March 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Supreme Court of Maryland on Friday granted review in five different appeals. The grant in the sealed In re: Criminal Investigation matter is on four different petitions. The questions differ slightly among the four petitions; we have listed the questions presented on No. 7, which is the most comprehensive.
Read More…February 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Last Friday, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in two civil cases. It has assigned both cases for argument during the 2025 Term, which begins in September.
Read More…When Is an Appellate Rule Not a Rule?
Attorneys love rules. And our adversarial legal system functions best when both sides understand and follow common rules. So one Maryland appellate rule has always confounded me because it is routinely construed as meaning the opposite of what it apparently says. Rule 8-501(c) plainly states that the “record extract shall not include . . . any part of a memorandum of law in the trial court, unless it has independent relevance.” Most lawyers would reasonably construe this as telling practitioners to exclude their trial-court briefing from the record extract unless the brief itself had factual relevance—e.g., including a brief to show that an argument was not waived or that a party made inconsistent arguments.
But this is not how the Rule is read in Maryland. Former Maryland appellate clerks and even some Maryland appellate judges have repeatedly told me that if, for example, a party prevails on summary judgment or a motion to dismiss, the court and its clerks appreciate having the related briefing in the record extract. The Rule would indicate that the record extract should contain the exhibits to the relevant briefing without the briefs themselves. Apparently not.
Read More…Panel Splits on Stops for “Security Checks”
By: Chris Mincher
Police officers on the lookout for crime know that people with illegal things usually try to conceal them. If the object is big and bulky enough, sometimes that isn’t so easy. People who carry illicit items under their clothes might have to take some extra measures to make sure they stay there.
On the other hand, while concealing a firearm is typically a crime, generally shoving things into one’s pants is not. As such, Maryland courts have decided that mere adjustments and manipulations of the waistline don’t create a reasonable suspicion of illegal activity without some other indication that a gun is involved. But what if the police officer describes those adjustments and manipulations as specific “security checks” consistent with a potential concealed firearm? Does that pass muster for Fourth Amendment purposes?
Read More…January 2025 Maryland Certiorari Grants
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted review in five cases. (We’ve updated this post now that “Questions Presented” are publicly available for all five cases.)
Read More…Visuals in the Art of Legal Writing
The old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” can take on a whole new meaning, when you’re subject to a word limit. Including the pertinent visual from the trial court record (such as a photograph, plat, map or other drawing) in an appellate brief is simple[1] and can be more effective that a written description of the image. A visual reproduction allows the writer to magnify, highlight or “call out” an area or detail germane to the appeal, as well as grab the reader’s attention, as images are out of the briefing ordinary. Retired Judge Richard A. Posner wrote in support of this cause:
Read More…December 2024 Maryland Certiorari Grants
The Supreme Court of Maryland yesterday granted certiorari in four appeals.
Read More…Fourth Circuit announces three preferred fonts
Devoted followers of the Blog know this is the place for searing hot takes on developments in appellate typography. So of course we leapt into action upon Monday’s news that the Fourth Circuit has expressly approved three fonts (Times New Roman, Century Schoolbook, and Georgia) and expressly disapproved another (Garamond).
Granted, these choices are not exactly earth-shattering. Times New Roman, though always good fodder for typographical debate, remains ubiquitous and is not falling off any court-approved list anytime soon. Century Schoolbook is the most popular of the Century fonts, anointed by the U.S. Supreme Court as the chosen typeface family there. The third, Georgia—my go-to since Book Antiqua became inexplicably disfavored—has been steadily gaining acceptance as the most practical and versatile alternative to Times New Roman hegemony.
Read More…ACM Panel Divides on “Irregularity” Under Rule 2-535
When more than 30 days have passed since the entry of a judgment, it’s tough to challenge. To revisit the judgment that late, there needs to be one of three things set forth in Md. Rule 2-535: “fraud, mistake, or irregularity.” The vaguest of those terms, “irregularity,” covers failures by the court and its employees and agents (but not attorneys) to follow proper practices and procedures.
The grounds for an “irregularity” are more clear when it is a judge or the clerk’s office making a mistake (say, by not sending a required notice), but for other personnel involved in the judicial system it can be murky — as was evident earlier this year in the split Appellate Court decision in Howes v. Howes. The case demonstrates that, while new policies and methods for dispute resolution evolve to become part of the “regular” court system, they may create pitfalls for unwary litigations that are impermissibly “irregular.”
Read More…Pro Se Petitions and the Upcoming Coyle v. State Argument
By Steve Klepper (Bluesky @mdappeal)
Last week saw an unusual order from the Supreme Court of Maryland’s petition docket. In Feng v. Chen, the Court entered a GVR (grant, vacate, and remand) order on a pro se petition challenging the Appellate Court’s dismissal of an appeal when the appellant failed to order all circuit court transcripts.
Through the GVR order, the Court drew attention to a new program to aid pro se appellants:
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