a hospital by a surgeon who had scheduled him for emergency vascular surgery to repair a ruptured artery causing permanent nerve damage resulting from a subsequent delay in treatment.
- A female who suffered serious orthopedic injury during routine knee replacment surgery.
- A female who, while hopitalized, developed serious bed sores caused by pressure on the body while lying in a hospital bed causing her to undergo several major surgeries to stop the necrosis.
- Two adult children who were refused an accounting of 17 irrevocable family trusts by the trustee and lost title to real property due to self dealing by the trustee.
- A robust 72 year old adult male who developed a post surgical infection following the implantation of a shunt to relieve cranial pressure causing his death.
These cases, and many others, have or will in the near future for those still in litigation result in substantial verdicts or settlements for these individuals and their families whose lives have been completely altered due to these tragic occurrences.
Mr. Wood also served as trial and appellate counsel in Reed v State of Maryland, 35 Md. App. 472, cert. granted 280 Md. 734, reversed 283 Md. 374 which resulted in the reversal of a conviction and a new trial in one of the leading cases in the United States on the admissibility of new scientific evidence (spectrographic analysis a/k/a voice prints) which essentially declared this voice recognition technique unreliable in the scientific community and inadmissible as trial evidence.
In addition, he served as appellate counsel in Figgins vs. Cochrane
174 Md. App. 1, affirmed 403 Md. 392 (2008) which is a leading case involving the state of mind exception to the hearsay rule and the power of an attorney-in-fact to gift real property.
ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES
Mr. Wood was appointed in 1999 to a five year term by the Governor of the State of Maryland, as a member of the University System of Maryland Board of Regents, the governing board of thirteen institutions of higher education in the State of Maryland with locations in 34 countries. He was elected Secretary to the Board and Chair of the Information Technology Committee; Chair of the Resource Development Work Group which spearheaded a $1.5 Billion Capital Campaign; and Chair of the Facilities Renewal Work Group charged with solving a $1.6 Billion backlog of needed structural repairs throughout the University System of Maryland.
In 1999, he received a Citation from the Governor of the State of Maryland for distinguished leadership and outstanding service as Chairman of the Governor's Task Force to Study the Effects of Cult Activities on Public Senior Higher Education Institutions.
In 2008, Mr. Wood was elected Trustee of the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation, Inc. The UMBF advises the President of UMB on matters affecting the University of Maryland Schools of Law, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, Social Work and Graduate School of Baltimore. The UMBF also promotes UMB through advocacy and the enlisting of financial support and manages and invests gifts and property for the benefit of UMB.
In 2007, Mr. Wood was appointed by the President of the University of Maryland University College, Adelphi, Maryland to its Board of Visitors which offers degree programs locally and internationally and serves as the educational resource for the United States military forces in the U.S. and overseas.
In 2006, Mr. Wood was appointed to the Board of Advisors of The Universities at Shady Grove, a satellite campus of the University System of Maryland, created by the General Assembly of Maryland to offer courses from constituent colleges and universities within the University System of Maryland.
He also served as Treasurer for Your Courthouse Team, a political slate formed to support incumbents for the elected Montgomery County, Maryland offices of State's Attorney, Sheriff, Register of Wills and Clerk of the Court ( 2005 - 2007).
Mr. Wood was appointed by six sitting Circuit Court trial judges to serve as the Treasurer of the Committee to Retain the Sitting Judges in Montgomery County, Maryland in a contested judicial election (2001 - 2002).
Mr. Wood graduated from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland in 1963 and the University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore, Maryland in 1966. Following graduation, he served as Law Clerk to Judge Thomas M. Anderson, Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. Thereafter, he served as Senior Assistant State's Attorney for Montgomery County, Maryland where he prosecuted numerous high profile criminal cases, many receiving local and national media coverage. He has been engaged in civil and criminal trial practice since 1974.
He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubble, was selected for membership in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers, and currently operates a Beech Baron twin-engine aircraft in his law practice.
John A. Hurson, Esq.
John A. Hurson, Esq., of counsel to the Firm, received his undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. He was elected in 1990 to the Maryland House of Delegates, was appointed Majority Leader in 1994 and served as Chair, House Health and Governmental Operations Committee. Mr. Hurson also has extensive trial experience in both civil and criminal matters.
Mr. Hurson was installed, for a one year term, in July, 2004 as the first President of the National Conference of State Legislators from the State of Maryland making him one of the ranking State lawmakers in the nation. The NCSL is a national organization with a staff of 300 that lobbys on behalf of more than 7,000 elected legislators for their States in such matters as health care and education.
Mr. Hurson resigned from the Maryland House of Delegates in 2006 and now is primarily engaged in lobbying activities.