Hill v. Baltimore County, Md.

• Decision Date: 02 April 1991
• Docket Number: No. 822,822
• Citation: 86 Md.App. 642,587 A.2d 1155
• Parties: Randy L. HILL v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND. Sept. Term 1990.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

Page 642

86 Md.App. 642

587 A.2d 1155

Randy L. HILL v. BALTIMORE COUNTY, MARYLAND.

No. 822 Sept. Term 1990.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

April 2, 1991.

Benjamin Lipsitz, Baltimore, for appellant.

Michael J. McMahon, Towson, for appellee.

Argued before ALPERT, ROSALYN B. BELL and FISCHER, JJ.

ROSALYN B. BELL, Judge.

The County Code for Baltimore County establishes a statutory scheme governing the retirement of public employees. The interpretation of that scheme is the focus of this appeal.

Randy L. Hill was injured in the "line of duty" and sought disability retirement through the County Employees retirement and pension system. The administrative agencies of the county rejected his claim. He appealed to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, which affirmed the agency's decision. Hill noted a timely appeal to this Court.

Five issues are raised by this appeal:

--Whether the County Board of Appeals erred in making a finding that Hill was not totally disabled because the County Code exclusively reserves to the Medical Board the issue of disability.

--Whether the administrative procedures utilized in this case violated due process and equal protection.

--Whether Hill was entitled to disability benefits.

--Whether the County Board of Appeals should have excluded certain opinion testimony about Hill's incapacity because the opinion failed to consider reports of a particular doctor who treated Hill.

--Whether the trial court erred in declining to apply a de novo standard of review in deciding Hill's appeal from the decision of the Board of Appeals.

We conclude that Hill has misinterpreted the statutory scheme. For that and other reasons set out below, we will affirm.

BACKGROUND

Hill sustained a "line of duty" injury to his right arm in 1985 when he fell from the back of a truck while employed at the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks as a maintenance worker. He tore tendons in his right arm, requiring surgical repair and rehabilitation. After returning to work for the County, Hill complained of an inability to perform his job and sought reassignment to light or desk-type work. No desk position was available, however. Until Hill stopped work altogether, he missed most of the working days available.

Eventually, Hill sought disability retirement through the County Employees retirement and pension system. To initiate the process, Hill filed an "Employee's Statement of Disability" with the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System of Baltimore County (Trustees). The Trustees, in compliance with the County Code, referred the case to the County Medical Board (Medical Board) for its determination of whether Hill was sufficiently injured to warrant retirement. The Medical Board concluded Hill was not totally disabled. Based on this information, the Trustees determined that he was not entitled to disability retirement benefits.

Hill appealed to the Board of Appeals of Baltimore County (Board of Appeals). That Board, after notice and an opportunity to be heard, affirmed the Trustees' decision. Hill appealed to the Circuit Court for Baltimore County which also affirmed the decision.

STATUTORY SCHEME

Before we examine appellant's contentions, we need to explain the statutory scheme. The Baltimore County Charter and Code establish a two-step administrative process to secure retirement based on disability. The first step consists of the administrative-investigative procedures. The second step consists of the administrative-appellate process before the County Board of Appeals. We will discuss each in turn.

--Administrative-Investigative Procedure--

Title 20 of the Baltimore County Code specifies the process to be followed to secure retirement benefits. Section 20-1 authorizes the County to establish and maintain a pension/retirement system for its employees. It authorizes the County to establish terms for admission into the system and different classifications for such admission. In accord with § 20-1, two classifications for disability benefits are established: § 20-20, Ordinary disability retirement benefit, and § 20-22, Accidental disability benefit. The distinction that exists between these two classes gives rise to appellant's equal protection argument and will be discussed fully later.

Section 20-34 establishes the composition, term and election of the Board of Trustees. Section 20-44 provides that the Board of Trustees establish a Medical Board to "participate in the retirement system." The Medical Board is required to arrange and "pass upon" all examinations required under the article. § 20-44. Moreover, the Medical Board is required to report to the Board of Trustees its "conclusions and recommendations" on all matters referred to it. The determination of whether an applicant is disabled is the province of the Medical Board. Determining whether the applicant's disability is work related is the province of the Board of Trustees.

