Opinion ID: 2292925
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Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Rulings on the Pleadings

Text: The petition of appeal did not in terms allege that the appellants were persons aggrieved by the Board's order. It did, however, state that the appeal was filed pursuant to Maryland Rules B1 through B12. The order for appeal, in support of which the petition was filed, contained the same statement. The pertinent Rules, therefore, were incorporated by reference in both the order and the petition. Rule B3 states that an appeal may be taken by a person now or hereafter authorized by statute to appeal. The applicable statute authorizes appeals by a person aggrieved by the decision. Montgomery County Code, Section 2-88 (1960) (now Section 2-92, 1965 recodification). See Pattison v. Corby, 226 Md. 97, 100, 172 A.2d 490 (1961). It is a reasonable implication of the order and the petition that the appeal is taken by aggrieved persons, for only such persons are authorized to take an appeal under the Rules pursuant to which the appellants state they are acting. The order for appeal was filed within the time set forth in the Rules. In that respect, the legal situation differs from that presented in Warmack v. Bradley Club, Inc., 242 Md. 394, 219 A.2d 12 (1966) and Badian v. Hickey, 228 Md. 334, 179 A.2d 873 (1962). Unlike the case of Salisbury Bd. v. Bounds, 240 Md. 547, 214 A.2d 810 (1965), in which it was held that the appeal should have been dismissed because the errors committed by the agency were not set forth in the order for appeal within the time required by Maryland Rule B2 e, the petition of appeal in the case before us was filed within the time limit prescribed by the Rule and sets forth in detail the errors claimed to have been committed by the Board. Both the Board and the Frys were given due notice of the filing of the order and petition. The appellees knew from the proceedings before the Board that the parties to the appeal included some of the protestants, who, through their counsel, had given the location of the properties which they owned and had protested, as adverse to their interests, the granting of the application for the special exception and had objected to the Board's rulings and procedure. Where there is compliance with the substance of the requirements of statutes or rules and the other parties have not been prejudiced, technical irregularities cannot be made the basis for depriving persons of the opportunity to assert their legal rights, Board of County Comm'rs v. Kines, 239 Md. 119, 125, 210 A.2d 367 (1965); Irvine v. Montgomery County, 239 Md. 113, 117, 210 A.2d 359 (1965). Because of the factors to which we have referred, we think that the appellants' failure to allege expressly in the petition of appeal that they were aggrieved parties whose property interests are or will be adversely affected by the Board's order was, at most, such a technical irregularity. The demurrer should have been overruled. We find, further, that the trial judge erred in denying the appellants' motion for leave to amend. Maryland Rule 320 d 1(b) provides that an amendment shall not be made without leave of court but leave to amend shall be freely granted in order to promote justice. We have repeatedly held that an order denying or allowing amendment will not be reviewed in the absence of a clear showing of an abuse of discretion. Blevins v. Mullan Contracting Co., 235 Md. 188, 194, 201 A.2d 348 (1964); Carder v. Steiner, 225 Md. 271, 277, 170 A.2d 220 (1961), and cases therein cited. We re-affirm that rule, but, in this case, we are constrained to hold that in denying leave to amend the court below went beyond the proper limits of discretionary action. Ordinarily, our holding that the demurrer to the petition of appeal should have been overruled would make moot the question of the judge's refusal to permit the requested amendment. However, the appellants' request to amend the petition by making the allegations set forth was proper and perhaps necessary. The requested amendments were specific allegations as to the aggrievement of each of the appellants. The allegation in the petition which, as we have held, implied that they were aggrieved parties, without the supporting details of the requested amendments, of itself might not have been sufficient for them to show why they had standing to appeal. Had the motion been granted, the issue as to standing would have been clarified by the raising of pertinent questions of fact and law and the administration of justice would thereby have been served. In determining whether an abuse of discretion has been shown, the reasons why the court decided as it did may be apposite, whether those reasons were stated or implied. Blevins, supra, and cases therein cited. In this case, Judge Shook carefully set forth the reasons for her decision. In large part, she rested her denial of the motion upon her conclusions that the legal contentions of the appellants as to errors made by the Board were without merit. [1] We differ from the trial judge as to at least two of these conclusions, and hold, as to them, that the contentions of the appellants are correct. For the reasons which will be given hereafter, we have decided that the denial by the Board of the appellants' request to cross-examine the applicants' witnesses