Opinion ID: 1925621
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Maryland Long-Arm Statute and the Conspiracy Theory

Text: We have long recognized that the General Assembly, in enacting the long-arm statute, intended to expand the boundaries of permissible in personam jurisdiction to the limits permitted by the Federal Constitution. Geelhoed, 277 Md. at 224, 352 A.2d at 821; see § 6-101(b) (It is the intention of the General Assembly to extend the personal jurisdiction ... of the courts of the state ... to the fullest extent permitted by the Constitution and laws of the United States.). [5] Consequently, we interpret the long-arm statute in light of this intention, rendering where possible an interpretation consistent with the requirements imposed by the Due Process Clause. See, e.g., Geelhoed, 277 Md. at 224, 352 A.2d at 821. [6] Applying this principle of statutory construction, we hold that a co-conspirator is an agent within the meaning of § 6-103(b) when the requirements of the conspiracy theory are met. The issue before us is one of statutory interpretation, and we therefore apply well-settled principles of statutory construction. The cardinal rule of statutory interpretation is to ascertain and effectuate the intent of the Legislature. Kushell v. DNR, 385 Md. 563, 576, 870 A.2d 186, 193 (2005). If the statutory language is unambiguous when construed according to its ordinary and everyday meaning, then we give effect to the statute as it is written. Collins v. State, 383 Md. 684, 689, 861 A.2d 727, 730 (2004). If, however, the statutory text reveals ambiguity, then the job of this Court is to resolve that ambiguity in light of the legislative intent, using all the resources and tools of statutory construction at our disposal. Price v. State, 378 Md. 378, 387, 835 A.2d 1221, 1226 (2003). When we do find such an ambiguity, we look at the meaning of the statutory language at issue in light of the objectives and purposes of the [legislative] enactment. Id. at 388, 835 A.2d at 1226. As a matter of substantive law, a conspirator who performs an act in furtherance of the conspiracy does so as an agent for his co-conspirators. With respect to criminal conspiracies, Maryland has long recognized the common-law rule that the existence of a conspiracy creates an agency relationship between the co-conspirators, and that this relationship serves as the basis for holding one co-conspirator liable for some criminal acts of other co-conspirators. In Campbell v. State, 293 Md. 438, 443, 444 A.2d 1034, 1037 (1982), we examined criminal co-conspirator liability in the context of reaffirming the common law agency theory of felony murder. We reaffirmed the common-law approach to determining the scope of the felony-murder rule, and rejected a broad application of the proximate cause theory of felony-murder taken by some jurisdictions. See id. at 450-52, 444 A.2d at 1041-42. [7] In the course of explaining our common-law agency approach to felony-murder, we relied on the classic statement of the agency theory given by the court in Commonwealth v. Campbell, 89 Mass. 541 (1863), quoting from the court's opinion as follows: `There can be no doubt of the general rule of law, that a person engaged in the commission of an unlawful act is legally responsible for all the consequences which may naturally or necessarily flow from it, and that, if he combines and confederates with others to accomplish an illegal purpose, he is liable criminaliter for the acts of each and all who participate with him in the execution of the unlawful design. As they all act in concert for a common object, each is the agent of all the others, and the acts done are therefore the acts of each and all.       No person can be held guilty of homicide unless the act is either actually or constructively his, and it cannot be his act in either sense unless committed by his own hand or by some one acting in concert with him or in furtherance of a common object or purpose.' Campbell, 293 Md. at 443-44, 444 A.2d at 1038 (quoting Campbell, 89 Mass. at 543-44 (emphasis added)). In Campbell, we recognized that the existence of a criminal conspiracy creates an agency relationship between the participants in the conspiracy, and we further recognized that this agency relationship establishes the scope of the extent to which the actions of one co-conspirator can be attributed to another for purposes of the felony-murder rule. See also Watkins v. State, 357 Md. 258, 269-73, 744 A.2d 1, 6-9 (2000) (discussing agency theory); State v. Stouffer, 352 Md. 97, 116, 721 A.2d 207, 216 (1998) (same). Maryland law has also long recognized civil conspiracy as a basis for tort liability. As far back as Kimball v. Harman, 34 Md. 407 (1871), it was well-established that co-conspirators could be subjected to civil tort liability based on acts taken in furtherance of the conspiracy by members of the conspiracy. In Harman, we stated as follows: There is no doubt of the right of a plaintiff to maintain an action on the case against several, for conspiring to do, and actually doing, some unlawful act to his damage. But it is equally well-established, that no such action can be maintained unless the plaintiff can show that he has in fact been aggrieved, or has sustained actual legal damage by some overt act, done in pursuance and execution of the conspiracy. Harman, 34 Md. at 409. We have held consistently that civil conspiracy is not a separate tort capable of independently sustaining an award of damages in the absence of other tortious injury to the plaintiff. Hoffman, 385 Md. at 25, 867 A.2d at 290 (internal citations and quotations omitted). Thus, `[n]o action in tort lies for conspiracy to do something unless the acts actually done, if done by one person, would constitute a tort.' Alleco v. Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, 340 Md. 176, 190, 665 A.2d 1038, 1045 (1995) (quoting Domchick v. Greenbelt Consumer Services, 200 Md. 36, 42, 87 A.2d 831, 834 (1952)). Nonetheless, where the acts done in furtherance of the conspiracy by the members of the conspiracy constitute a separate tort, these acts are attributed to other members of the conspiracy for purposes of establishing civil tort liability over them. In this respect, civil conspiracy is similar to criminal conspiracy: both with civil conspiracy and with criminal conspiracy, the acts of one co-conspirator in furtherance of the conspiracy are regarded as acts of other co-conspirators for purposes of establishing liability (civil or criminal, as the case may be) over the other co-conspirator. Thus, we have recognized that civil co-conspirators, like criminal co-conspirators, act as agents of one other when engaging in acts in furtherance of their conspiracy. In Western Maryland Dairy v. Chenowith, 180 Md. 236, 23 A.2d 660 (1942), we stated as follows: A fraudulent conspiracy, sufficient to serve as the basis for an action in a civil case, is the confederation of two or more persons to cheat and defraud, when the design has actually been executed by the confederates with resulting damage to their victim. Rent-A-Car Co. v. Globe & Rutgers Fire Insurance Co., 161 Md. 249, 260, 156 A. 847 . When individuals associate themselves together in an unlawful enterprise, any act done by one of the conspirators is in legal contemplation the act of all. The mind of each being intent upon a common object, and the energy of each being enlisted in a common purpose, each is the agent of all the others, and the acts done and words spoken during the existence of the enterprise are consequently the acts and words of all. Id. at 243, 23 A.2d at 664 (emphasis added). Despite the long-standing characterization of co-conspirators as agents of one another under Maryland law, appellants argue that the conspiracy theory of personal jurisdiction is inconsistent with the text of the long-arm statute because the substantive law of agency requires for the creation of an agency relationship that the principal has the right to control the agent. See, e.g., Beyond, 388 Md. at 27, 878 A.2d at 583. We are not persuaded. As noted above, we have long recognized that the intent of the General Assembly in enacting § 6-103(b) was to permit all exercises of personal jurisdiction that are consistent with due process. Therefore, given our conclusion above that the conspiracy theory of jurisdiction is consistent with due process, and the support in Maryland law for the proposition that co-conspirators act as agents of one another when they act in furtherance of a conspiracy, we conclude that the General Assembly intended a broad construction of the term agent and did not intend to require a showing that one exercises control over the other. We hold that when the requirements of the conspiracy theory are met, one co-conspirator may be the agent of another co-conspirator within the meaning of § 6-103(b).