Zimmer not worried about malpractice lawsuit

Thursday, Oct. 26, 2006

Despite a $1 million lawsuit against him by a former client, Carroll Board of County Commissioner candidate and attorney Michael D. Zimmer said he would ‘‘be surprised” if it is factor in his candidacy.

‘‘Anyone can sue anyone, and I will not be found liable in this case,” he said.

In February, Mary Lisa Glorioso of Hampstead filed the complaint against Zimmer and colleague Stephen P. Bourexis of Sykesville, who she said negligently mishandled her case.

Five years ago, Glorioso was involved in a car accident in Pennsylvania and retained Bourexis to handle her claim against the other driver.

According to Circuit Court documents, Glorioso said that after retaining Bourexis, Zimmer was assigned the case as her direct contact.

Glorioso charges both of her attorneys with negligence and negligent misrepresentation of her case. In addition to the $1 million suit against the pair, she has filed a separate fraud complaint against Bourexis alone for an additional $1 million in compensatory and punitive damages.

Her claims include accusations that her attorneys did not indicate they could not file suit in another state and that the statute of limitations in the case expired, causing her case against the other driver to be dismissed.

Zimmer said on Tuesday that he left the case prior to the statute of limitations expiring and that the case ‘‘has nothing to do with me.

‘‘She has a right to include me [in the suit] ... but it will come out that I had no business in this case,” he said.

This is not the first time Zimmer has been involved in a complaint in association with Bourexis.

In 2003, he was reprimanded by the state’s Attorney Grievance Commission for not disclosing a fee arrangement between the two and for letting the statute of limitation expire on a client’s case.

Saying the two cases are not related, Zimmer took responsibility for the 2003 case.

‘‘I did something wrong, I owned up to it and the system worked,” he said. ‘‘The system will work in [the Glorioso case].”

Zimmer pointed out that Bourexis was sanctioned last year by the commission regarding the Glorioso case, yet they took no action against him.

Having practiced law for 17 years, Zimmer said that ‘‘sometimes people are not happy” and lawsuits occur.

As for how voters will view the pending lawsuit against him, Zimmer said he is not worried with Election Day approaching.

‘‘They can vote for anybody,” he said. ‘‘I think [voters] will be able to take this in stride and take it in the proper context.”