PETITIONS FOR WRIT OF CERTIORARI
September Term, 2025
Granted January 6, 2026
Catherine Torney v. Towson University – Case No. 53, September Term, 2025
Issue –Torts – Did ACM err in its description and application of Maryland law regarding a landowner’s duty to protect an invitee from a shooting on the landowner’s property?
Board of Education for Wicomico County v. Rhonda B. Sturm – Case No. 54, September Term, 2025
Issues – Torts – 1) Is the denial of a motion to dismiss, filed on behalf of a school board based on the immunity afforded by Article VIII, § 3 of Maryland’s Constitution, immediately appealable under the collateral order doctrine? 2) Did the Child Victims Act of 2023 (“CVA”) revive claims for child sex abuse against boards of education where the alleged victim had no claim to be revived at the time of the alleged abuse because Article VIII, § 3 of Maryland’s Constitution barred the claim? 3) Did the CVA retroactively waive the constitutional immunity afforded to Maryland’s Boards of Education? 4) If the CVA retroactively waived the immunity afforded boards of education for incidents that occurred before July 1, 1971, was that waiver effective, since the General Assembly provided no mechanism for the payment of judgments where boards had no insurance before July 1, 1971 and the evidence below was that there is no insurance product currently in the marketplace for boards to purchase for incidents that happened before July 1, 1971?
Clennie Murphy, III, et al. v. Government Employees Insurance Company – Case No. 55, September Term, 2025
Issues – Insurance Law – 1) Should Costello v. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, 143 Md.App. 403 (2002) be overruled because the case applies an insurance policy’s household exclusion to non-household wrongful death beneficiaries? 2) Is Costello applicable to this case since the GEICO policy at issue does not define “derivative claims” or “wrongful death”?