Supreme Court of Maryland

In a per curiam order, the Supreme Court of Maryland granted six consolidated petitions for certiorari filed by the Maryland Department of Health challenging non-monetary sanctions imposed by the Circuit Court for Baltimore County after the Department failed to admit incompetent-to-stand-trial-and-dangerous (IST)…

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the denial of Andrew Founds' motion to suppress and his convictions for possession of over fifty pounds of marijuana, possession of psilocyn with intent to distribute, and possession of bulletproof body armor.

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the convictions, holding that the defendant preserved his challenge to the other-acts evidence sufficiently for review and that evidence involving his daughter's friends was admissible under the common scheme or plan exception.

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that a defendant who disclaims any objection to 'the science' of firearms identification and confines his objection to an as-applied challenge waives any later Abruquah claim, and that failing to file a written Daubert motion under Maryland Rule 4-252 independently defeats…

The Supreme Court of Maryland indefinitely suspended attorney Sara Mohamed Samy El-Shall after concluding that she violated MARPC Rules 1.3, 1.4(a) and (b), 1.16(d), 8.1(b), and 8.4(a) and (d) by effectively abandoning three workers' compensation clients and repeatedly failing to respond to Bar Counsel's investigative…

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine did not bar a Maryland religious corporation's wrongful detainer action to reclaim its parsonage from a defrocked bishop, because the dispute could be resolved under neutral principles of Maryland property law without deciding any question…

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the voluntariness requirement and the associated pattern jury instruction apply to a defendant's custodial statement regardless of whether the State offers it for impeachment or the statement is facially exculpatory, rejecting two of the Appellate Court's rationales.

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed sanctions imposed against the Department for delaying placement of defendants found incompetent to stand trial and dangerous in designated treatment facilities.

The court affirmed the judgment sustaining CINA neglect after a mother surrendered her unharmed newborn twins under the Safe Haven Act. It held that the surrender may constitute neglect when, upon hospital discharge, the children lack a legal custodian and long-term care arrangements, creating a substantial risk of…

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the dismissal of a shareholder derivative claim brought on behalf of two closed-end funds against their investment adviser and board of directors, holding that the shareholders failed to plead demand futility.

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the circuit court abused its discretion in reducing Sugarloaf Alliance's reasonable attorneys' fee request without demonstrating that it applied the required lodestar factors and by relying on improper considerations.

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that a judgment-debtor’s payment of the judgment after a sheriff’s sale does not invalidate or vacate the sale before ratification. The payment is not an irregularity in the sale cognizable under the post-sale exceptions procedure because it concerns the judgment rather than the…

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the Local Government Tort Claims Act damages cap does not apply generally to state statutory claims sounding in tort, but attaches to a specific statutory tort claim where the governing scheme shows no legislative determination about local government liability.

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed dismissal of a malicious use of process class action brought by two homeowners associations and their board members who had defeated a developer's SLAPP under CJP § 5-807.

The Supreme Court of Maryland affirmed the circuit court's judgment disqualifying John Calvin Dove, Jr. from the Democratic primary ballot for House of Delegates District 12B. The Court held that under CJ § 6-402(b) a continuance is mandatory only when a legislator-attorney of record moves before the legislative…

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that the household exclusion in the automobile insurance policy limits the adult children's recovery on their wrongful death claims to the Maryland statutory minimum.

The court held that Maryland recognizes an independent cause of action for breach of fiduciary duty, but the available remedy depends on the fiduciary relationship, the alleged breach, and the remedies historically available under statute, common law, or contract.

The Court held that the 2007 amendment to the Maryland Collection Agency Licensing Act did not require foreign statutory trusts holding defaulted mortgage loans to obtain collection-agency licenses before their substitute trustees initiated in rem foreclosure proceedings.

The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that the fact an employment agreement was entered into outside Maryland did not, by itself, bar an unpaid-wage claim under the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law.

