BATTAGLIA, J. Aaron G. Seltzer, Respondent, was admitted to the Bar of this Court on December 12, 2001. 1 On December 9, 2010, the Attorney Grievance Commission ("Petitioner" or "Bar Counsel"), acting pursuant to Maryland Rule 16-751(a), 2 filed a "Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action" against Seltzer, which incorporated two complaints, one by a real estate agent, Debbie Jenkins, and the other by June Carolyn Piper-Brandon, a partner of Seltzer's realty company, Advance Realty Anne...
HOTTEN, J. Austin Scarlett, who used a wheelchair and resided in one of Wallace H. Campbell & Company, Inc.'s ("the Campbell Company") buildings, became frustrated with the Campbell Company's lack of responsiveness to his concerns and sought to mediate those issues with the Campbell Company. The mediation was unsuccessful. Based on events arising from the mediation, Scarlett filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations ("the Commission"), alleging that the Campbell Company...
ADKINS, J. In this case we must determine the relevance of, and how to prove, a hospital's alleged retaliatory animus in refusing to renew a physician's privileges on the defendants' motion for summary judgment based on the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 ("HCQIA"), 42 U.S.C. 11101-11152 (1994). After Harford Memorial Hospital ("Harford") declined to renew the privileges of Dr. Linda Freilich, 1 she sued for damages. Harford claimed immunity under HCQIA. 2 The Circuit Court...
HARRELL, J. In 2008, Petitioner, the Maryland Insurance Commissioner ("Commissioner"), issued a Cease-and-Desist Order to Respondents purporting to prevent them from charging interest on loans to consumers to pay automobile insurance premiums in excess of the statutory maximum prescribed in Maryland Code (1957, 2011 Repl. Vol), Insurance Article, 23-304. Respondents are eight of the largest premium finance companies 1 that provide loans primarily to customers of the Maryland Automobile...
THIEME, J. At issue in this case is whether the purchaser of a condominium in a foreclosure sale holds legal title to the property as of the date of the sale, thus rendering her liable for condominium assessments and fees dating from that point. We shall hold that she does, and thus affirm the judgment of the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County. BACKGROUND The facts are not in dispute. 1 Accordingly, the issue presented may be resolved as a matter of law. The circuit court's ruling is...
ORDER Upon consideration of the papers filed in this matter, oral argument having been heard, and a final vote having been taken on the petition for reinstatement by the Court (Judge Murphy not participating in the final vote because he retired and was not eligible for recall at the time of the final vote), which resulted in a tie (3-3), it is this 28th day of November 2011, ORDERED, that the petition of Ira C. Cooke for reinstatement to the Bar of Maryland be, and the same is, hereby...
BELL, C.J. The Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, the petitioner, by Bar Counsel, acting pursuant to Maryland Rule 16-751, 1 filed a Petition For Disciplinary Action against Dana Andrew Paul, the respondent. The petition charged that the respondent violated Rules 3.3, Candor Toward the Tribunal 2 and 8.4, Misconduct, 3 of the Maryland Rules of Professional Conduct, as adopted by Maryland Rule 16-812, and Maryland Code (2002) 8-606, "Making false entries in public record and...
ADKINS, J. These appeals involve two lawsuits, which include a derivative claim and a direct shareholder action, both arising from a series of stock transactions in a family business owned primarily by eight siblings. Out of those siblings, three brothers served as directors and officers of two family corporations, while the other five siblings were not actively involved in their management. After the death of one of the sisters, the corporations attempted to repurchase her stock pursuant to...
BARBERA, J. A defendant in a criminal proceeding may invoke the doctrine of collateral estoppel to preclude the State from trying an ultimate fact found in favor of the defendant at a prior trial. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436 , 445, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970). This defensive use of collateral estoppel derives from the protection provided a criminal defendant under the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. Id. We are asked in the case at bar to consider whether...
BARBERA, J. We have before us a question of law certified by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Certification of Questions of Law Act, Maryland Code (1974, 2006 Repl.Vol.), 12-601 to 12-613 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article ("CJ"). The question arises from a medical malpractice suit that Katherine Lewis filed in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland ("District Court") against her former...
GREENE, J. Pursuant to Maryland Rule 16-751, 1 the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland ("Petitioner"), acting through Bar Counsel, filed a Petition for Disciplinary or Remedial Action against Joel David Joseph ("Respondent"), charging him with professional misconduct arising out of representations made to the California Bar and third persons, regarding his residency in connection with applications for appearance pro hac vice in California's state and federal courts. Petitioner charged...
