East v. Gilchrist

Citation445 A.2d 343,293 Md. 453
Decision Date20 May 1982
Docket NumberNo. 134,134
PartiesSherrod EAST et al. v. Charles W. GILCHRIST et al.
CourtCourt of Appeals of Maryland

William J. Chen, Jr., Rockville (Chen, Walsh & Tecler, Rockville, on the brief), for appellants.

David MacDonald, Rockville, amicus curiae of The Mayor and Council of Laytonsville, on the brief.

Albert D. Brault and Nathan J. Greenbaum, Asst. County Atty., Rockville (J. Gregory Boyland, Paul A. McGuckian, County Atty., and Robert G. Tobin, Jr., Deputy County Atty., Rockville, on the brief), for appellees.

Daniel J. Cassidy, Rockville, amicus curiae brief of Mount Zion Citizens Association, on the brief.

Argued before MURPHY, C. J., and SMITH, ELDRIDGE, COLE, DAVIDSON, RODOWSKY and COUCH, JJ.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

The petitioners in this case seek review of an interlocutory ruling by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, which was purportedly entered as a final judgment pursuant to Maryland Rule 605 a, and from which an immediate appeal was taken. This ruling declared invalid a section of the Montgomery County Charter which forbids the county from expending funds to operate landfill refuse disposal systems located on residentially zoned land. In spite of the obvious importance of this question, we are forced to dismiss the appeal because the matter is not properly before us.

The relevant procedural background is as follows. Pursuant to directives issued by the State Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in December 1977, Montgomery County began to plan for the development of a sanitary landfill. A site for the facility was identified one mile southeast of the town of Laytonsville in an area zoned R-2 residential, single family dwellings, and the county submitted various permit applications to the State.

Meanwhile, residents of Montgomery County initiated a proposed charter amendment which was placed on the ballot at the November 1978 general election. County voters approved the amendment, which became Art. 3, § 311A, of the county charter. Section 311A states:

" § 311A. Limitations on Expenditures for Landfills in Residential Zones

No expenditure of County Funds shall be made or authorized for the operation of a landfill system of refuse disposal on land zoned for residential use." 1

The county apparently continued to proceed with its development of the Laytonsville site in spite of § 311A, and actual construction work has apparently taken place.

This case was commenced in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County in January 1981 as a class action by a member of the House of Delegates from Montgomery County and five Montgomery County taxpayers who alleged that they owned property adjacent to or in the immediate vicinity of the landfill site. Numerous current and former county officials, as well as the county itself, were named as defendants. The plaintiffs sought a declaratory judgment that § 311A is valid and that the defendants had violated the section. In addition, the plaintiffs sought writs of mandamus and injunctions to require that the defendants comply with § 311A. Apart from the prayers for relief based upon § 311A, the plaintiffs also alleged that the defendants' actions in connection with the landfill violated other provisions of state law, and they requested declaratory, mandamus and injunctive relief based upon the other alleged violations. Finally, the plaintiffs sought a judgment compelling the defendants to pay Montgomery County $20 million as "reimbursement" for "tax dollars wrongfully and illegally appropriated and expended" and a judgment for the plaintiffs for $1 million for personal injuries, inconvenience and diminution of property values. The prayers for monetary relief were apparently based upon the violation of § 311A as well as the alleged violations of state law.

More than four months after commencement of the plaintiffs' action, the defendants filed a "counterclaim" in which they also sought a declaratory judgment concerning the validity of § 311A, arguing that the section is invalid because, inter alia, "it is an unlawful attempt to usurp powers reposed solely in the Montgomery County Executive and Council [and] is an unlawful attempt to legislate by referendum." Defendants also moved for "a separate trial on the issue of law created by the counterclaim," and the plaintiffs agreed to this procedure. The trial court granted this motion; memoranda were filed; and arguments were heard.

On July 29, 1981, the trial court filed a declaratory judgment which began by reciting that "[t]his matter is before the Court on defendants' counterclaim for declaratory judgment raising the issue of the validity of § 311A, a citizen initiated amendment to the Montgomery County Charter." The court went on to declare that § 311A was invalid in light of Art. XI-A of the Maryland Constitution and this Court's decision in Cheeks v. Cedlair Corp., 287 Md. 595, 415 A.2d 255 (1980). The trial court also ruled that § 311A was invalid as a public local law which conflicted with a public general law, the Regional District Act, Maryland Code (1957, 1978 Repl. Vol.), Art. 66D, § 1-101 et seq. The circuit court concluded the declaratory judgment as follows:

"ORDERED that pursuant to Rule 605 the declaratory judgment rendered herein be entered by the clerk as a final judgment upon the issue raised by the counterclaim herein, and it is further

"ORDERED that the Court expressly determines pursuant to Rule 605 there is no just reason for delay." 2

The plaintiffs took an appeal from this "judgment" to the Court of Special Appeals, and, before any further proceedings occurred in that court, we granted the plaintiffs' petition for a writ of certiorari. At oral argument, we questioned, sua sponte, whether the case was properly before us.

