Yes, appeal options matter in state District Court
By John Grimm
One of the challenges of a criminal practice in the Maryland District Court is deciding how best to position your client for appeal. A typical day in the District Court can be a busy, if not hectic, affair, requiring lawyers to wrangle witnesses, work out plea deals, examine discovery, and, not uncommonly, meet and interview their clients for the first time. Although it can be hard to devote attention to preserving appellate issues, or even thinking about appellate strategy, the District Court’s unique jurisdictional status presents both appellate risks and benefits, and, during your trial preparation, it’s worth giving a little thought to what you’d want your criminal appeal to look like.
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.
Five Nominated to Maryland Court of Appeals
A little more than a month after nine applied for Judge Battaglia’s seat on the Court of Appeals, the pool has been whittled to five nominations. Unsurprisingly, the only sitting Court of Special Appeals judge, the Hon. Kathryn Grill Graeff, got a golden ticket, as did the Hon. Donald E. Beachley of the Washington County Circuit Court, a former magistrate judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Two private practitioners are in the mix as well: Thomas Edward Lynch, III, a principal at Miles & Stockbridge, and Andrew David Levy, a partner at Brown Goldstein Levy and co-author of Appellate Practice for the Maryland Lawyer.
“Hailstorm” decision could create turbulence for tracking tactics
By John Grimm
Guest contributor
Last month, the Court of Special Appeals handed down a major Fourth Amendment decision, holding that police need a warrant to use “cell site simulators” to track people’s locations through their mobile phones. State v. Andrews, No. 1496, Md. Ct. Spec. App. (March 30, 2016), involved the warrant-less use of the portable tracking device — also called an “IMSI catcher” and better known by various brand names including “StingRay” or “Hailstorm” — which mimics cellular network towers and causes all cell phones in its range to send a signal with the phone’s unique “international mobile subscriber identity,” or “IMSI,” number. With that number, police can measure the direction and relative strength of the phone’s signal to determine the phone’s location in real time. Because “people have a reasonable expectation that their cell phones will not be used as real-time tracking devices by law enforcement” and “an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in real-time cell phone location information,” Slip Op. at 2, the court found that use of cell site simulators to track phones is a Fourth Amendment search, and “the government may not use a cell phone simulator without a warrant or, alternatively, a specialized order that requires a particularized showing of probable cause, based on sufficient information about the technology involved to allow a court to contour reasonable limitations on the scope and manner of the search, and that provides adequate protections in case any third-party cell phone information might be unintentionally intercepted,” id. at 64.
Three nominated to Prince George’s County seat on COSA
There’s been a lot of activity this week in the process of filling Maryland’s appellate vacancies — first, nine applications were received for the soon-to-be-open Court of Appeals spot, and, yesterday, the Judicial Nominating Commission sent three names to the governor to be considered for the Court of Special Appeals seat reserved for Prince George’s County. Five had initially applied, after which Erika Louise Pierson, an administrative law judge with the District of Columbia, withdrew. Of the remaining four, the Commission has recommended the Hon. Cathy Hollenberg Serrette and the Hon. Melanie Marva Shaw Geter, both of the county circuit court, as well as Phillip Robert Zuber of Sasscer Clagett & Bucher.
Nine apply for Maryland Court of Appeals
Now that Judge Battaglia is preparing for her impending departure, change is occurring rapidly at the Court of Appeals. With Judge Hotten being appointed in December, Judge Watts joining the Court in 2013, and Judge McDonald donning the red robe in 2012, within a month’s time, a majority of the Court’s members will have been there for less than five years. Having gotten in applications before Thursday’s deadline, nine individuals are seeking to be next through the revolving door.
Preservation Overrides the First Amendment
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects a tapestry of expression in our society, including speech, association, art, dance, attire, and music. Few exceptions exist, and when they do they are extreme—obscenity and incitement to riot are never protected, although the line does not always appear to be bright and clear. The Court of Special Appeals recently reminded us of a much simpler exception to the protection in Thana v. Board of License Commissioners for Charles County, Ct. Spec. App., Sept. Term 2014, No. 1981 (January 29, 2016): when the First Amendment issue is not preserved for appellate review.
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.
Five Apply for Prince George’s County COSA Seat
The applicants for Judge Hotten’s former spot on the Court of Special Appeals have been announced, and, with five total, there is about 80 percent less interest than the at-large seat that 27 bench-seekers vied for in October. Granted, Judge Hotten’s position is limited to those living in Prince George’s County — which is not a place that seems to generate many appellate aspirants as of late. But the timing does give three of the county’s circuit court judges a chance to double-dip in the appointment process.
Spoliation of the Physical Subject of the Case Can Lose It
When we hear the word “spoliation,” we tend to think about the loss of electronically stored information, such as e-mail messages or other computer generated data. That’s because the loss of that type of evidence, and the drastic sanctions that result, is highlighted and seared into our consciousness by legal-news services. But earlier this week the Court of Special Appeals decided a spoliation case that concerned the destruction of a physical object – a house – that was “itself the subject of the case.” Cumberland Ins. Group v. Delmarva Power, No. 72 Sept. Term 2015, Slip Op. at 8 (Feb. 1, 2016). Balancing the fault of the destroying party with the level of prejudice suffered by the other party, the Court held that spoliation had occurred, that sanctions were warranted, and that the circuit court had not abused its discretion by granting summary judgment in favor of the prejudiced litigant.
Maryland Appellate Blog 