The court affirmed dismissal with prejudice of RRC’s claims against BAA for express breach of contract, breach of an implied covenant against destructive competition, and tortious interference with economic relations.

The court held that Maryland's statutory cap on noneconomic damages applies to all health care malpractice claims, including claims in which arbitration was waived. It further held that the cap must be applied before any credit for a joint-tortfeasor settlement and that evidence of medical-expense write-offs should be…

The court held that disputed facts precluded summary judgment on the constitutional claims arising from the employees' termination after campaigning for the defeated incumbent, because the record did not establish either that the employees were subject to patronage dismissal or that the employer's interests outweighed…

The court held that summary judgment for Cross Country on its unjust-enrichment claim was inappropriate because the record did not establish as a matter of law that Cross Country was obligated to reimburse Stewart or that Cross Country was not an officious payor.

The court held that notice sent to a county commissioner did not expressly or substantially comply with the Maryland Tort Claims Act because notice had to be submitted to the State Treasurer or an authorized designee within one year of the injury.

The court held that an uninsured/underinsured motorist benefits action is contractual in form but requires proof of the underlying tort claim, so Maryland's tort choice-of-law rule governs the issues of fault and damages.

The court held that Longshore was arrested when police removed him from his vehicle and handcuffed him, and that the circumstances did not justify that force as part of a temporary investigative detention.

The court held that the parties' letter of intent was not an enforceable contract because its language objectively showed that they intended to execute a later standard form contract before being bound.

The court held that vehicle owners adequately alleged cognizable economic injury where defective seatbacks allegedly created a clear, serious, and reasonably probable risk of death or severe bodily injury, even though no class member had yet been injured and no seat had malfunctioned.

The court held that a discriminatory-discharge claim under Maryland's statutory scheme accrues when the employee is actually terminated, not when the employee receives advance notice of termination.

The court held that the General Assembly violated Maryland's separation-of-powers provisions by terminating the fixed terms of Public Service Commission commissioners appointed by the Governor and by creating an appointment process that substantially displaced the Governor's constitutionally assigned executive…

The court affirmed summary judgment requiring return of the buyers’ deposit because the financing contingency required only one bona fide, reasonable written financing application, which the buyers made, and the contingency was neither satisfied nor waived.

The court held that Maryland recognizes the conspiracy theory of personal jurisdiction and adopted a four-part standard for applying it. Under that standard, forum contacts of one co-conspirator may be attributed to an out-of-state co-conspirator when the alleged conspirators could reasonably expect the conspiracy to…

The court held that judicial review of a lawful and authorized agency disciplinary sanction is narrowly limited, and a court may not reverse merely because it considers the sanction disproportionate or prefers a lesser penalty.

The court held that the arbitration clause in the borrowers’ second-mortgage loan agreement was valid and enforceable because it was conspicuous, was not procedurally or substantively unconscionable, and did not improperly waive the borrowers’ jury-trial or class-action rights.

The court held that the Local Government Tort Claims Act's 180-day notice requirement is constitutional as applied to minors when the underlying local-government activity is governmental rather than proprietary.

The court affirmed the compensatory-liability judgments and the limited punitive-damages retrial, but reversed the awards of non-economic damages for most plaintiffs and the remand concerning attorneys’ fees.

The Court held that the Maryland Tort Claims Act provides qualified immunity to state personnel for both state constitutional torts and common-law intentional torts when the conduct is within the scope of public duties and is not malicious or grossly negligent.

The court affirmed the denial of Davis's motion to strike Slater's jury demand. It held that the constitutional amount-in-controversy threshold protects, but does not exclusively define, the right to a civil jury trial, and that the applicable statute did not expressly abrogate the common-law entitlement below that…

The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that Nesbit's written waiver of personal injury protection benefits remained effective through policy renewals and changes in covered vehicles unless he withdrew it in writing.

The court held that Price's prior conviction for statutory daytime housebreaking was not a qualifying crime of violence under the statute governing mandatory minimum sentences for firearm possession.