Justia Maryland Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

SmartEnergy Holdings, LLC, a retail electricity supplier, was found to have violated various provisions of Maryland law governing retail electricity suppliers, including engaging in deceptive, misleading, and unfair trade practices. The Supreme Court of Maryland upheld the decisions of lower courts and the Maryland Public Service Commission, affirming that the Commission has the authority to determine whether electricity suppliers under its jurisdiction have violated Maryland’s consumer protection laws, including the Maryland Telephone Solicitations Act (MTSA). The court also determined that the MTSA applies to SmartEnergy’s business practices, as it applies to sales made over the telephone where the consumer places the telephone call to the merchant in response to a merchant’s marketing materials. The court found substantial evidence in the record to support the Commission's factual findings and determined that the remedies imposed by the Commission were within its discretion and not arbitrary or capricious. View "In the Matter of SmartEnergy" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court held that the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) arbitrarily and capriciously denied Open Justice Baltimore's (OJB) request for a fee waiver in relation to the production of closed files relating to certain use of force investigations and remanded the case to BPD to reconsider OJB's requested fee waiver in light of the factors set forth in this opinion, as well as other relevant factors.OJB, an organization seeking to investigate and publicize reports of police misconduct, filed several requests under the Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) for records relating to citizen and administrative complaints of police misconduct. OJB asked BPD to waive the approximately $245,000 in fees it would cost to produce the files, asserting that a fee waiver would be in the public interest. BPD denied the fee waiver request in its entirety. The circuit court upheld the fee waiver denial. The Supreme Court remanded the case, holding that BPD's fee waiver denial was arbitrary and capricious because BPD failed meaningfully to consider all relevant factors in deciding whether to grant the requested fee waiver. View "Baltimore Police Dep't v. Open Justice Baltimore" on Justia Law

In this appeal stemming from a challenge to Maryland's Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax Act the Court of Appeals vacated the orders of the circuit court granting a declaratory judgment that a digital advertising tax was unconstitutional and illegal under federal law the Court of Appeals held that the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the action.At issue was Maryland's Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax Act, codified at Title 7.5 of the Tax-General Article, which imposed a tax on annual gross revenues of certain high revenue businesses derived from state digital advertising services. Plaintiffs, various subsidiaries of Comcast Corporation and Verizon Communications, Inc., filed this action seeking a declaratory judgment that the tax was unconstitutional and illegal. The circuit court granted judgment for Plaintiffs. The Court of Appeals vacated the orders below, holding (1) Plaintiffs failed to exhaust mandatory administrative and judicial review remedies provided in the Tax-General Article for the resolution of tax disputes; and (2) absent exhaustion of the available statutory administrative remedies, the circuit court lacked jurisdiction over the challenge. View "Comptroller v. Comcast" on Justia Law