Dorf v. Skolnik
| Decision Date | 28 January 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 153,153 |
| Citation | 280 Md. 101,371 A.2d 1094 |
| Parties | James DORF et al. v. Sandra J. SKOLNIK et al. . Order |
| Court | Maryland Court of Appeals |
Joseph F. Murphy, Jr., Towson, Richard D. Rosenthal, Baltimore, for James Dorf et al.
George A. Nilson, Deputy Atty. Gen., Baltimore, for Governor of Maryland.
James A. Rothschild and Kenneth A. Reich, Baltimore (H. Robert Erwin, Jr., Baltimore, on the brief), for appellees.
Argued before MURPHY, C. J., and SINGLEY, SMITH, DIGGES, LEVINE, ELDRIDGE and ORTH, JJ.
For reasons to be stated in an opinion to be filed subsequently, it is this 28th day of January, 1977
ORDERED, by the Court of Appeals of Maryland, that the decree of the Circuit Court of Baltimore City, dated January 19, 1977, enjoining the Governor of Maryland 'from appointing . . . James Dorf as a member of the House of Delegates of the General Assembly of Maryland, from the 42nd Legislative District of Baltimore City, as the nominee of the Democratic State Central Committee of the 42nd Legislative District of Baltimore City,' is affirmed (emphasis added); and it is further
ORDERED that the mandate of this Court shall issue forthwith, costs to be paid by the appellants.
We shall here give the reasons for the per curiam order we filed in this matter on January 28, 1977. We there affirmed the determination of a trial judge (Proctor, J.) that one of the appellants, Jayme Dorf (Miss Dorf), is no longer a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for the 42nd Legislative District and, as a consequence, that the Governor of Maryland might not appoint the nominee of that committee, as such nominee, to fill a then existing vacancy in the Maryland House of Delegates.
The scenario begins with the death of Murray Abramson, a longtime member of the House of Delegates from the 42nd Legislative District, a district entirely within Baltimore City. See Maryland Code Art. 40, § 47(pp) and In Re Legislative Districting, 271 Md. 320, 333, 317 A.2d 477 (1974), as to the boundaries of that district. Maryland Constitution Art. III, § 13(a) provides in pertinent part:
At a meeting of the Democratic State Central Committee for the 42nd Legislative District the vote was two to one for the recommendation to the Governor of one individual, with Miss Dorf being one of the majority. Hence, if she were not properly a member of the committee, then no valid recommendation was made to the Governor and he was free, by reason of the expiration of time for the committee to make a recommendation, to appoint a person of his choice.
Appellees, Sandra J. Skolnik et al., as residents and registered voters of the 42nd Legislative District and also as Maryland taxpayers, filed a bill of complaint in the Circuit Court of Baltimore City seeking a declaratory judgment as to whether Miss Dorf continued to be a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for the 42nd Legislative District and thus whether a valid nomination of a member of the House of Delegates had been made. On January 19, 1977, the chancellor determined that she was no longer a resident of Baltimore City and therefore no longer a member of the committee. Accordingly, he enjoined the Governor from appointing the person nominated by the committee to the House of Delegates as the nominee of the committee. Of course, his order did not prevent the appointment of such person other than as the committee nominee. An immediate appeal was entered to the Court of Special Appeals. We granted the writ of certiorari prior to a hearing in that court. We advanced the matter for argument and heard it on January 21. At that time the proceedings in the trial court had not been transcribed. We delayed issuing our per curiam order until a transcript of those proceedings had been delivered to us and each of us had had an opportunity to examine that transcript. Our per curiam order of affirmance was issued on January 28.
The parties entered into the following stipulation in the trial court:
STIPULATION
No. 1-Jayme Dorf was elected in September, 1974, to the State Central Committee of the Democratic Party for the 42nd Legislative District.
No. 2-She read and signed under the penalties of perjury in 1974 Maryland return, joint exhibit No. 1, showing her residence as 2506 Shelleydale Drive.
