Summary Judgment

A federal judge in Baltimore will dismiss an antitrust suit filed by Merck Medco Managed Care Inc. against Rite Aid Corp., Giant Food Inc. and other drug chains.In a memo dated Friday, U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg informed the parties of his intentions to save them the trouble of preparing for the trial, scheduled to begin May 26.A formal order dismissing the case will be filed by the end of the month, he wrote in the memo. The suit claimed the drug chains had conspired in their refusal to participate in a prescription drug plan for 90,000 Maryland state employees and retirees that Medco was to have managed.

Saying a worker's comments were not constitutionally protected speech, a federal judge has thrown out a suit filed by a Baltimore Department of Public Works employee who alleged that she was unfairly punished for criticizing her boss in 1995.Jeanne Robinson alleged in her suit that after she criticized the agency's repairs to the Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill pond, Public Works Director George G. Balog pressured her to admit poor judgment, excluded her from meetings and refused her use of city vehicles and access to her work files.

Circuit Court Judge Cornelius F. Sybert Jr. said Friday that he will decide within 10 days whether to issue a summary judgment in a case brought by five neighborhood activists who want him to declare invalid the county's 1990 general plan and 1992 comprehensive rezoning of the west.A summary judgment is one in which both parties agree to the facts of the case and ask the judge for a binding ruling. If there is no such ruling, the case proceeds to trial.In the case before Judge Sybert, the facts are about the only thing to which the county and the complainants -- Susan Gray of Highland, Pauline Sieverding of Elkridge and three other activists -- agree.

Court hearing rescheduledA Howard Circuit Court hearing on the Long Reach village election controversy has been postponed until tomorrow at 2 p.m.The hearing was originally scheduled for yesterday, but was postponed because Judge Cornelius F. Sybert Jr. was on vacation.The Long Reach Community Association and the Columbia Association have entered motions asking for a summary judgment in the lawsuit filed by former Columbia Council member Gail Bailey. Summary judgment is a procedure for quickly disposing of a case and avoiding a trial if it is determined that facts are not in dispute.

A federal judge is standing by his original decision that state social service workers violated the civil rights of David and Marsha Hodge of Taylorsville.Senior Judge Herbert F. Murray denied a motion Jan. 22 by the Attorney General's Office to amend his September decision in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.State lawyers have not decided whether to appeal the judge's decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., said Helen Szablya, a spokeswoman for the Department of Human Resources.

BALTIMORE -- An attorney for the city of Cambridge asked a federal judge yesterday for a summary judgment in an $18 million wrongful death suit filed against the town and one of its police officers.The suit stemmed from a March 10, 1989 incident in which the ex-boyfriend of Carol L. Pinder set fire to her Cambridge home, killing her three children. Donald Pittman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three consecutive life terms.In her suit filed in U.S. District Court in March 1992, Carol L. Pinder claimed that Cambridge government and police failed to protect her and her family.

A Baltimore County Circuit Court judge refused yesterday t dismiss a lawsuit brought by the heirs of developer Ralph DeChiaro against Maryland National Bank.The ruling set the stage for an October trial on claims that the bankmishandled trust funds Mr. DeChiaro set up for the benefit of his three daughters and their children.Both sides had asked Judge John F. Fader II for a pretrial ruling that the case was so clear that their side would win at trial, which is set for Oct. 20. But the judge said issues of fact remain unresolved and that the law was not clear enough to justify a summary judgment.

ANNAPOLIS -- Baltimore chalked up another victory today in its effort to rid city neighborhoods of illegal billboards as the Court of Special Appeals upheld an order by a city judge requiring an advertising company to take down the signs within 60 days.But it is unclear how soon the signs, many of which advertise alcohol and cigarettes in poor, black neighborhoods, will come down. Boisclair Advertising Inc., which owns the signs, could ask the Court of Appeals to review the decision. And the signs could stay up until the legal fight is over.

Given the fact that billboards pushing alcohol and cigarettes have stood in city residential neighborhoods for decades, no great harm is done by allowing them to remain for a few months longer until the Special Court of Appeals hears the appeal of Boisclair Advertising.Still, it is a disappointment to community groups, which charge that such advertising preys on the poor and who thought they had made progress last October in Circuit Court. Boisclair has about 900 billboards in residential neighborhoods where, according to zoning regulations, they are not permitted.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled yesterday that pending an appeal, Boisclair Advertising Inc. does not have to remove the hundreds of billboards in Baltimore that were declared illegal by a Circuit Court judge last month.Attorneys for Boisclair had challenged the Oct. 24 decision by Circuit Judge Joseph H. H. Kaplan, who ordered Boisclair to remove the billboards that the city argued were in violation of zoning laws."What it boils down to is the judge was just wrong," said Walter E. Diercks, an attorney for Boisclair.

