March 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Once again, it’s time for your friendly neighborhood certiorari grants. Sadly for this blog’s traffic, the Court of Appeals hasn’t heeded our bypass suggestions in Syed v. State. (Yet.) (Update: Probably because of this odd opinion.)
The grants, with questions presented, appear after the jump. Read More…
February 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
What will warm you up on this coldest of winter days? Certiorari grants? No, probably not. But since you’re hopefully not venturing into the cold tonight, you’ll have extra time to read through today’s grants of review by Maryland’s highest court. (And no, the grants do not include an own-motion grant of certiorari in Syed v. State, as we recently wildly speculated.) Read More…
January 2015 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The year’s first big snowstorm for the state has also brought a modest flurry of certiorari grants from the Court of Appeals, including a couple matters of interest for mass-torts practitioners: the effect of component replacements on a manufacturer’s duty to warn, and qualification of expert witnesses in lead-exposure cases. So after you’re done digging out from the blizzard, dig in to these new additions to the high court’s docket, found after the jump.
December 2014 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The holidays are here for Maryland court-watchers, with a new pile of certiorari grants waiting to be eagerly unwrapped. Those with appellate-procedure matters on their wishlists will find their days particularly merry and bright. Did the Court of Appeals bring you what you wanted this season? Find out after the jump.
Court of Appeals Grants Rapid Review in Police Records Case
Yesterday, the Court of Appeals granted certiorari in a single case, Maryland Department of State Police v. Dashiell, Case No. 84, Sept. Term 2014, which arose from a police officer’s use of a racial slur on the voice-mail of a potential witness, Teleta Dashiell. Ms. Dashiell’s complaint was “confirmed” by the Maryland State Police and resulted in some unexplained disciplinary action against the officer. When Ms. Dashiell later sought the investigation documents for the incident, her request was denied as seeking personnel records that were exempt from disclosure under the Maryland Public Information Act (“MPIA”) and Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (“LEOBR”). (The denial also stated that such disclosure would be against the “public interest.”)
The circuit court agreed that the MPIA protected the records, but the Court of Special Appeals, in an Oct. 8 opinion, No. 1078, Sept. Term 2011, reversed, holding: (1) that the LEOBR didn’t trigger MPIA protection for records that are barred from inspection by some other statute; and (2) the circuit court had not properly determined which documents were protected as personnel records, investigation records, or inter-agency memoranda under the MPIA, suggesting that the Maryland State Police could be required to disclose any portions of the records could be reasonably severed from other protected documents. (The court also held that, as a complainant, Ms. Dashiell was not a “person of interest” under the MPIA such that the State Police would have to make a heightened showing before denying her access to the records.) The case was remanded so that the circuit court could analyze MPIA exemption for individual documents rather than the set of records as a whole.
Given the open questions of statutory interpretation involved, it’s not too surprising that the Court of Appeals took up the case for review. Some curiosity, however, is prompted by the speed at which it did so — only about two months after the intermediate appellate opinion issued, and a week before the court would normally review certiorari petitions at its monthly conference. If any of you MdAppBlog readers out there have any thoughts or insights on the expedited grant, we’d be interested to check them out in the comments below…
November 2014 Maryland Certiorari Grants
With Thanksgiving only a week away, the Maryland Court of Appeals has laid a rather meager spread of fresh certiorari grants on the table. Appellate enthusiasts licking their chops for new issues have relatively few matters to pick from this caseload cornucopia, but those with an interest in administrative rule-making, parenting problems, jury instructions in criminal cases, and procedural quirks have some morsels to feast upon. Details after the jump.
October 2014 Maryland Certiorari Grants
With Halloween right around the corner, the Court of Appeals of Maryland has decided to address some potential nightmare scenarios for criminal defendants — being stuck without legal representation, or having claims of actual innocence given short shrift by the justice system. Check out those cases and the rest of yesterday’s cert grants after the jump.
September 2014 Maryland Certiorari Grants
With autumn right around the corner, the air in the Old Line State may be taking on a bit of a chill, but, with a new slate of cert grants, the Court of Appeals’ calendar for the year is just getting’ warmed up. Highlights this go-around include cases addressing the legality of sentences below binding plea agreements; the application of the “woodlands exception” in adverse-possession matters; the authentication standard for social-media chats; whether the value of stolen goods is an element of theft; and, as the ripples of federal Confrontation Clause jurisprudence continue to undulate through state courts, whether that constitutional provision is violated by a DNA expert’s verification of a peer’s findings. Check out this month’s winners after the jump.
Court Calendar, Including Dates of Certiorari Conferences, Now on Md. COA Website
By Michael Wein
Attorneys have wondered in the past, “What date will the Court of Appeals decide my certiorari petition?” Wonder no more. To continue its evolution under Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera – who, as discussed in previous posts, has required that an opinion in each case be issued by the end of the term in which it was considered, and spearheaded a “pending cases” webpage to keep track of undecided cases – the Court of Appeals this week created an online calendar on its homepage listing dates of significant Court events, including oral arguments. Of most interest is that now, for the first time, the anticipated dates of certiorari conferences will be available to the general public. (Thursday, September 18, 2014, and Monday, October 20, 2014, are the next-scheduled conferences.) That of course does not necessarily mean that a party’s certiorari petition will be decided at any certain conference, but at least practitioners will know to check for the outcome a day or two after each conference rather than daily throughout the month. There are additional certiorari decisions that come from time-sensitive petitions (such as in some injunction, family law, and election law cases) that are unlikely to be scheduled in advance. Still, this calendar feature should give approximate notice to most certiorari applicants of when they can learn the fate of their petitions, a welcome improvement.
Consolidated Cases: Establishing Commonality for Finality
“There’s many a slip ‘twixt’ the cup and the lip” because “the opera ain’t over ‘til the fat lady sings.” Or, a case can quickly go in an unanticipated direction because there is no final appealable judgment until all claims are adjudicated – and knowing when that happens in consolidated actions can be tricky.
Maryland Appellate Blog 