SCHEDULE OF ORAL ARGUMENTS
September Term, 2020
Monday, January 4, 2021:
No. 28 State of Maryland v. Anthony George Ablonczy
Issue – Criminal Procedure – Should accepting a jury as ultimately empaneled waive any prior objection to the trial court’s refusal to propound voir dire questions?
Attorney for Petitioner: Andrew J. DiMiceli
Attorney for Respondent: Claire Caplan
Tuesday, January 5, 2021:
No. 26 Effrem Antoine Conner v. State of Maryland
Issue – Code of Judicial Conduct – Given that Drug Court is a non-adversarial, team-based treatment program in which participants are expected to openly discuss relapses and other setbacks in their recovery, should a judge who supervised a defendant in Drug Court generally recuse from the defendant’s subsequent violation of probation proceeding when the conduct that allegedly violated the conditions of probation was the subject of Drug Court hearings, meetings, and correspondence?
Attorney for Petitioner: Samuel Feder
Attorney for Respondent: Brian Kleinbord
No. 27 Whitney Wheeling, et al. v. Selene Finance LP, et al.
Issues – Real Property – 1) Did CSA err in holding that a defendant’s violation of Md. Code § 7-113 of the Real Property Article does not give rise to a cause of action unless the protected resident physically vacates the residential property? 2) Did CSA err in holding that a consumer’s claim for emotional damage, such as fear, anxiety, anger, and accompanying physical manifestations, does not adequately allege an injury to state a private cause of action under the Maryland Consumer Protection Act (“MCPA”)? 3) Did CSA err in holding that attorneys’ fees incurred as a result of a defendant’s unfair and deceptive misrepresentations made in violation of the MCPA do not constitute a recoverable injury supporting a private cause of action?
Attorney for Petitioner: Olivia N. Sedwick
Attorneys for Respondent: Andrew K. Stutzman and Gerard G. Magrogan
Thursday, January 7, 2021:
No. 23 Jamel Clark v. State of Maryland
Issue – Criminal Law – When a defendant, who was found in possession of a single firearm, is convicted of both possession of an assault weapon, in violation of Md. Code §4-303(a)(2) of the Criminal Law Article (“Crim. Law”), and possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a felony involving a controlled dangerous substance, in violation of Crim. Law §5-622(b), must the convictions and sentences be merged?
Attorneys for Petitioner: Stephanie Asplundh
Attorney for Respondent: Menelik Coates
No. 29 State of Maryland, et al. v. Valerie Rovin
Issues – Courts & Judicial Proceedings – 1) Do common law absolute judicial and prosecutorial immunity and statutory immunity under the Maryland Tort Claims Act bar tort claims against prosecutors and law enforcement officers arising from an arrest based on the State’s Attorney’s and District Court Commissioner’s legal determination of probable cause? 2) Can law enforcement officers be civilly liable in tort when they sought an arrest warrant on the advice of the State’s Attorney and made an arrest with a warrant based on a judicial officer’s determination that the arrestee’s alleged conduct amounted to a crime, when that determination was later held to be legally erroneous?
Attorney for Petitioner: Carl N. Zacarias
Attorneys for Respondent: Mark F. Gabler and Peter C. Hershey
Friday, January 8, 2021:
AG No. 6 Attorney Grievance Commission of Maryland v. Mitzi Elaine Dailey
Attorneys for Petitioner: Christine M. Celeste and Erin A. Risch
Attorney for Respondent: Mitzi Elaine Dailey
After January 8, 2021, the Court will recess until February 1, 2021.
SUZANNE C. JOHNSON
CLERK
Pursuant to the October 2, 2020 Second Amended Administrative Order on the Progressive Resumption of Full Function of Judiciary Operations Previously Restricted Due to the COVID-19 Emergency and the June 18, 2018 Administrative order on the Implementation of Remote Electronic Participation in Judicial Proceedings, and the October 26, 2020 Administrative Order on Remote Oral Arguments, the Court will hear oral arguments in these cases by videoconferencing.