State v. Jones, 2178

• Decision Date: 01 March 2011
• Docket Number: 2009.,No. 2178,Sept. Term,2178
• Citation: 197 Md.App. 638,14 A.3d 1223
• Parties: STATE of Maryland, et al.v.Kimberly JONES.
• Court: Court of Special Appeals of Maryland

197 Md.App. 638

14 A.3d 1223

STATE of Maryland, et al.

v.Kimberly JONES.

No. 2178

Sept. Term

2009.

Court of Special Appeals of Maryland.

March 1, 2011.

Matthew J. Fader (Douglas F. Gansler, Atty. Gen., on the brief), Baltimore, for appellant.Cary J. Hansel (Joseph M. Creed, Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, PA, on the brief), Greenbelt, for appellee.Panel: DEBORAH S. EYLER, GRAEFF, CHARLES E. MOYLAN, JR. (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ.GRAEFF, J.

This appeal arises from a confrontation that ensued during an attempt to serve an arrest warrant on an individual believed to reside at the home of Kimberly Jones, appellee and cross-appellant. On September 21, 2009, a jury in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County found the State of Maryland, appellant and cross-appellee,¹ liable for negligent retention, supervision, or training of Sheriff's Deputies Billy Falby and Gerald Henderson. It awarded damages in the amount of $261,000, but the court subsequently reduced the judgment pursuant to the Maryland Tort Claims Act, entering judgment in favor of Ms. Jones in the amount of $200,000.

On appeal, the State presents the following questions for our review, which we quote:

1. Did the circuit court err in entering judgment against the State when the State did not owe any duty to Ms. Jones individually, as opposed to the public generally, with respect to the retention, supervision, and training of Deputies Falby and Henderson?

2. Did the circuit court err in entering judgment against the State even though Ms. Jones failed to present evidence that the State owed a duty or breached a duty with respect to its retention, supervision, and training of Deputies Falby and Henderson, and failed to present evidence that any such breach was a proximate cause of her alleged damages?

3. Did the circuit court err in entering judgment against the State as to Ms. Jones's claims for negligent retention, supervision, and training, where she failed to present evidence of any such negligence related to battery, the only tortious act that the jury found either Deputy to have committed?

4. Did the circuit court err in entering judgment against the State as to Ms. Jones's claims for negligent retention, supervision, and training, where the State had already accepted direct liability for the only tortious act that the jury found either Deputy to have committed?

Ms. Jones filed a cross-appeal, presenting two questions for our review, which we have rephrased slightly:

(1) Did the circuit court err in reducing the judgment pursuant to the Maryland Tort Claims Act, which caps the State's liability at $200,000 “to a single claimant for injuries arising from a single incident or occurrence,” when Ms. Jones's injuries arose from multiple incidents or occurrences?

(2) Does the Maryland Tort Claims Act violate the constitutional mandate of separation of powers between the legislative and judicial branches of government?

For the reasons set forth below, we shall reverse the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On September 15, 2006, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Deputies Billy Falby and Gerald Henderson went to 151 Westway Center Drive, an apartment building in Greenbelt, Maryland, to serve a domestic violence arrest warrant on Lamarr Wallace.² Once at the location, the deputies realized that the address was for the apartment complex, without an apartment number listed. The deputies made a phone call to the complainant to obtain the apartment number, and as a result of that call, they proceeded to Ms. Jones' apartment.

The deputies knocked on the door and announced that it was the Prince George's County Sheriff's Office. Ms. Jones, who was asleep at the time, asked the officers to “hold on,” and she put on a robe. The deputies heard doors opening and closing inside the apartment, and they were concerned that Mr. Wallace might be trying to escape.

When Ms. Jones answered the door, she informed Deputy Falby that Mr. Wallace did not live there. What occurred next is disputed by the parties, but the parties agree that a confrontation occurred between the deputies and Ms. Jones, first inside her apartment, and later, in the parking lot of the apartment complex. Ms. Jones ultimately was arrested and charged with hindering an investigation, assault on an officer, escape, and resisting arrest, charges that subsequently were entered nolle prosequi.

On November 27, 2007, Ms. Jones filed a Complaint in the Circuit Court for Prince George's County, naming Deputy Falby, Deputy Henderson, and the State of Maryland as defendants. She asserted the following claims: (1) Violation of Maryland Declaration of Rights, Article 26; (2) Violation of Maryland Declaration of Rights, Article 24; (3) False Arrest; (4) Trespass to Land; (5) Trespass to Chattels/Trover and Conversion; (6) False Imprisonment; (7) Battery; (8) Malicious Prosecution; (9) Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; and (10) Civil Conspiracy.

