William Murphy
About William Murphy
William H. "Billy" Murphy, Jr. is the senior and founding partner of Murphy Falcon & Murphy and one of Baltimore's most recognized trial lawyers. He entered the University of Maryland School of Law in 1966 after studying engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and went on to found the firm with Richard Falcon in 1971. After building a substantial litigation practice, he served as a Circuit Court judge for Baltimore City from 1980 to 1983 before returning to private practice. Judge Murphy carries a 90% success rate in Maryland state court cases and a 40% success rate in federal matters, four times the national average. His notable victories include a full dismissal of all nine wire fraud counts against boxing promoter Don King, a $54 million settlement for Maryland homeowners whose wells were contaminated by Constellation Energy's coal ash operations, and a $34.33 million award for 23 victims of carbon monoxide poisoning at an Inner Harbor restaurant. He has been named one of the top five lawyers in Maryland by the Baltimore Sun and was recognized with the Charles Hamilton Houston Award for Lifetime Achievement in Litigation in 2004.
Notable case results
A Baltimore jury awarded Catonsville businessman Scott Steele $276 million after finding that First Union National Bank defrauded his settlement-services company and used his proprietary technology to build a competing business projected to generate $2.4 billion in profits.
William H. Murphy Jr. co-counseled the $185 million settlement against Ernst and Young, the largest single-defendant civil settlement in Maryland history at the time, after the accounting firm provided incompetent turnaround advice that accelerated Merry-Go-Round Enterprises into liquidation.
William H. Murphy Jr. won a $44 million Baltimore jury verdict after a police officer threw handcuffed Albert Mosley headfirst into a concrete jail cell wall, rendering him a permanent quadriplegic; the city refused to pay and the case ultimately settled for $1 million.
After a 13-week trial, a Baltimore City jury awarded $34.33 million to 20 Ruth's Chris Steakhouse workers and three of their spouses after the workers suffered permanent brain damage when carbon monoxide from Pier Five Hotel's boiler system flooded their workplace over several months in early 2008.
William H. Murphy Jr. secured a $20 million settlement for the family of William Howard Green, a 43-year-old father shot six times by a Prince George's County officer while handcuffed in the front seat of a patrol car -- at the time the largest such settlement ever paid by a Maryland local government.
For Maryland homeowners whose drinking wells were contaminated by Constellation Energy coal ash (2008)
Jury award for 23 plaintiffs suffering permanent injuries from carbon monoxide poisoning at an Inner Harbor restaurant
All nine wire fraud counts dismissed for boxing promoter Don King in federal prosecution
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Each case is unique and depends on its own facts.
