Petitions for Writ of Certiorari -- April 2012

PETITIONS FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI

September Term, 2011

 

Dismissed April 6, 2012

Contemporary Family Services, Inc. v. Department of Human Resources, et al. - Pet. Docket No. 40 (September Term, 2012) - Dismissed

 

Denied April 10, 2012

Doe, John v. Maryland Dept. Of Public Safety and Correctional Services - Pet. Docket No. 53 (September Term, 2012)

 

Granted April 10, 2012

Doe, John v. Maryland State Board of Elections - Case No. 131, September Term, 2011

Issue - Constitutional Law - Is the Maryland DREAM Act, which directly mandates & requires an increase in future appropriations for community colleges & which regulates the amount of tuition revenue received by the University System of Maryland, a law “making any appropriation for maintaining the State Government” within the meaning of Art. XVI, sec. 2, of the MD Constitution & thereby exempt from referendum?

 

Granted April 20, 2012

Antoine v. Geesing, et al - Case No. 6, September Term, 2012

Issues - Real Property - 1) Did the trial court err in failing to dismiss a foreclosure action because appellees lacked standing? 2) Should the filing of fraudulent documents, when those are supported by a corrective affidavit, be cause to dismiss a foreclosure action?

Baltimore County Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge No. 4 v. Baltimore County, Maryland - Case No. 3, September Term, 2012

Issues - Labor & Employment - 1) Under MD common law, should an arbitration clause in a collective bargaining agreement be enforced after that agreement's expiration when an otherwise arbitrable grievance is presented concerning vested rights that arise out of that collective bargaining agreement? 2) Does the common law of MD require the court or the arbitrator to determine the arbitrability of a postexpiration grievance arising out of a collective bargaining agreement containing an arbitration clause? 3) Did the lower court err in holding that in the arbitration opinion & award at issue in litigation, the arbitrator failed to address the question of whether the arbitration clause had expired?

Coleman v. Soccer Association of Columbia, et al. - Case No. 9, September Term, 2012

Issue - Tort Law - Should this Court ameliorate or repudiate the doctrine of contributory negligence & replace it with a comparative negligence regime?

Gonzalez, Ramiro Arce v. State of Maryland - Case No. 4, September Term, 2012

Issues - Criminal Law - 1) Did the trial court correctly conclude that State met its burden of proving that Petitioner's Miranda waiver was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary when Miranda warnings were given in a mixture of languages and State failed to introduce the content of those warnings into the record? 2) Did CSA improperly shift the burden of persuasion to petitioner when it required him to present sufficient evidence that he did not understand one of the languages used when informed of his Miranda rights?

Kendall, Angela Jones v. State of Maryland - Case No. 2, September Term, 2012

Issue - Criminal Law - Was it error for the circuit court to deny motion seeking dismissal of the State's appeal of the district court's dismissal of the charges against Petitioner based on, inter alia, a claim of double jeopardy?

Maryland Insurance Commissioner v. Kaplan - Case No. 12, September Term, 2012

Issues - Insurance Law - 1) Did the Insurance Commissioner correctly find that ERISA does not preempt Md. Code Ann., Ins. §14-139, where there is no indication that Congress intended to preempt or supplant State efforts to protect assets of non-profit health insurers from depletion and where ERISA and §14-139 serve altogether different purposes? 2) Did the trial court err in holding that ERISA preempts any State regulatory action pursuant to §14-139 that affects the amount of any payment from an ERISA plan, even where the payment would be made out of corporate assets of the non-profit insurer? 3) Did the trial court err in failing to recognize that §14-139 regulates insurance & therefore is not preempted by ERISA?

Nickens v. Mt. Vernon Realty Group, LLC, et al. - Case No. 7, September Term, 2012

Issues - Real Property - 1) Did CSA err in holding that the common law right of peaceable self-help permits a foreclosure purchaser to surreptitiously enter a residential property & change the locks while the resident is out? 2) Did CSA err in dismissing plaintiff's conversion claim, holding that plaintiff had abandoned all personal property in the residence, despite the complete absence of evidence that he intended to abandon it?

Powell v. Breslin - Case No. 11, September Term, 2012

Issues - Civil Procedure - 1) Should a case that has been dismissed because of the preclusive effect of an earlier judgment in another case be reopened if the earlier judgment is vacated? 2) If a civil case that should have been dismissed without prejudice is erroneously dismissed with prejudice & the error is not corrected until after the limitations period has expired, does the plaintiff have any recourse?

Ross v. Housing Authority of Baltimore City - Case No. 10, September Term, 2012

Issues - Tort Law - 1) Did the trial court abuse its discretion in precluding testimony from Petitioner's expert witness on the grounds that the expert lacked qualifications and an adequate factual basis as to the source of Petitioner's lead exposure? 2) Did the trial court correctly grant Respondent's Motion of Summary Judgment & did CSA correctly decline to review that decision?

Yates, Warren Jerome v. State of Maryland - Case No. 8, September Term, 2012

Issues - Criminal Law - 1) Is the admission of Petitioner's hearsay confession harmless error when the essential content of that confession was elsewhere properly admitted without objection? 2) Did CSA err in adopting the res gestae theory of second-degree felony murder in sustaining petitioner's conviction? 3) Did CSA abuse its discretion when it declined to exercise plain error review of the trial court's use of jury instructions consistent with MD Criminal Pattern Jury Instruction?

York v. Hession - Case No. 5, September Term, 2012

Issue - Civil Procedure - Does the rule against splitting causes of action bar a plaintiff from asserting a claim when that claim arose before the plaintiff filed an unrelated action against the same party?

 

Denied April 23, 2012

BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. v. Camphor - Pet. Docket No. 556
Blackstone v. McNeal - Pet. Docket No. 521
Bush v. Realty Management Services, Inc. and Cypress Creek Apts. - Pet. Docket No. 542
Bush v. Bennett - Pet. Docket No. 500
Cornejo-Lagos, Franklin v. State - Pet. Docket No. 552
Dudi v. Lubin, Maryland Securities Commissioner - Pet. Docket No. 565
Ginza Japanese Steakhouse No. 5, Inc., et al. v. McGill Development Limited Partnership, No. 3 - Pet. Docket No. 557
Henry v. Ochse - Pet. Docket No. 560
Johnson, Earl D., Jr. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 554
Lemon, Darrell v. State - Pet. Docket No. 548
Martin, Kyvelle Jamass v. State - Pet. Docket No. 538
Mavronis v. Greek Orthodox Church St. Nicholas Church - Pet. Docket No. 487
Mohamed v. Lusun - Pet. Docket No. 495
Ottenstein v. Promenade Towers Mutual Housing Corporation, et al. - Pet. Docket No. 569
Pair, Daniel Joseph v. State - Pet. Docket No. 559
Samuel v. Yenefanta - Pet. Docket No. 561
Simms, Luis A. v. State - Pet. Docket No. 526
Stephens v. Lerch, Early & Brewer Chartered - Pet. Docket No. 555
Stone v. Korner - Pet. Docket No. 567
Turner, David Ward v. State - Pet. Docket No. 571
Washington, Erin Lamont v. State - Pet. Docket No. 566
York v. Hession - Pet. Docket No. 543