was a violation of their rights, and that the proposed use of the property involved violated the building coverage and density requirements of the zoning ordinance, as we construe it. The judge's determination that the amendment should be denied, therefore, was based on conclusions of law which we find erroneous. Beyond this, the judge erred in holding, on the circumstances of this case, that the appellants should not be allowed to allege that they are persons aggrieved by the Board's decision, because, in her opinion, the record of the proceedings before the Board contains no evidence to show aggrievement. At the beginning of the proceedings before the Board on May 20, one of the attorneys for the protestants stated that, among others, he represented two of the appellants, whose addresses he gave. It is conceded that these appellants lived respectively about one block and three blocks from the property involved. Moreover, one of the reasons given by the appellants in their petition of appeal as to why the Board's action should be declared null and void was that, during the hearing, without prior warning or precedent, the Board imposed upon appellants an arbitrary time limitation of 50 minutes for the completion of their case and arbitrarily and capriciously overruled their motion for continuance of the hearing to a later date. Counsel for the appellants protested the time limitation and asked the Board for a continuance so that interested property owners in the immediate vicinity of the property, including one of the appellants, could show how they would be adversely affected by the granting of the special exception. We do not reach the question of whether this aspect of the Board's procedure violated due process, but in any case we believe it was essential, for the promotion of justice, that the appellants should have been accorded the opportunity to offer testimony to the court to show they were aggrieved persons, when that opportunity, whether through improper procedure or misunderstanding, had been denied them by the Board. When the issue of the standing of an appellant to appeal is raised in the court in which review of the administrative action is asked, we have approved the practice of trial judges in permitting testimony on the point to be taken before them, see e.g., Chatham Corp. v. Bellram, 243 Md. 138, 148, 220 A.2d 589 (1966) and Wilkinson v. Atkinson, 242 Md. 231, 218 A.2d 503 (1966). The question is not one of taking additional testimony on the merits of the substantive issues decided by the Board [compare Suburban Properties, Inc. v. Rockville Council, 241 Md. 1, 5-6, 215 A.2d 200 (1965) and cases therein cited], but of determining whether the appellants have the requisite standing to have those issues reviewed. When, as in this case, there is a serious question as to whether the appellants were wrongfully deprived by the Board of the right to offer testimony as to their specific interests and how those interests would be adversely affected by the granting of the petition, there is all the more reason for the trial court to permit the filing of allegations and the taking of testimony thereunder to show the appellants' standing to appeal. In no other way, in our opinion, on the facts, could justice be served. In Brucker v. Benson, 209 Md. 247, 254-56, 121 A.2d 230 (1956), the plaintiff in a divorce case, after the taking of testimony but before entry of a final decree, sought leave to amend her petition to present claims based on alleged ownership of personal property. Leave was denied. The Court remanded the case on the ground that, while ordinarily the grant or denial of leave to amend is within the discretion of the trial court, the Chancellor had abused his discretion in denying the permission asked. Chief Judge Brune, for the Court, said: We think, as we have said, that the appellant is entitled to present her claims    We are, therefore, of the view that leave to amend ought to have been granted and that the chancellor went beyond the proper limits of discretionary action in denying it. 209 Md. at 256. In the present case, we are of the opinion that the reasons for holding the trial judge went beyond the proper limits of discretionary action in denying leave to amend are even stronger than they were in Brucker. The judgment of the trial court, therefore, must be reversed and the case remanded for further proceedings. While it is apparent that one of the appellants lives in a residential neighborhood only approximately one block from the proposed apartment hotel, and another about three blocks away, and while proffers were duly made before the Board to show how the appellants were aggrieved, the proffers were denied and we do not have sufficient testimony before us, in the present posture of the case, to determine the standing of the appellants as a matter of law. We proceed, however, to give our reasons for holding that the Board's action in denying the appellants the right of cross-examination was arbitrary, capricious and illegal, and that the Board and the court erred in their construction of the zoning ordinance. If it is finally determined that any of the appellants has standing to appeal, our conclusion as to the proper construction of the zoning ordinance will require a reversal of the Board's order in granting the special exception without further proceedings.