Court Opinion

ID: 9954186
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-25 19:07:01.926355+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:11:52.670044
License: Public Domain

Circuit Court for Allegany County
             Case No. 01-C-12-036780

                                                      IN THE SUPREME COURT

                                                          OF MARYLAND

                                                           Petition No. 293

                                                        September Term, 2023

                                                          WAYNE RESPER

                                                                   v.

                                                    SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF
                                                        PUBLIC SAFETY AND
                                                      CORRECTIONAL SERVICES

                                                           Fader, C.J.,
                                                           Watts,
                                                           Hotten,
                                                           Booth,
                                                           Biran,
                                                           Gould,
                                                           Eaves,

                                                                              JJ.

                                                       PER CURIAM ORDER
Pursuant to the Maryland Uniform Electronic Legal
Materials Act (§§ 10-1601 et seq. of the State
Government Article) this document is authentic.         Filed: March 25, 2024
                  2024.03.25
                    14:03:19
                     '00'04-

Gregory Hilton, Clerk
                                              *
                                                      IN THE
                                              *
 WAYNE RESPER                                         SUPREME COURT
                                              *
                                                      OF MARYLAND
 v.                                           *
                                                      Petition No. 293
                                              *       September Term, 2023
 SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF
 PUBLIC SAFETY AND                            *       (No. 1732, Sept. Term, 2023
 CORRECTIONAL SERVICES                                Appellate Court of Maryland)
                                              *
                                                      (Cir. Ct. No. 01-C-12-036780)
                                              *

                                         ORDER

         In the Circuit Court for Allegany County, the petitioner, Wayne Resper, filed a

motion to set aside a prior order that required him to seek leave of court before filing new

papers. When that motion was denied in an order dated September 23, 2023, Mr. Resper

simultaneously filed documents titled “Notice of Appeal” and “Application for Leave to

Appeal.”     Both documents were directed toward the circuit court’s September 23, 2023

order.    Because the petition could proceed only pursuant to an application for leave to

appeal in this action, this Court will address the combined filing as an application for leave

to appeal.

         The circuit court then entered an order, dated November 3, 2023, in which the court:

(1) noted Mr. Resper’s filing; (2) stated that Mr. Resper, having been found to be a

frivolous filer pursuant to § 5-1005(a) of the Courts & Judicial Proceedings Article, was

not permitted to “file any further civil actions without leave of court” (quoting Md. Code
Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 5-1005(c)(1)); and (3) stated that the court “declines to grant

leave in this action.”

       The Appellate Court treated the circuit court’s November 3 order as effectively

striking the petitioner’s application for leave to appeal.     Accordingly, the Clerk of the

Appellate Court issued an order administratively closing the case.     Mr. Resper then sought

review in this Court pursuant to a petition for writ of certiorari.

       After initial consideration of the petition, the Court requested that the Department

of Public Safety and Correctional Services respond to the following question:        “Whether

the Court should issue a writ of certiorari on the question of whether Md. Code Ann., Cts.

& Jud. Proc. § 5-1005 applies to notices of appeal.”           The Department submitted a

response in which its primary argument was that this Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain

the petition.   The Department argued that this Court should consider the Appellate Court’s

action as a denial of an application for leave to appeal, which is not subject to further review

in this Court. See Mahai v. State, 474 Md. 648 (2021).         However, the Appellate Court

did not consider Mr. Resper’s application for leave to appeal at all, much less exercise its

discretion to deny the application.    Instead, the Appellate Court administratively closed

the case based on the circuit court’s order declining to grant leave to appeal.

       In footnote 4 of the Department’s answer to the petition, the Department

acknowledged that the circuit court lacked the authority to deny Mr. Resper’s filing “on

the purported § 5-1005 grounds or otherwise.”       The Department explained:

           [T]he appellate court has the power to deny an application for leave to
                                               2
          appeal under Rule 8-204. Even if treated as a notice of appeal, Rule
          8-203 grants power to the circuit court to strike notices of appeal for four
          reasons that are procedural or ministerial in nature. A circuit court is
          not permitted “to preclude review of its own decision by striking an
          appeal because it believes . . . that the appellant is not entitled to take the
          appeal, or for any other reason . . . other than the four articulated in Rule
          8-203[.]” County Comm’rs of Carroll County v. Carroll Craft Retail,
          Inc., 384 Md. 23, 42 (2005). In all other cases, “it is the appellate court
          that must order the dismissal.” Id. None of the reasons enumerated in
          Rule 8-203 were invoked here.

       This Court agrees that the circuit court lacked the authority to deny or strike

Mr. Resper’s application for leave to appeal pursuant to § 5-1005 of the Courts & Judicial

Proceedings Article.

       Accordingly, upon consideration of the petition and the response, it is this 25th day

of March 2024, by the Supreme Court of Maryland,

       ORDERED that the petition is granted; and it is further

       ORDERED that the order of the Appellate Court of Maryland administratively

closing the appeal record is vacated; and it is further

       ORDERED that this case is remanded to the Appellate Court with instructions to

vacate the circuit court’s November 3, 2023 order and direct the circuit court to transmit

the record on appeal.       Thereafter, the Appellate Court can address Mr. Resper’s

application for leave to appeal in the ordinary course.

                                                          /s/ Matthew J. Fader
                                                              Chief Justice

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