Girl, 16, reports robbery near Arundel light rail station A 16-year-old girl told Anne Arundel County police that she was robbed Monday evening when she got off a light rail train at the Nursery Road station in the 6800 block of Baltimore Annapolis Blvd. in Brooklyn Park. According to police, the teenager said she was approached in the area of Hoffman and Midland avenues by four women, who assaulted her and took her purse. The suspects then ran toward Belle Grove Road, the girl told police.

A Baltimore Circuit Court judge is to decide today whether to let stand a $60 million lawsuit by former Police Commissioner Kevin P. Clark against the city and Gov. Martin O'Malley, who, as mayor, fired Clark in 2004. Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. said at the conclusion of a hearing yesterday that he would rule within 24 hours on a motion by the city for summary judgment in the case. If he rules against the city and O'Malley, the case would likely go to trial, exposing a bitter fight over the actions that led to Clark's dismissal.

A federal district judge ruled yesterday that there are too many lingering questions about the motivation behind a Baltimore County law that limits the location of methadone clinics to determine without trial whether the county or the operator of one such clinic should prevail in a three-year-old lawsuit. Judge Catherine C. Blake denied motions by the county and A Helping Hand LLC for summary judgment in a suit in which the Pikesville clinic alleges that the county's zoning law is discriminatory.

The state's second-highest court ruled yesterday that a former congressman can proceed with a lawsuit against The Sun alleging trespassing because of an interview two reporters conducted inside his nursing home in 2002. The Maryland Court of Special Appeals set aside most of a Baltimore Circuit Court judge's summary judgment that had tossed out former U.S. Rep. Parren J. Mitchell's $251 million suit against the newspaper. Yesterday's ruling by a three-judge panel means that Mitchell can proceed with his lawsuit as it pertains to trespassing and intrusion.

The Federal Trade Commission's $172 million lawsuit against AmeriDebt founder Andris Pukke could go to trial as early as January, after a federal judge yesterday denied the government's request to rule in its favor without a trial. Also yesterday, Pukke's lawyer informed the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt that his client, whose assets were frozen by the same judge in April, intends to file for bankruptcy court protection soon. That move would not affect the FTC case but would put on hold, as far as Pukke is concerned, a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of consumers against Pukke and others.

A Carroll County Circuit Court judge said he would issue a decision after hearing arguments yesterday on three local developers' challenge to the legality of the county commissioners' yearlong freeze on new development. The developers' attorney, David K. Bowersox, said the law is the issue, and he asked for a summary judgment ruling in favor of his clients. Bowersox argued that the county commissioners had no authority to institute the freeze in June last year. Carroll does not have a charter government that would grant such power, he said, and the officials did not seek legislation in the General Assembly that would have allowed such an action.

The Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled yesterday that a Harundale man may pursue a sex discrimination case against the state, in which he claims a female co-worker was promoted instead of him because of her gender. John R. Williams, 61, sued the Maryland Department of Human Resources in 1998, claiming sex discrimination, age discrimination, constructive discharge and breach of contract after a woman was promoted to a newly created position that he thought he was more qualified to fill.

A lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland challenging Annapolis' anti-loitering law is moving to federal court. The city of Annapolis, responding to the ACLU's lawsuit filed Feb. 17 in Anne Arundel Circuit Court, successfully petitioned Friday to have the case moved to U.S. District Court in Baltimore. "We would prefer to respond to the lawsuit in federal court rather than state court," said City Attorney Paul G. Goetzke. The city has 15 days from Friday to answer the lawsuit or file a motion for summary judgment.

A federal judge in Baltimore will dismiss an antitrust suit filed by Merck Medco Managed Care Inc. against Rite Aid Corp., Giant Food Inc. and other drug chains.In a memo dated Friday, U.S. District Judge Benson E. Legg informed the parties of his intentions to save them the trouble of preparing for the trial, scheduled to begin May 26.A formal order dismissing the case will be filed by the end of the month, he wrote in the memo. The suit claimed the drug chains had conspired in their refusal to participate in a prescription drug plan for 90,000 Maryland state employees and retirees that Medco was to have managed.

Saying a worker's comments were not constitutionally protected speech, a federal judge has thrown out a suit filed by a Baltimore Department of Public Works employee who alleged that she was unfairly punished for criticizing her boss in 1995.Jeanne Robinson alleged in her suit that after she criticized the agency's repairs to the Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill pond, Public Works Director George G. Balog pressured her to admit poor judgment, excluded her from meetings and refused her use of city vehicles and access to her work files.