Special Appeals

The O'Malley administration has joined the chorus calling upon Maryland's highest court to review a decision by the Court of Special Appeals that would render all but meaningless the extensive work local governments and citizens contribute to shaping comprehensive development plans. The state's request to file a supporting motion on behalf of the citizens group appealing the ruling, which was announced last week by state Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall, reflected both short-term and long-term concerns horrifying enough to keep an anti-sprawl advocate up all night.

Bruce C. Bereano, one of Annapolis' top lobbyists, will appeal to Maryland's highest court to overturn a suspension of his lobbying license, his attorney said yesterday. The Court of Special Appeals issued an amended ruling yesterday, reiterating its November decision that upheld Ethics Commission sanctions against the lobbyist for entering into a contract that paid him in part based on his success at securing government work for a client. Bereano is fighting a 10-month suspension of his lobbying license and a $5,000 fine.

Opponents of a 4,300-home planned community near a state forest in eastern Allegany County have asked the state's highest court to review whether local officials acted properly in approving the project. A lawyer for a group of residents opposed to Terrapin Run filed an appeal with the Maryland Court of Appeals challenging the development's approval in 2005 by the county Board of Zoning Appeals. The appeal is the latest move in a two-year political and legal dispute over the development, which would create Allegany's second-largest community if built as planned.

Neighbors do not have the authority to stop property owners from building a 610-foot pier and bridge, the state's highest court ruled unanimously yesterday, dealing a decisive blow to a Severna Park community association. The Court of Appeals upheld a February ruling by the Court of Special Appeals, which found that Paul and Joan Gunby had the right to expect access to a Severn River cove, and that it had never been expressly denied. The case is expected to return to Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, which had sided with Olde Severna Park Improvement Association Inc., for a ruling on the issuance of a state license to allow the 410-foot bridge and connecting 200-foot pier.

Courts Krauser named to lead appeals courts Judge Peter B. Krauser, a seven-year member of the Court of Special Appeals and a former federal prosecutor, will take over as chief judge of the state's second-highest court, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday. Krauser will replace Chief Judge John G. Murphy, whom O'Malley appointed this week to the Court of Appeals, Maryland's highest court. A graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Krauser will be responsible for assigning cases, ruling on motions for injunctions pending appeal and other tasks.

Loyola College, which has been locked in a lengthy dispute over its proposal for a retreat center in northern Baltimore County, should receive approval for the project, the state Court of Special Appeals decided this week. The ruling reverses a decision by a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge, who sided with Parkton-area residents opposed to building the retreat center in an area designated for agriculture. A lawyer for the group that objects to the retreat center said he will ask the state's highest court to review the appellate decision, which was issued Wednesday.

Ten months ago, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals overturned the child molestation conviction of James T. Brown Jr. because his trial had been delayed many times in Baltimore Circuit Court.The court's action brought to light problems in the city's court system that led to large-scale reforms, including a crackdown on trial delays and construction of courtrooms.Yesterday, the court reinstated Brown's conviction, ruling that his constitutional right to a speedy trial was not violated because any delay did not harm his defense.

IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF months, Gov. Parris N. Glendening faces a ticklish decision.The governor must name a replacement for Howard S. Chasanow, who is retiring from the Maryland Court of Appeals after 28 years as a state judge.Typically, handing out a seat on the state's highest court is the kind of chore that makes it fun to be a governor.But Glendening might end up having to choose between two longtime friends from his home county of Prince George's -- Court of Special Appeals Judge Glenn T. Harrell Jr. and Circuit Judge Sherri L. Krauser.

The Baltimore state's attorney's office will try again to prosecute four men against whom murder charges were initially dismissed after their trials had been delayed for three years.Yesterday, all four were rearraigned on first-degree murder charges in Baltimore Circuit Court. The dismissal of their cases in January, which spurred massive reform in the justice system, was overturned by the state's highest court this summer.The new trial is scheduled for March 3.Deputy State's Attorney Haven H. Kodeck said prosecutors are pleased to have another chance to convict the four.

The state's second-highest court has overturned a $4 million verdict by a Baltimore County jury last year, which found that a defectively designed steering column on a Nissan pickup truck caused the death of a Carroll County man who died in a 1994 crash.The Court of Special Appeals ruled yesterday that evidence presented by lawyers for the family of crash victim Donald A. Nave failed to prove the design defect.The family's lawyers presented testimony during the trial showing that the steering column should have collapsed like a telescope on impact during the accident, but instead severed Nave's aorta, killing him instantly.

