Kent Island, LLC v. Dinapoli

KENT ISLAND, LLC v. MICHAEL A. DINAPOLI, et al.

No. 33

COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND

September Term, 2012

Filed: February 22, 2013

Kent Island, LLC v. Michael A. DiNapoli, et al., Case No. 33, September Term 2012, Opinion by Harrell, J.

CIVIL PROCEDURE - JUDGMENTS - CONSENT ORDER

A Consent Order properly entered and enrolled carries the same weight and is treated as any other final judgment.

CIVIL PROCEDURE - SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION - COLLATERAL REVIEW OF CIRCUIT COURT DECISIONS

Absent statutory provision to the contrary, a circuit court does not possess jurisdiction to review, modify, or invalidate a final judgment entered by another circuit court. Generally, therefore, a final judgment may not be attacked collaterally in a subsequent proceeding filed in another circuit court that did not enter the original judgment.

CIVIL PROCEDURE - JUDGMENTS - REVISORY POWER

After the expiration of thirty days following the entry of a judgment (enrollment), Maryland Rule 2-535 and Maryland Code (1973, 2006 Repl. Vol.), Courts & Judicial Proceedings Article, § 6-408 permit a court to exercise its revisory power only upon motion by a party to the proceeding proving, to the satisfaction of the court, fraud, mistake, irregularity, or clerical error in the entry of the judgment. Thus, a circuit court other than the one entering the original judgment does not have the power to modify the judgment.

Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County

Case # C-10-149333

Bell, C.J.,

Harrell,

Greene,

Adkins,

Barbera,

McDonald,

Wilner, Alan M. (Retired,

Specially Assigned),

JJ.

Opinion by Harrell, J.

This case arises out of an attempt by Respondents¹ to attack collaterally an enrolled Consent Order entered by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Petitioner Kent Island, LLC ("Kent Island"), entered into the subject Consent Order with the Queen Anne's County Planning Commission ("Planning Commission"), Queen Anne's County Sanitary Commission ("Sanitary Commission"), and the County Commissioners for Queen Anne's County ("County Commissioners") regarding resolution of their disputes over Kent Island's proposed construction of a project known as the Cloisters on Kent Island Subdivision ("Cloisters") in Stevensville, Queen Anne's County. The Consent Order, when entered, terminated litigation in Kent Island, LLC v. County Comm'rs for Queen Anne's County, No. C-05-104013 ("Kent Island I"), in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Respondents were not parties to that action.

Seeking invalidation of the Consent Order, Respondents filed suit in the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County ("Kent Island II").² On Kent Island's motion, the case was transferred to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, which terminated the case by granting summary judgment on the merits in favor of Petitioner. On direct appeal, the Court of Special Appeals vacated the judgment solely on procedural grounds, finding that venue was appropriate in the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County. Before us is the narrowquestion of whether the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County has subject matter jurisdiction to consider the validity of the enrolled Consent Order of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Accordingly, we are not called upon, nor required, to express an opinion regarding the challenges to the validity of the Consent Order itself.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Petitioner Kent Island instituted suit in Kent Island I against initially the County Commissioners, the Sanitary Commission, and the Maryland Department of the Environment ("MDE") in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County³ on 23 February 2005. Kent Island sought, through a writ of mandamus and declaratory and injunctive relief, to enforce extant laws from 2003 regarding water and sewer planning and to direct the MDE to require Queen Anne's County to provide a favorable water and sewer designation allowing development of the Cloisters. The MDE was dismissed from the case on 27 October 2005. The County Commissioners sought on two occasions - once before the MDE was dismissed and once after - to transfer the case to the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County. The court denied each request.⁴

On 5 November 2007, Judge William C. Mulford, II, after a two-day hearing,⁵ issued an Order concluding that Queen Anne's County violated applicable law by "unlawfully us[ing] its water and sewer allocations to stop growth," requiring the Sanitary Commission to grant the Cloisters an immediate water and sewer service designation, and providing Kent Island 18 months to obtain subdivision plan approvals under the laws and circumstances in effect as of 18 November 2003.⁶ The County Commissioners and the Sanitary Commission noted an appeal to the Court of Special Appeals.

