Mark Oakley

Mark W. Oakley is an established litigation attorney concentrating on civil litigation, personal injury, construction law, and criminal and traffic defense. He also advises business clients, negotiates and drafts contracts, and handles a variety of litigation matters at all levels of the state and federal court systems. Mr. Oakley is trained and certified in the collaborative practice of law. Mr. Oakley is a graduate of the University of Maryland School of Law (J.D. 1987), and the University of Maryland, College Park (B.A. 1984). He is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, and the Bar Association of Montgomery County. He is admitted to practice before the Court of Appeals of Maryland, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Authored the winning brief in the case of 1986 Mercedes v. State of Maryland, a precedent-setting decision limiting the State’s power to forfeit private property.

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• Contingent Fees
  I handle personal injury claims on a contingent fee basis, meaning if there is no recovery, you do not owe me a legal fee.

District of Columbia

District of Columbia Bar

Since 1989

Maryland

Since 1988

University of Maryland - Baltimore

J.D. (1987) | Law

1984 - 1987

University of Maryland - College Park

B.A. (1984) | English

1980 - 1984

District of Columbia Bar

Member

1989 - Current

Maryland State Bar Association

Member

1988 - Current

Bar Association of Montgomery County

Member

1988 - Current

Q. On August 21, my sister was in a house fire and passed. I found a defective lighter in her truck. Two exploded out of 5

November 25, 2024

A: What you describe is pure guess, conjecture and speculation. You do not identify any hard evidence that a lighter (a) exploded in her home; or (b) was the cause of the fire that killed your sister.

The fact that it could have happened that way doesn’t mean it did. The fact that other lighters at other times have exploded does not mean that’s what happened at your sisters’s home.

Fire investigations involve tracing the path of the fire back to its initial ignition source to identify a cause. The fire investigation report will identify everything found at that ignition point. A lighter that “exploded” would have been found, and in a condition that showed evidence of exploding as opposed to merely burning in the fire.

Only an expert fire investigator can analyze the cause of a fire and express a professional opinion, based on their expertise, training and experience, that the fire was caused by an exploding lighter. Until you have such an opinion, by a professional fire investigator who has all the required training and certifications, based on actual physical findings at the scene of the fire (which at this point will be limited to the findings of the fire investigation report that was already done), then you have no viable case to file.

You should obtain a copy of the fire investigation report, and locate and pay a professional expert fire investigator to review that report and your exploding lighter theory, and have that expert give you their professional opinion. ... Read More

Q. What is the Maryland Code for defamation?

November 25, 2024

A: The only code section relating to defamation is the statute of limitations applicable to commencement of suit, which is one year from the date of publication of the defamatory statement. MD Code, Courts and Judicial Proceedings, § 5-105

As for the law of defamation, that is found in the Common Law, which means, the published opinions of Maryland’s appellate courts. There are treatises and published articles that collect and analyze the case law of defamation as developed by the Maryland courts, and explain its many facets and permutations.

Q. where can i find the procedural regulations governing the MD board of social work?

November 25, 2024

A: There is the Maryland Health Occupations Code, which sets forth the statutory laws respecting social workers and the Board’s creation and responsibilities and powers.

The Board is empowered to draft and adopt regulations to carry out its purposes under the law. Agency regulations are all published in the Code of Maryland Regulations, or COMAR for short.

Here is a link to both the Maryland Code and to the COMAR sections concerning the Board of Social Work:

https://health.maryland.gov/bswe/pages/regulation.aspx