--Administrative-Appellate Process--

Maryland's Constitution, Art. XI-A, § 2 requires the General Assembly to provide a grant of express powers to counties that form a charter under the auspices of the Article. The General Assembly provided this express grant in Art. 25A, § 5 (1957, 1990 Repl.Vol.), in the Maryland Code, known as the Express Powers Act. Anne Arundel County v. Bowen, 258 Md. 713, 715, 267 A.2d 168 (1970). Subsection 5(U) of the Act authorizes "Chartered Counties" to enact local laws allowing for the creating of a County board of appeals. The subsection also provides for the Board's composition, rules of procedure, and "decision by the board on petition by any interested person and after notice and opportunity for hearing and on the basis of the record before the board...." As the Court of Appeals recognized in Hope v. Baltimore County, 288 Md. 656, 657-59, 421 A.2d 576 (1980), this enactment, along with provisions in the Baltimore County Charter, effectively changed the way administrative appeals occur in Baltimore County.

In accord with these constitutional and statutory provisions, Baltimore County established its Board of Appeals. After enumerating several specific areas of appeal not applicable here, § 602(d) of the County Charter expressly provides that the Board of Appeals must "hear and decide appeals from all other administrative and adjudicatory orders...." Importantly, § 603, the practice and procedure section, mandates that the decisions of the Board of Appeals can be made only after "notice and opportunity for a de novo hearing." Finally, § 604 provides a right of appeal to the Baltimore County Circuit Court for any party "aggrieved" by the Board of Appeals decision.

Thus, the normal course of procedure in an application for disability retirement benefits requires the Medical Board to first determine whether the applicant is disabled. The Board of Trustees then determines whether the disability is work related. If the decision of either Board is adverse to the applicant, he or she may receive a de novo hearing before the Board of Appeals. If that decision is adverse, the applicant may appeal to the circuit court.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE

Appellant challenges the administrative procedure leading to the adverse decision on his claim for disability retirement and the constitutionality of the statutory scheme. First, appellant alleges that the Board of Appeals must limit its function to determining the nature of Hill's disability, i.e., whether it was ordinary or accidental. He argues that the Board of Appeals erred in determining the existence or extent of his disability. Second, appellant argues that, although he was afforded a hearing before the Board of Appeals, he was given neither notice of a hearing nor an opportunity to be heard before the Medical Board or the Board of Trustees. This, he contends, was a denial of due process of law. Third, appellant argues that failure to require a medical examination for accidental disability retirement benefits violates equal protection when such an examination is required for ordinary disability retirement benefits.

--Statutory Misinterpretation--

Appellant contends that the Board of Appeals usurped a function of the Medical Board when it decided the issue of disability instead of limiting itself to the nature, ordinary or accidental, of appellant's disability. Appellant relies on Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees Retirement System of the City of Baltimore v. Ches, 294 Md. 668, 452 A.2d 422 (1982). In Ches, the Court of Appeals reiterated the conclusion of the Court of Special Appeals in Board of Trustees of the Fire and Police Employees Retirement System of the City of Baltimore v. Ches, 50 Md.App. 200, 207, 436 A.2d 1131 (1981), that

"[t]he determination of whether appellee was disabled is a function within the province of the medical board, not the Board of Trustees. Here, the Board invaded the bailiwick of the medical board, which proved to be its Achilles' heel."

The Court of Appeals agreed that the two boards served separate functions: ¹

"This Court has repeatedly stated that in cases arising under then Baltimore City Code, Art. 22, § 34(e), it is the function of the Medical Board to determine that an applicant is physically disabled, that his disability is likely to be permanent, and that he ought to be retired. After those decisions have been made by the Medical Board, the only issue to be determined by the Board of Trustees is whether the applicant's disability was the natural and proximate result of 'an injury arising out of and in the course of the actual performance of duty, without willful negligence on his part.' "

Ches, 294 Md. at 677, 452 A.2d 422 (citations omitted). On the basis of this language, appellant contends that the Board of Appeals cannot reverse the decision of the Medical Board.

Appellant's reliance on Ches is misplaced. As stated earlier, the statutory scheme provides a two-step process. Ches refers...