No. 3-She read nd signed under penalties of perjury in 1974 Federal return, exhibit No. 2, showing residence as 2506 Shelleydale Drive.
No. 4-She read and signed under penalties of perjury in 1975 Maryland return, exhibit No. 3, showing residence as 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane and showing 'residence on last day of taxable period' as Baltimore County, and further that she paid her piggy-back taxes to Baltimore County.
No. 5-She read and signed under penalties of perjury in 1975 Federal return, exhibit No. 4, showing residence as 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane, and the return further showed residence for purpose of revenue sharing as Baltimore City.
No. 6-Her residential lease was signed May 1, 1975, for a year and renewed May 1, 1976, at 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane, exhibit No. 5.
No. 7-She had a tenant homeowners insurance policy with Aetna Insurance Company, effective June 28, 1976, and issued by James H. Pollack on 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane, which was not 'business' insurance, exhibit No. 6.
No. 8-Her Maryland driver's license which was issued December 10, 1975, is to the address 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane, exhibit No. 7.
No. 9-Her personal checks on the Equitable Trust Company account are printed with the address 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane, and they are sent to that address.
No. 10-Her newspaper subscription is to the Baltimore Sunday Sun which is delivered to 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane.
No. 11-All charge accounts, utility bills and other bills are sent and addressed to 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane. These are set forth in the Judge's opinion. These are a combination of mixed personal and business accounts and include the following: American Express, BankAmericard, Master Charge, Amoco, Exxon, Shell, Lord & Taylor's, Stewart's, Field's Pharmacy, Bloomingdale's, Wanamaker's, Hess Apparel, Washington, D.C. Shopper's plate, Baltimore Shopper's plate, and B. Altman.
No. 12-Her current telephone listing in the white pages of the metropolitan Baltimore phone book is 1809 Rambling Ridge Lane. She has no other listing in the white pages or yellow pages of the Baltimore metropolitan phone book or any other phone book.
No. 13-Miss Dorf has signed a new lease effective February 1, 1977, on an apartment at 1131 University Boulevard, Silver Spring, Maryland. Exhibit 8.
No. 14-Her voter registration is at 2506 Shelleydale Drive, Baltimore, Maryland, and was effective March 3, 1972. This was joint Exhibit No. 9.
No. 15-She filed for candidacy for the Democratic National Convention in 1976 showing her address as 2506 Shelleydale Drive, Baltimore City, joint Exhibit No. 10.
No. 16-She has a joint account with Mrs. Paul A. Dorf for checking, saving and safe deposit box showing an address of 2506 Shelleydale Drive.
No. 17-The University of Maryland Alumni Office shows her address as 2506 Shelleydale Drive.
No. 18-There is an automobile, 1974 Buick, which is yellow, which is used by Miss Dorf, insured with a fleet policy registered to her father, Paul A. Dorf, 2506 Shelleydale Drive.
Miss Dorf testified in the trial court that: she has a lease for the apartment mentioned in Baltimore County; she keeps certain furniture, cooking utensils and cosmetics there; her automobile is kept there '(m)aybe a few times a week,' possibly as much as four times a week overnight, whenever she has need to be there, on which occasions she herself was at the apartment, unless she had left the vehicle there when out of town; she has had male friends pick her up at that address; she has invited friends socially to the apartment; she has a dog which she keeps at this address when present; she has spent less than half of the weekends for the previous year at the Baltimore County apartment; she had 'renter's insurance' at the apartment and was aware when she signed up for his insurance that there was a stipulation to the effect that such insurance was to be used only for residential units; she contemplates moving from the Baltimore County address to an address in Montgomery County; the furniture in question was furniture she had used when a student at the University of Maryland at College Park, from which institution she was graduated in May 1975; she kept clothing and cosmetics at the home of her parents and in the Montgomery County home of the woman with whom she was associated in business; but she herself is a manufacturer's representative covering 'a territory from Richmond to Philadelphia, selling (and) servicing accounts'; she took the lease at the apartment in Baltimore County because she 'needed some place to keep (...
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