Justia Maryland Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Respondents, on behalf of their minor child, Dylan, sued Petitioners after Dylan received severe injuries during his birth. The jury returned a verdict in favor of Dylan. Ultimately the court reduced the judgment to approximately $5 million. Petitioners satisfied the judgment. After Dylan died, Respondents filed a wrongful death action against Petitioners based on the same underlying facts in the personal injury action. The circuit court dismissed Respondents’ wrongful death action, concluding that the action was barred by a judgment in Dylan’s personal injury action. The Court of Special Appeals reversed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) Maryland’s wrongful death statute creates a new and independent cause of action for a decedent’s beneficiaries, and therefore, a judgment on the merits in a decedent’s personal injury action during his lifetime does not bar a subsequent wrongful death action by the beneficiaries; and (2) a release by the injured person of one joint tortfeasor, whether before or after the judgment, does not discharge the other tortfeasors unless the release so provides. View "Spangler v. McQuitty" on Justia Law

This case centered around Petitioner’s written request under Maryland Public Information Act (MPIA) for information regarding the value of unclaimed property accounts in the custody of the Comptroller of Maryland. The Comptroller decided that the requested information was prohibited under the MPIA. The circuit court ordered the Comptroller to disclose the requested records in value order. The Court of Appeals affirmed in part and reversed in part, concluding that Petitioner was entitled to a list of claims but not sorted by value. On remand, the circuit court ordered the Comptroller to submit a modified MPIA request limited to certain accounts without sorting any by value. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the MPIA prohibited disclosure of the comparative value of accounts in the Comptroller’s custody. View "Immanuel v. Comptroller" on Justia Law

After a deputy sheriff stopped Petitioner for a traffic violation, the officer inserted his head into the passenger side window of Petitioner’s vehicle. The officer detected the odor of marijuana, and Petitioner was placed under arrest. Petitioner filed a motion to suppress, arguing that an unconstitutional search occurred when the officer inserted his head into the passenger window. The circuit court denied Petitioner’s suppression motion. The court then found Petitioner guilty of possession of marijuana. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the circuit court erred in denying Petitioner’s motion to suppress because the evidence was unclear regarding the timing of the officer’s detection of the odor of marijuana, and in the absence of a finding that the officer detected the odor of marijuana before he inserted his head into the window, the State failed to satisfy its burden to show that the search was lawful. View "Grant v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Petitioner was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor household member and several other sex offenses. Petitioner was sentenced to terms of imprisonment and required to serve supervised probation upon release with the condition that he have no unsupervised contact with minors. Petitioner appealed, arguing that the circuit court erred in prohibiting unsupervised contact with his minor son during probation. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that the sentencing court did not abuse its discretion in imposing “a reasonable and narrowly-tailored condition of probation” that prohibited unsupervised contact with all minors, including Petitioner’s son. View "Allen v. State" on Justia Law

Respondent, an instructor at a martial arts school, engaged in sexually explicit communications with his student - a fifteen-year-old girl who regularly attended his class. The communications occurred while Respondent and the student were in separate locations, usually their respective homes. The Department of Social Services concluded that Respondent had engaged in child sexual abuse under the Child abuse and Neglect Law. Under the statute, a department of social services may make a finding of indicated child sexual abuse of an individual commits the abuse while the individual has “temporary care or custody or responsibility for the supervision of the child.” An administrative law judge (ALJ) disagreed with the Department’s conclusion, finding that Respondent did not have “care or custody or responsibility for the supervision of” the student when the inappropriate behavior occurred. The circuit court and Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that there was substantial evidence support the ALJ’s determination that Respondent’s out-of-class behavior did not constitute child sexual abuse under the current statutory definition. View "Dep’t of Social Servs. v. B.A." on Justia Law

Under Md. Code Ann. Lab. & Empl. (LE) 9-632, an award of benefits by the Workers’ Compensation Commission survives the death of an injured employee. Under Md. Code Ann. Lab. & Empl. (LE) 9-640, an award of benefits survives the death of an injured employee only up to $45,000. Appellant, an injured worker’s daughter, sought to collect benefits under the Maryland Workers’ Compensation Act that would have been due to her father had he not died of causes unrelated to his accidental work injury. At dispute between Appellant and Appellees, the worker’s former employer and employer’s insurer, was whether LE 9-632 or 9-640 applied. The Commission determined that Appellees were not obligated to make further payments under an award of compensation to Appellant because LE 9-640 capped the survival of benefits at $45,000, and Appellees had already paid more than this amount to the decedent at the time of his death. The circuit court affirmed the Commission’s ruling. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that LE 9-640, rather than LE 9-632, applied in this case. View "Hollingsworth v. Severstal Sparrows Point, LLC" on Justia Law

Father and Mother, the parents of two minor children, were divorced in 2011 pursuant to a decree that granted them joint legal custody. In 2014, Father filed a motion to modify custody, seeking sole custody of his sons. The circuit court denied the motion and refused to order joint custody in light of Taylor v. Taylor. In Taylor, the Supreme Court held that the most important factor for a court to consider before awarding joint custody is the ability of the parents to communicate and to reach shared decisions affecting a child’s welfare. Father appealed, arguing that that the award of joint custody was an abuse of discretion where he and Mother could not communicate or reach shared decisions for their sons. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) a court may grant joint legal custody to parents who cannot effectively communicate regarding matters pertaining to their children, and, in doing so, the court has the legal authority to include tie-breaking provisions in the joint legal custody award; and (2) the circuit court in this case did not abuse its discretion in ordering joint legal custody with tie-breaking provisions. View "Santo v. Santo" on Justia Law

A clinical review panel authorized the forced medication of Petitioner, a resident of a facility operated by the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An administrative law judge (ALJ) affirmed. Petitioner sought judicial review, arguing that, on its face, Md. Code Ann. Health-Gen. (HG) 10-708(g) violates the Maryland Declaration of Rights by permitting forced medication without a showing that an individual is dangerous to himself or others. The circuit court affirmed the ALJ’s decision. The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding (1) HG 10-708(g) is not unconstitutional on its face; but (2) the authorization for involuntary medication may only be constitutionally carried out when an overriding justification exists. View "Allmond v. Dep’t of Health & Mental Hygiene" on Justia Law

In 2010, Respondent, a citizen of Ecuador, pled not guilty on an agreed statement of facts and was found guilty of second-degree child abuse. In 2013, Respondent filed a petition for writ of error coram nobis alleging that his trial counsel had rendered ineffective assistance by failing to advise him regarding the immigration consequences he could face as a result of conviction. The coram nobis court denied the petition. The Court of Special Appeals reversed and remanded, concluding that Respondent established that trial counsel did not provide him with the correct “available advice” about the risk of deportation. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that trial counsel did not perform in a constitutionally deficient manner in advising Respondent as to the immigration consequences of a conviction for second-degree child abuse. View "State v. Sanmartin Prado" on Justia Law

Brittany Conover conceived a child through artificial insemination from an anonymous donor. She and Michelle Conover gave birth to a son, Jaxon, and married when Jaxon was about six months old. The next year, the lesbian couple separated. Brittany later sought a divorce, stating that there were no children shared by the couple from the marriage. Michelle requested visitation rights but did not request custody. The circuit court concluded that Michelle did not have standing to contest custody or visitation. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the doctrine of de facto parenthood is a viable means to establish standing to contest custody or visitation. Thus, the Court overruled its previous decision in Janice M. v. Margaret K. Remanded to the circuit court for a determination of whether Michelle should be considered a de facto parent. View "Conover v. Conover" on Justia Law