May 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals of Maryland has posted its certiorari grants from its May 19 conference. This month’s list is unusually heavy on civil cases, with only one criminal appeal compared to four civil appeals. Perhaps most notably, Seley-Radtke v. Hosmane addresses the burden of proof in defamation actions brought by private individuals. The full list appears after the jump. Read More…
COSA Dissent Watch: Defining a “Collection Agency”
[Dissents in the Court of Special Appeals are, as we’ve noted here before, an infrequent thing — but quite useful. Many times, disagreement in the intermediate court portends consideration and resolution by the Court of Appeals, or highlights thorny issues that appellate practitioners can take up in future cases. In this new feature, the Blog tracks and analyzes split decisions at the Court of Special Appeals.]
The case: Old Republic Ins. Co. v. Gordon, No. 1020 (Sept. Term 2014)
The question: Did the circuit court err in its construction of the phrase “collection agency” under BR § 7-101(c)?
The facts: Old Republic Insurance Company sold Countrywide Home Loans a “credit insurance policy,” pursuant to which Old Republic would pay for losses caused by defaults in loans held by Countrywide; in return, Countrywide would subrogate its rights of recovery to Old Republic. Countrywide submitted a claim for Nancy Gordon’s default on her approximately $70,000 loan, and Old Republic paid it. Old Republic then exercised its subrogation rights to pursue repayment.
The company filed suit in circuit court and moved for summary judgment. Ms. Gordon opposed the motion on the grounds that, under Maryland law, Old Republic was barred from bringing its claims because it was acting as a collection agency subject to the Maryland Collection Agency Licensing Act but wasn’t licensed to do so. The court agreed and granted summary judgment to Ms. Gordon.
April 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals of Maryland has posted its certiorari grants from yesterday’s conference. The biggest news is that the Court will review the decision of the Court of Special Appeals holding that, under the Supreme Court’s decision in Walker v. Texas Div., Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Motor Vehicle Administration properly rejected a “MIERDA” vanity plate. Alan Sternstein’s December post criticizing the Court of Special Appeals decision is here.
The full list of grants, with questions presented, appears after the jump. Read More…
March 2016 Maryland certiorari grants
At this point, that the Court of Appeals of Maryland is intent on taking fewer cases is old news, but it still feels a little jarring when (essentially) only three cases get through in a month. On Friday, the Court agreed to hear questions regarding polling of jurors, declaratory judgment actions, and expert testimony for certain types of DNA evidence. Check out the specifics after the jump.
February 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
For those staying on top of the prosecutions of the police officers implicated in the death of Freddie Gray — which Michael Wein has been covering for the Blog — last week was a big development, as the Maryland Court of Appeals postponed their trials to consider (assuming the issue is even properly appealed at all) whether defendant William Porter can be compelled to testify in those trials if his testimony won’t be used in his own upcoming retrial. As the story has been reported pretty much everywhere, we won’t recount all the details here; instead, we’ll note that, the day after the Court’s decisions, it released a bunch of other certiorari grants spanning some noteworthy issues. Check them out after the jump.
State Seeks Stay and Certiorari in Remaining Freddie Gray Prosecutions
By Michael Wein
In my January 19 post about the online Court of Special Appeals documents for the prosecution of the officers charged in Freddie Gray’s death, I indicated that, as an inherently “cert-worthy” case, it would not be surprising if one of the parties sought certiorari and it ended up in the Court of Appeals. On Wednesday, that happened, as the Attorney General’s Office sought, in multiple filings (as seen on the Court of Appeal’s “Highlighted Cases” page), expedited review and a ruling that would apply in the prosecutions of the other five officers as to whether the Supreme Court’s opinion in Kastigar v. United States and Md. Code, Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 9-123 allow or prevent the admission of fellow officer William Porter’s previous testimony from his mistrial given that he will be tried again. Also at issue is the authority of the trial judge to refuse to stay three of the officers’ cases after making a pretrial evidentiary ruling relying on the State’s representation that Officer Porter’s testimony was not necessary.
January 2016 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Last month we noted that the Court of Appeals had only granted 80 certiorari petitions for its September 2015 Term, meaning either: (1) that the Court of Appeals would hear dramatically fewer cases this term, or (2) that, in a break from the recent past, it would schedule January grants for argument this term rather than hold them for the September 2016 Term. The Court of Appeals chose Door #2 with a vengeance, today granting 14 petitions and assigning all of them to its September 2015 Term docket.
In likely the biggest news out of today’s orders, the Court of Appeals will address the effect of evidence undermining Comparative Bullet Lead Analysis testimony. The full list of grants, with questions presented, appears after the jump.
December 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals website has posted certiorari grants from its December 2015 conference. We have a whopping 10 grants. And yet it brings us to a less-than-whopping total of 80 for the year. There were 90 total grants by this time last year. It’s possible that the Court of Appeals will add some extra cases to its September Term 2015 docket at next month’s conference. If so, however, it would be the first time since January 2012, before Chief Judge Barbera took the reins from Chief Judge Bell and committed to deciding cases by the end of the term in which they were argued.
The list of this month’s certiorari grants, with questions presented, appears after the jump. Read More…
November 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The new Adele record wasn’t the only exciting thing to be released Friday: The Court of Appeals also released a new round of certiorari grants! Check out the seven new cases — which include questions about tax refunds, administrative law, disability discrimination, and appellate review of suppression rulings — after the jump.
October 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Yesterday’s conference of the Court of Appeals yielded five cert grants. The grants include two family law cases, plus environmental law, criminal sentencing, and proof of lead paint exposure. The full list is after the jump. Read More…
Maryland Appellate Blog 