COURTS
COURTS
SB 58 (Chairman, JPR Ctte.) and HB 87 (Chairman JUD Ctte.) – Both by request of the MD Judicial Conference) - District Court – Commissioners - Jurisdiction. Both bills allow District Court commissioners to serve temporarily in any county in the State without emergency designation by the Chief Judge of the District Court. Commissioners are required to be residents of the counties in which they serve. The temporary assignment cannot exceed 30 days. There are more than 250 commissioners in the State appointed by the administrative judge of each district with the approval of the Chief Judge of the District Court. SB 58 heard 1/17 and HB 87 hearing 1/29.
HB 20 (Smigiel) - District Court Small Claims Action proposes to increase the maximum amount of small claims actions from $5,000 to $10,000. Also a civil case appeal from the District Court to the Circuit Court must be based on the District Court record but an appeal of a small claim action is tried de novo. Applies to cases filed after 10/1/08, Heard 1/15 by JUD.
HB 77 (Smigiel) - Cameras in the Court Room – Criminal Sentencing Hearings. The bill is exact language to HB 207 -2007 which received an unfavorable committee report. It is a narrower version of bills filed in 2005 and 2006 on media coverage in the courtroom both of which received unfavorable reports. Hrg 2/5 JUD.
Grace Kubofcik