On December 24, 2007, the defendants filed their answers. All defendants generally denied liability and asserted that Ms. Jones failed to state a claim for which relief could be granted. In addition, they asserted as follows: (1) immunity under the Maryland Tort Claims Act (“MTCA”); (2) assumption of risk and/or contributory negligence; (3) any damages should be capped under the MTCA at $200,000; (4) the alleged acts did not rise to the level of malice or gross negligence; (5) legal justification and privilege; (6) the deputies acted reasonably, in good faith, without negligence, with due care, and in compliance with the law; (7) the deputies' actions were supported by reasonable suspicion, probable cause, and/or were made pursuant to a valid arrest warrant; and (8) immunity under the doctrine of common law public official immunity.³

On November 21, 2008, Ms. Jones filed an Amended Complaint, adding Counts XI and XII, the claims of negligent retention and negligent training and supervision. With regard to the claim of negligent retention, Ms. Jones asserted that Deputies Falby and Henderson “have committed violations such as those at issue here previously”; those “prior transgressions of the individual defendants are such as to put the State on notice that the individual defendants are unfit for duty”; such transgressions gave “rise to a duty to terminate the employment of the individual defendants”; the State nonetheless “negligently maintained their employment”; and that, as a result, the deputies “were put in [a] position to commit the other wrongs alleged in this case,” directly and proximately causing injury to Ms. Jones. With regard to the claim of negligent training and supervision, Ms. Jones asserted that the “State has a duty to individuals such as Ms. Jones to properly train and supervise officers such that they do not violate the rights of citizens;” the State breached this duty by “failing and refusing to properly train and supervise” Deputies Falby and Henderson; the deputies “were trained that they may forcibly enter a person's home without a search warrant in order to serve an arrest warrant for someone who does not live there;” and as a result, the Deputies “committed the other wrongs alleged in this case,” directly and proximately causing injury to Ms. Jones.

On December 10, 2008, the defendants filed answers to the amended complaint, raising two more defenses: (1) the plaintiff failed to comply with the mandatory notice requirements under the MTCA; and (2) the claims were barred by the statute of limitations and/or laches. On January 5, 2009, the defendants filed a Motion for Partial Summary Judgment, arguing, among other things, that the claims of negligent retention and negligent training and supervision could not be established as a matter of law. The defendants argued that Ms. Jones could not establish that they “owed her any legally actionable duty that could form the basis of her negligence claims, i.e., that the State specifically owed her in particular, versus the public in general, a duty of care, or that any special relationship was formed between her and the State.” On March 5, 2009, the court denied the motion.

Prior to trial, the parties filed several motions in limine. Ms. Jones filed a motion to exclude evidence of her alleged contact with Mr. Wallace. She argued that the only contact of which the Deputies were aware at the time that they obtained and executed the warrant was based on information provided by a single witness. She asserted that any other inquiries regarding her contact with Mr. Wallace “should be excluded as irrelevant, confusing, more prejudicial than probative and an attempt to introduce impermissible character evidence to tar Ms. Jones through ‘guilty by association.’ ” The court granted the motion regarding evidence of a joint bank account held by Ms. Jones and Mr. Wallace, but it denied the motion regarding evidence that Mr. Wallace occasionally listed Ms. Jones' address as his own and occasionally stayed overnight at her house.⁴

The State also made a Motion in Limine, to exclude any reference by Ms. Jones to any prior complaints or allegations of bad acts relating to Deputy Falby. The State advised that Deputy Falby was a defendant in two other lawsuits, one of which was resolved by summary judgment in favor of Deputy Falby, and the other that was still pending. The State argued that reference to these allegations of other bad acts would be unfairly prejudicial. The court provisionally granted the motion, stating that it would reconsider its decision if the evidence adduced at trial indicated that it was relevant, i.e., if a duty on the part of the defendants was established or if it was appropriate as impeachment testimony.

Trial commenced on March 16, 2009. On direct examination of Deputy Falby, counsel for Ms. Jones asked the court to reconsider its previous ruling that it could not ask Deputy Falby about his prior bad acts, arguing that there was...