WATTS, J. This is an appeal from a grant of summary judgment by the Circuit Court for Baltimore County in an action for declaratory judgment brought by Baltimore County, Maryland (the "County"), appellant, against Virginia W. Barnhart, appellee. The County sought a ruling as to whether appellee, the former County Attorney, violated the Maryland Lawyers' Rules of Professional Conduct ("MLRPC") by providing legal representation to David Willis, Jr. ("Willis"), a former County employee, in an...
WATTS, J. This appeal arises from the Circuit Court for Montgomery County's grant of summary judgment in favor of Montgomery County (the "County"), the Mayor and Council of Rockville ("Rockville"), the City of Gaithersburg ("Gaithersburg"), and Chevy Chase Village ("Chevy Chase"), appellees, 1 against Matthew C. Baker; Thomas J. Wheatley; Aristone L. Pereira, Jr.; Johnny R. Garza; Kenneth K. Sleeman; David A. Schiller; Walter McKee; Janet Marburger; and those similarly situated, collectively...
MURPHY, J. Brenda C. Brisbon, Respondent, was admitted to the Maryland Bar on December 20, 1977, and was indefinitely suspended from the practice of law on March 17, 2005. Attorney Grievance Commission v. Brisbon, 385 Md. 667 , 676, 870 A.2d 586 , 591 (2005). On August 23, 2010, the Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland, Petitioner, filed a PETITION FOR DISCIPLINARY OR REMEDIAL ACTION against Respondent. On August 24, 2010, this Court ordered that the charges against Respondent "be...
GRAEFF, J. This appeal arises from a medical malpractice action. The issue presented involves the effect of a release agreement pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Contribution Among Joint Tort-Feasors Act (the "UCATA"), Md.Code (2006 Repl.Vol.) 3-1401 to -1408 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article ("C.J.P."). The Circuit Court for Baltimore City, in two separate opinions, reached conflicting conclusions. The initial lawsuit (the "Primary Action") was filed in February 2005....
MURPHY, J. While the case at bar was pending in the Court of Special Appeals, this Court issued a writ of certiorari to address the issue of whether a law firm has a right to intervene in a domestic relations case in order to recover counsel fees that it has earned while representing the "nonmonied" spouse. Tydings & Rosenberg v. Zorzit, 418 Md. 397 , 15 A.3d 298 (2011). For the reasons that follow, we hold that because the Circuit Court is authorized by 7-107(f) of the Family Law...
KEHOE, J. This case arises out of a claim filed by appellant, James E. Troxel, in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City in which he sought damages for injuries he allegedly received on the dance floor of a nightclub called Iguana Cantina located near the Inner Harbor in Baltimore City. Troxel sued the following defendants: (1) Iguana Cantina, LLC, the entity that operated the club, (2) Timothy S. Bennett, the club's manager, (3) Lockwood Associates, LLC, the club's landlord, (4) Parkway...
GRAEFF, J. This case involves the use of property as a restaurant in an area that, pursuant to current zoning regulations, does not permit restaurants. The property at 123-129 West 27th Street, Baltimore, Maryland (the "W. 27th Street property") operated as a nonconforming use through May 2008. The owner of the W. 27th Street property, YIM, LLC ("YIM"), one of the appellees, sought a new permit for restaurant use in May 2009. In October 2009, the Baltimore City Board of Municipal and Zoning...
BERGER, J. This consolidated case arises from a tax sale of a four-acre parcel of real property (the "subject property") located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The subject property, which lacks a metes and bounds description, was part of a larger 7.8023-acre parcel (the "Original Tract") before the Maryland Department of Assessment and Taxation (the "SDAT") began treating the Original Tract as two separate parcels in order to create two separate tax bills. Frederick Deinlein, the...
ZARNOCH, J. Against the backdrop of a controversial arrest in 2007 by Baltimore City Police of a 7-year old on a dirt bike, we are called upon to examine judicial decisions that led to an order and confirmation of an out-of-city removal and transfer and ultimately, a rejection of damages by a jury in the Circuit Court for Howard County. Among the hot-button issues in this highly-charged case are: 1) whether a removal and a transfer were justified on the basis of pervasive community prejudice,...