Maryland's second-highest court has ruled that Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration was within its rights to fire a holdover patronage employee from former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s term. Monday's ruling - the latest in a long-running legal saga surrounding state personnel practices - was in the case of Gregory Maddalone, who was fired shortly after O'Malley, a Democrat, came into office in 2007 after defeating Ehrlich, a Republican. Maddalone, a former ice dancer, was a central figure in an investigation by Democratic lawmakers who accused the Ehrlich administration of firing longtime state employees for political reasons and hiring "loyalists" to replace them.

Attorneys for the owner of Baltimore's historic B&O Building, home of the new Hotel Monaco, have taken legal steps to block a possible September auction of the property by appealing a Baltimore Circuit Court decision that enables a Millersville lumber company to hold a sale on the premises. Attorneys for Baltimore and Charles Associates, owner of the B&O Building at 2 N. Charles St., on Monday filed a notice of appeal of an Aug. 5 ruling by Circuit Judge Evelyn Omega Cannon. Cannon had issued a final order establishing a mechanic's lien and directing the sale to move forward unless the building owner pays the J. F. Johnson Lumber Co. $184,000 plus interest and attorneys' fees by this coming Monday.

Squandering funds on garden, theater A few days after reading that Baltimore is scaling back its the Police Athletic League program ("Police withdraw from PAL centers, relationships with kids," March 29), I read that the city is considering putting more money into the Senator Theatre ("Senator scramble," April 2) and will plant a vegetable garden to help feed the homeless ("One-upping D.C.: Baltimore will plant bigger plot, feed the poor," April 2). The Senator has repeatedly proved itself to be a financial black hole.

Maryland's second-highest court resolves hundreds of disputes a year - on issues ranging from whether companies really have to pay millions to wronged customers or whether a convicted murderer deserves a new trial. But the resolution of those cases is not usually made widely available to the public. Nine out of every 10 opinions from the Court of Special Appeals are labeled "unreported," virtually closed off from public scrutiny and never bound in legal volumes. Google and more powerful legal search engines won't turn up the opinions either - even when the name of a company or defendant is instantly recognizable.

Md.'s highest court is asked to hear tower case 1 After encountering a legal setback in July, the developer of a proposed 23-story mixed-use tower in downtown Columbia has asked the state's highest court to hear the case. WCI Communities Inc. requested that the Court of Appeals review a decision by the Court of Special Appeals reversing a string of technical victories for the firm. The Court of Special Appeals ordered the case's return to the Howard County Board of Appeals for a full hearing on the dispute's merits.

Teen doesn't take plea in deaths of his family The deadline for filing a motion that a Cockeysville teenager accused of killing his parents and younger brothers is not criminally responsible for the deaths came and went yesterday without any paperwork being filed by lawyers representing Nicholas W. Browning. Baltimore County Circuit Judge Thomas J. Bollinger set yesterday as the deadline for defense attorneys to file a motion of their intent to argue that the 16-year-old is not criminally responsible - Maryland's equivalent of an insanity plea - in the fatal shootings of his family.

The plight of Kwaku Atta Poku, the Columbia man who lost his house despite making every mortgage payment, has inspired a General Assembly bill that seeks to give homeowners like him a better chance in court. "When I heard that Mr. Atta Poku really never got a chance to make his case - never got to the substance - that sounded like a real injustice," said Del. Elizabeth Bobo, a Democrat who represents the area of Columbia where the taxi company owner's former house is located. Four years after refinancing his mortgage, Atta Poku lost his home to foreclosure in 2005.

WCI Communities Inc. has returned deposits to everyone with reservations for its Plaza Residences - the 23-story tower planned near the Columbia lakefront - while keeping the reservations intact, the company said in a statement this week. "We appreciate their patience as we look forward to the continued successful development of the Plaza Residences," Robert H. Grabner Jr., vice president/senior project manager of the tower division of WCI Mid-Atlantic U.S. Region Inc., said in a statement.

Courts Krauser named to lead appeals courts Judge Peter B. Krauser, a seven-year member of the Court of Special Appeals and a former federal prosecutor, will take over as chief judge of the state's second-highest court, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced yesterday. Krauser will replace Chief Judge John G. Murphy, whom O'Malley appointed this week to the Court of Appeals, Maryland's highest court. A graduate of Northwestern University and the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, Krauser will be responsible for assigning cases, ruling on motions for injunctions pending appeal and other tasks.

Loyola College, which has been locked in a lengthy dispute over its proposal for a retreat center in northern Baltimore County, should receive approval for the project, the state Court of Special Appeals decided this week. The ruling reverses a decision by a Baltimore County Circuit Court judge, who sided with Parkton-area residents opposed to building the retreat center in an area designated for agriculture. A lawyer for the group that objects to the retreat center said he will ask the state's highest court to review the appellate decision, which was issued Wednesday.