Maryland Court of Appeals Aims To Take Fewer Cases, But Petitioners’ Success Rates Stay the Same
The Daily Record recently reported Chief Judge Barbera’s plans to reduce the number of cases that the Maryland Court of Appeals hears each term. According to the article, the Court will hear an average of 88 cases per year, a significant reduction from the Court of Appeals’ historic average of more than 100 cases per year. For example, in its 2011-13 terms, the Court docketed 133, 105, and 119 appeals, respectively. Table CA-3 of Maryland Judiciary Annual Statistical Abstract Fiscal Year 2014 (“2014 Abstract”).
September 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals website has posted certiorari grants from its September 17 conference, to go with an unscheduled September 3 grant we previously covered. The first grant, which is of great interest to (at least one of) our Annapolis readers, raises an important public policy question: Will downtown Annapolis get a Chipotle? The full two-case list is after the jump. Read More…
Maryland High Court Grants Rapid Review of Underage Drinking Liability
By Steve Klepper (Twitter: @MDAppeal)
Update (9/8/2015): I have since learned that the grant in Davis v. Stapf was not an “own motion” grant. Rather, before the Court of Special Appeals filed its opinion, the plaintiff filed a petition asking the Court of Appeals to consider Davis v. Stapf along with a similar case (Manal Kiriakos v. Brandon Phillips, Case No. 20, September Term, 2015) where certiorari was granted in March. Still, it remains interesting that the Davis v. Stapf opinion prompted the Court of Appeals to grant certiorari outside of its normal conference schedule.
Yesterday saw unusual and fast action by the Court of Appeals of Maryland in a major case on liability for serving alcohol to minors. In an August 26 opinion in Davis v. Stapf, the Court of Special Appeals ruled against the estate of a 17-year-old passenger killed in an auto accident following a party. The decedent, who riding in the bed of a pickup truck, and the 22-year-old driver were both intoxicated. The panel majority (in an opinion by Judge Graeff and joined by Chief Judge Krauser) found that the party’s host, who served the minor alcohol in violation of Criminal Law § 10-117(b), owed no statutory duty of care to the minor that could result in tort liability. Judge Nazarian concurred, believing that the fact the minor was not the driver cut the chain of causation.
Yesterday, just eight days after the CSA’s opinion, the Court of Appeals of Maryland issued a single grant of certiorari, outside its normal schedule: Read More…
August 2015 Certiorari Grants
Summer’s winding down, and the Court of Appeals is getting back into high gear with 10 new certiorari grants. Hint: If you’re as interested in this case even a fraction as much as Alan Sternstein has been, you’re going to want to check out the full rundown after the jump.
Montgomery County v. Fraternal Order of Police – Government’s Role at the Ballot Box: Round II
In an article here in January, I wrote about the doctrine of official or government speech. The post was prompted by the appeal pending in Montgomery County v. Fraternal Order of Police, Md. Ct. Spec. App., No. 175, which was decided by the Court of Special Appeals in April. Slip Op. (decided Apr. 3, 2015).[1] The court’s decision reversed, among other things, the Circuit Court’s ruling that the Appellants, Montgomery County and certain of its officials, had acted beyond their power and authority by making substantial use of public funds and resources to campaign in a general-election referendum in favor of legislation that the County Council had passed and that the County Executive had signed into law. According to the Circuit Court’s “Findings of Fact,” Appellants had unlawfully “engaged in electioneering and conducted a political campaign.” Id. at 11.
July 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
On the heels of its eight(!) published opinions today, the Court of Appeals of Maryland released its July 2015 certiorari grants. There are only four grants, three of which involve disputes with the Maryland Department of the Environment. The cases, with questions presented, appear after the jump. Read More…
Kulbicki Still Awaiting Supreme Court Cert Decision
By Michael Wein
The Maryland case of Kulbicki v. State, involving the post-conviction relief appropriate for those convicted with help from the now thoroughly discredited FBI “comparative bullet lead analysis” (“CBLA”), was one of the “blockbuster” cases of last year, as noted by fellow Blog editor Brad McCullough in a post discussing how the case unexpectedly did not decide larger issues and by myself on a list of some of the “longest pending cases” in the 2013-2014 Term (Kulbicki being the longest). The 4-3 Court of Appeals decision and majority opinion by Judge Lynne Battaglia, instead of dealing with potentially more sweeping issues that could have also been addressed in the case, concentrated more narrowly on Kulbicki’s entitlement to a post-conviction remedy under a regular ineffective-assistance-of-counsel analysis, despite that potential error not being earlier presented in the certiorari petition. As Judge Robert McDonald’s dissent noted, the case “reverses Mr. Kulbicki’s conviction on the basis that his trial counsel failed to anticipate [that CBLA would one day be deemed inadmissible] and thereby provided ineffective assistance of counsel in their cross-examination of the prosecution’s CBLA forensic expert – a ground not briefed by either party in this appeal and not among the questions on which we granted the writ of certiorari in this case.”
June 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals has posted this month’s granted petitions. The questions include bar exam issues like adverse possession, double jeopardy, and collateral estoppel. An interesting petition comes from a driver whose license was suspended for refusing a blood alcohol test after he blew a 0.0 on the breathalyzer. The six granted petitions, along with questions presented, appear after the jump.
May 2015 Court of Appeals Certiorari Grants
The perfect Friday afternoon distraction on a sunny spring day: three new certiorari grants, including a constitutional challenge to statutory provisions regarding the involuntary medication of psychiatric patients. This month’s batch after the jump. Read More…
April 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Court of Appeals just posted nine certiorari grants, dated April 17, 2015. They appear after the jump. Read More…
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