As we have stated in the past, " '[t]he jurisdiction of this Court, and the Court of Special Appeals, is determined by constitutional provisions, statutory provisions and rules; jurisdiction cannot be conferred by consent of the parties.' Consequently, 'this Court will dismiss an appeal sua sponte when it notices that appellate jurisdiction is lacking.' " Biro v. Schombert, 285 Md. 290, 293, 402 A.2d 71 (1979), quoting Eastgate Associates v. Apper, 276 Md. 698, 700-701, 350 A.2d 661 (1976) and Smith v. Taylor, 285 Md. 143, 147, 400 A.2d 1130 (1979). See Rule 835 a 1.

In the case at bar, jurisdiction is purportedly based on the entry of a final judgment on one "claim" of several presented in the case, pursuant to Rule 605 a. In considering whether jurisdiction under this rule has been properly invoked, however, we must first determine whether that judgment actually disposes of an entire "claim for relief" as the rule requires. In several recent cases, this Court and the Court of Special Appeals have emphasized that under Rule 605 a, "a trial court is authorized to enter a final appealable judgment ... only where there are multiple claims and the judgment disposes of at least one of those claims. An order which disposes of only a part of a single claim cannot be made final under rule 605 a." Biro v. Schombert, supra, 285 Md. at 294, 402 A.2d 71. See Lewis v. Lewis, 290 Md. 175, 181, 428 A.2d 454 (1981); Pappas v. Pappas, 287 Md. 455, 464, 413 A.2d 549 (1980); Diener Enterprises v. Miller, 266 Md. 551, 554-556, 295 A.2d 470 (1972); Harford Sands, Inc. v. Levitt & Sons, 27 Md.App. 702, 343 A.2d 544, cert. denied, 276 Md. 744 (1975). The question thus is whether, in deciding the defendants' "counterclaim," and not passing on any of the plaintiffs' prayers for relief, the circuit court disposed of an entire "claim" within the meaning of Rule 605 a.

Both Maryland Rule 314 a, which authorizes the pleading of counterclaims, and Maryland Rule 605 a, are modeled upon provisions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (Federal Rules 13(b) and 54(b)); consequently, with regard to both rules, this Court has treated the federal decisions construing and applying the comparable federal rules as especially persuasive. Biro v. Schombert, supra, 285 Md. at 295, 402 A.2d 71 (Rule 605 a); Diener Enterprises v. Miller, supra, 266 Md. at 554, 295 A.2d 470 (Rule 605 a); Edmunds v. Lupton, 253 Md. 93, 99, 252 A.2d 71 (1969) (Rule 314 a). Under the Maryland and federal cases, it is clear that the defendants' "counterclaim" did not constitute an entire "claim" under Maryland Rule 605 a.

A claim for purposes of Rule 605 a must at least be a complete cause of action; if two purportedly separate "claims" are actually the same cause of action, then only one claim is presented. Biro v. Schombert, supra, 285 Md. at 295, 402 A.2d 71; Suitland Dev. v. Merchants Mort., 254 Md. 43, 54, 254 A.2d 359 (1969). Different legal theories for the same recovery, based on the same facts or transaction, do not create separate "claims" for purposes of the rule. Biro, at 295, 402 A.2d 71; Diener Enterprises v. Miller, supra, 266 Md. at 556-557, 295 A.2d 470. Moreover, where different items of damages or different remedies are sought for the same cause of action, multiple claims are not presented. Biro, at 295-297, 402 A.2d 71; Harford Sands, Inc. v. Levitt & Sons, supra. As the Supreme Court stated in Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. Wetzel, 424 U.S. 737, 743, n.4, 96 S.Ct. 1202, 1206, n.4, 47 L.Ed.2d 435 (1976), with regard to Federal Rule 54(b):

"It is sufficient to recognize that a complaint asserting only one legal right, even if seeking multiple remedies for the alleged violation of that right, states a single claim for relief."

In the instant case, all of the requests for relief based upon the validity or invalidity of § 311A amounted to one "claim" for purposes of Rule 605 a. The defendants' alleged failure to comply with § 311A in connection with a single sanitary landfill constituted one set of operative facts. It is one cause of action. Declarations concerning the validity of § 311A and the defendants' violation of the provision, mandamus and injunctive relief based...

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