Court Opinion

ID: 9480196
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:41:02.988555+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:32.544580
License: Public Domain

ALEXANDER HARVEY, II, Chief District Judge,
dissenting:
Because I believe that the district judge properly applied the Maryland law of issue preclusion in this case, I respectfully dissent.
As the majority has correctly determined, Maryland law is determinative. The question presented is whether the issue raised and decided in the state court is identical to the issue raised and decided by the district judge in this case. It is undisputed that appellant O’Reilly was a party in the prior action in the state court and that an adverse decision was rendered on the merits. The majority has held, however, that because the language of the state court’s opinion is ambiguous, it cannot be said with any degree of certainty that the state court decided the identical issue raised in federal court by appellant’s § 1983 action. The majority has ruled that, absent a clear identity of issues, appellant should not be collaterally estopped from asserting that his residence was im-permissibly used in determining his familiarity with Montgomery County.
From my review of the record before the state court and the record below, I believe that a clear identity of issues exists and that the state court decided the same issues raised in the action which appellant O’Reilly filed in federal court. Under Maryland law, one of the requirements for the application of issue preclusion against a party is that such party must have been afforded a day in court on the particular issue in question and a full and fair opportunity to litigate that issue. Pat Perusse Realty v. Lingo, 249 Md. 33, 45, 238 A.2d 100 (1968); see also Welsh v. Gerber Products, Inc., 315 Md. 510, 518, 555 A.2d 486 (1989). The record of the state court proceedings discloses that appellant O’Reilly raised in that court both the privileges and immunities issue and the commerce clause issue. Moreover, in his opinion which affirmed the decision of the Montgomery County Board of Appeals, the state judge indicated that he had considered appellant’s constitutional claims and rejected them.
In his memorandum in support of his appeal filed in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on September 23, 1986, appellant had presented two issues: (1) whether the County Board of Appeals erred in relying on mere residence in Maryland to fulfill the regulation’s requirement that an applicant demonstrate familiarity with the geographical area to be served, and (2) whether the regulation, if correctly interpreted by the Board, was repugnant to the privileges and immunities clause and to the commerce clause. That memorandum then discussed in some detail the constitutional issues raised and cited many of the same cases which counsel relied upon below and which appellant has brought to the attention of this Court in this appeal. Indeed, appellant’s memorandum filed in state court closely parallels the brief prepared by appellant’s counsel and filed below in opposition to the motion to dismiss which was granted by the district judge. Moreover, the same cases cited in state court have been included in the brief filed by appellant in connection with this appeal.
In the state court proceedings, the County Board of Appeals, appellee herein, filed on November 3, 1986, a memorandum in opposition to appellant’s memorandum which likewise fully argued the privileges and immunities and commerce clause issues. Appellant’s counsel then filed in the state court on November 10, 1986, a reply memorandum in which the constitutional arguments were further discussed. A hearing was held in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County on February 5, 1987, at which time the state judge had before him these memoranda in support of and in opposition to the constitutional claims.
In his Memorandum Opinion and Order of March 4, 1987, the state court judge affirmed the decision of the County Board of Appeals. In reaching his decision, the state judge said the following:
*794Mr. O’Reilly claims that the key consideration in the Board’s decision was geographical familiarity with Montgomery County, and that the Board illegally linked this to residence in the county. He argues that the decision of the Board was protectionist, and asks the Court to invalidate it, utilizing a strict standard of constitutional scrutiny.
(Emphasis added.)
In using the words “protectionist” and “constitutional scrutiny,” the state judge indicated that he had considered the privileges and immunities and commerce clause issues discussed by the parties in the mem-oranda before him. Nevertheless, the majority has declined to apply the principle of issue preclusion in this case because the majority has concluded that the opinion is ambiguous. Concededly, the opinion does not discuss in any detail the constitutional claims which were asserted by appellant in state court. But the claims were clearly before the court for resolution. Even if the state court’s discussion of the constitutional issues was less than ideal, the dispute as to those issues was finally resolved. Insofar as principles of collateral estoppel are concerned, finality of the judgment and not correctness of the decision is the key consideration. See Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 13, 29 (1982).
I believe that Maryland law does not require that detailed findings and conclusions must have been made by a court in the first action before principles of issue preclusion may be applied in the second action. What is required is that the party had a day in court on the issue in question, that such party was given a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue and that an adverse decision was rendered. As I read the record here, all of these requirements were met in this case. In applying principles of collateral estoppel, a federal court does not review a state court judgment for error, but rather looks only to finality. Rollins v. Dwyer, 666 F.2d 141, 148 (5th Cir.1983).
In MGA, Inc. v. General Motors Corp., 827 F.2d 729 (Fed.Cir.1987), the court was faced with a similar issue. In collaterally attacking a state court judgment, the appellant had there argued that the state court proceedings were arbitrary and that the state appellate court “had made a puzzling, transparent, and strained attempt to clothe the [lower] court decision with a reasonable legal basis.” MGA, 827 F.2d at 731. The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit nevertheless held that the collateral attack was barred by principles of issue preclusion. In so holding the Federal Circuit in MGA stated that a court may not employ its own rules of issue preclusion in determining the effects of state court judgments. MGA, 827 F.2d at 732. A federal court must accept the rules chosen by the state from which the judgment is taken. Kremer v. Chemical Construction Corp., 456 U.S. 461, 482, 102 S.Ct. 1883, 1898, 72 L.Ed.2d 262 (1982). State proceedings need merely satisfy the applicable requirements of the due process clause in order to have preclusion effect. Kremer, 456 U.S. at 481, 102 S.Ct. at 1897. These principles apply even though the state court proceedings may not be a complete or clear analysis of the law. MGA, 827 F.2d at 731.
As this Court has previously held, the proper forum in which to challenge a state court judgment is the judicial system of that state rather than federal district court. Robart Wood & Wire Products v. Namaco Industries, Inc., 797 F.2d 176, 178 (4th Cir.1986). If a state court has misinterpreted or misapplied the law, the proper avenue by which to correct such legal errors is to appeal from the judgment, not to seek collateral review. Underwriters National Assurance Co. v. North Carolina Life & Accident & Health Ins. Guar. Assn., 455 U.S. 691, 714, 102 S.Ct. 1357, 1371, 71 L.Ed.2d 558 (1982). In this particular case, appellant did not appeal the state court’s decision rejecting his constitutional claim. Rather, he filed a § 1983 suit in federal court raising the same claims.
Under the circumstances here, I believe that the district court properly determined that principles of issue preclusion prohibited O’Reilly from re-litigating in federal court claims which had been previously re*795jected by the state court. I would therefore affirm.