Opinion ID: 2385421
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Collateral Estoppel/Double Jeopardy/Res Judicata Issue

Text: The grand jury of Frederick County was called into special session after the allegations here arose. Evidence pertaining to this matter was presented to it. It appears that it received evidence similar to that placed before the Commission. It failed to return any indictments. This failure generates the argument in the first exception. Before there can be double jeopardy there must be jeopardy. Bennett was not placed in jeopardy when a grand jury considered whether it should return an indictment. There is nothing to prevent a subsequent grand jury from indicting him. It is generally held with respect to a jury trial that a defendant is placed in jeopardy when the jury is selected and sworn and as to a non-jury trial when the judge begins to hear or receive evidence. Blondes v. State, 273 Md. 435, 444, 330 A.2d 169, 173-74 (1975). Hence, there can be no double jeopardy here. Moreover, in the analogous situation of an attorney grievance proceeding we said in Maryland St. Bar Ass'n v. Sugarman, 273 Md. 306, 318, 329 A.2d 1, 7 (1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 974, 95 S.Ct. 1397, 43 L.Ed.2d 654 (1975), [W]e hold that this proceeding is not a `criminal case' within the purview of ... the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This proceeding is not a criminal case. Res judicata and collateral estoppel were discussed in Cook v. State, 281 Md. 665, 381 A.2d 671, cert. denied, 439 U.S. 839, 99 S.Ct. 126, 58 L.Ed.2d 136 (1978). There Judge Levine said for the Court: It is beyond question that the closely related doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel apply to criminal as well as civil causes. Rouse v. State, 202 Md. 481, 486, 97 A.2d 285, cert. denied, 346 U.S. 865 [74 S.Ct. 104, 98 L.Ed. 376] (1953); State v. Coblentz, 169 Md. 159, 164-66, 180 A. 266 (1935); see also United States v. Oppenheimer, 242 U.S. 85, 87, 37 S.Ct. 68 [69], 61 L.Ed. 161 (1916). See generally Annot. 9 A.L.R.3d 203 (1966). Suffice it to say that under the doctrine of res judicata, sometimes known as direct estoppel, a final and valid judgment rendered in one proceeding between two parties operates as a bar in a second proceeding between them on all matters that have been or could have been decided in the original litigation, where the second proceeding involves the same subject matter as the first cause of action. MPC, Inc. v. Kenny, 279 Md. 29, 32, 367 A.2d 486 (1977); Sterling v. Local 438, 207 Md. 132, 140-41, 113 A.2d 389, cert. denied, 350 U.S. 875 [76 S.Ct. 119, 100 L.Ed. 773] (1955). On the other hand, where a prior judgment is relied upon to preclude a second adjudication of some previously determined factual or legal issue in subsequent litigation between the same parties concerning a different cause of action, courts apply the doctrine of collateral estoppel. MPC, Inc. v. Kenny, 279 Md. at 32-33 [367 A.2d 486]. See also Wash. Sub. San. Comm'n v. TKU Associates, 281 Md. 1, 18-19, 376 A.2d 505 (1977). Under this latter doctrine, once an issue of ultimate fact has been determined by a final and valid judgment, that issue cannot again be litigated between the same parties in any future lawsuit. Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 443, 90 S.Ct. 1189 [1194], 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970); Cousins v. State, 277 Md. 383, 398, 354 A.2d 825, cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1027 [97 S.Ct. 652, 50 L.Ed.2d 631] (1976). 281 Md. at 668-69, 381 A.2d at 673 (footnote omitted). As Judge Davidson pointed out for the Court in Powers v. State, 285 Md. 269, 283-84, 401 A.2d 1031, cert. denied, 444 U.S. 937, 100 S.Ct. 288, 62 L.Ed.2d 197 (1979), in a criminal context, [T]he primary purpose of the doctrine of collateral estoppel is to protect an accused from the unfairness of being required to relitigate an issue which has once been determined in his favor by a verdict of acquittal. The doctrine is not applicable here. The failure of the grand jury to indict is not a binding final judgment. We hold that the failure of the grand jury to indict Judge Bennett does not prevent the bringing of charges by the Judicial Disabilities Commission.