During the pendency of the appeal, Kent Island obtained preliminary subdivision approval for the proposed 273 dwelling units in the Cloisters and secured a water and sewer allocation.⁷ Following oral argument in the Court of Special Appeals in Kent Island I, butprior to a decision by the intermediate appellate court, Kent Island, the County Commissioners, and the Sanitary Commission negotiated a settlement to be entered as a Consent Order by the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. After the Planning Commission informed Kent Island on 9 December 2008 that it would not abide by the terms of the proposed Consent Order, the Planning Commission was joined as a party in Kent Island I for the purpose of insuring a global resolution.

The Consent Order was conceived as the means to terminate the litigation in Kent Island I. Specifically, the County Commissioners and Sanitary Commission agreed to dismiss their pending appeal within ten days. Kent Island agreed to reduce the density of the proposed subdivision to 240 units and withdraw a claim for attorneys' fees. Additionally, the parties to Kent Island I agreed to execute a Public Works Agreement within ninety days of Kent Island's final subdivision approval, and extend the time limit in Judge Mulford's 5 November 2007 Order to provide Kent Island five additional years in which to obtain final subdivision approval, consistent with the laws in effect as of 18 November 2003. The Consent Order, signed by the parties to Kent Island I, was signed and entered by Judge Mulford on 10 March 2009.⁸ In accordance with the Consent Order, the pending appeal wasdismissed by the Court of Special Appeals on 17 March 2009.

The present action, Kent Island II, was filed by Respondents, who were not parties to Kent Island I, on 23 December 2009 in the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County. Respondents asked the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County to invalidate the Consent Order entered in Kent Island I. Specifically, Respondents alleged that the Consent Order is invalid because it establishes illegal contract zoning, unlawfully attempts to create a Development Rights and Responsibilities Agreement, denies Respondents equal protection under the law, and confers special privileges and zoning upon a single property, thus rendering the Consent Order an invalid special law. Kent Island filed on 22 January 2010 a Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, to Transfer the Action to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, asserting that, due to the long litigation history of Kent Island I in Anne Arundel County and the possibility of "conflicting and inconsistent opinions," Anne Arundel County was the proper forum to consider Respondents' assertions "as the court that approved and entered the Consent Order." On 12 February 2010, the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County granted, without elaboration, Kent Island's Motion to Transfer andordered the case transferred to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County.

Kent Island II was assigned to Judge Mulford. Respondents filed a Request for Recusal on 5 April 2010, contending that because Judge Mulford signed the Consent Order in Kent Island I, he was "inherently and personally biased and inclined to ratify and uphold that agreement." Following a hearing on 30 June 2010, Judge Mulford denied the request for recusal. The parties then filed cross-motions for summary judgment. On 8 December 2010, Judge Mulford issued an Order and supporting Memorandum Opinion granting summary judgment in favor of Kent Island, concluding that: (1) the Consent Order does not constitute illegal contract zoning because it was the court's 5 November 2007 Order in Kent Island I, and not the Consent Order, which required Queen Anne's County to review Kent Island's plans under the laws in effect on 18 November 2003; (2) the Consent Order is not itself a Development Rights and Responsibility Agreement; and (3) Respondents were not denied equal protection of the law.

Respondents filed timely a Notice of Appeal to the Court of Special Appeals, challenging the decision of the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County to transfer venue to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County, as well as Judge Mulford's decisions to deny Respondents' request for his recusal and to grant summary judgment on the merits to Kent Island. In a reported opinion filed on 1 March 2012, a panel of the intermediate appellate court vacated the judgment of the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County and remanded with instructions to transfer the case to Queen Anne's County, finding that the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County abused its discretion in transferring the case to Anne Arundel Countyin the first instance because Queen Anne's County had properly both venue and subject matter jurisdiction to consider and decide Kent Island II. DiNapoli v. Kent Island, LLC, 203 Md. App. 452, 38 A.3d 509 (2012). Specifically, the court determined that venue in Queen Anne's County was proper because only Queen Anne's County was common to all parties, and "[n]othing in the venue statutes . . . indicates the location of prior litigation is a factor that governs, or is dispositive of, venue." Id. at 472, 38 A.3d at 521.

The Court of Special Appeals, in considering whether ...