This case marks the first time the Maryland Court of Appeals reviewed a report from the Commission on Judicial Disabilities, which found that Judges A. Jerome Diener and Joseph L. Broccolino, Jr., had engaged in conduct prejudicial to the proper administration of justice while serving in the Traffic Division of the Municipal Court of Baltimore City and recommended censure. The opinion traces the evolution of judicial discipline under the Maryland Constitution, from the limited removal options in Article IV, § 4 since 1867, through the 1966 amendment creating the Commission to recommend retirement or removal, to the 1970 amendment granting the Court of Appeals authority to censure, remove, or retire judges. It also details the implementing statutes and Maryland Rule 1227 establishing Commission procedures, including the requirement for a majority vote to recommend sanctions.
The case Lightman v. State reached the Maryland Court of Appeals on a writ of certiorari after the Court of Special Appeals had issued a decision. The higher court reviewed the lower court's ruling, authored by Chief Judge Murphy, and concluded that no error of law was present. As a result, the Court of Appeals adopted the opinion of the Court of Special Appeals in full and affirmed its judgment, with costs assessed accordingly.
The case concerned a sign erected by Belsinger Signs, Inc. for a Marriott restaurant in a Prince George's County shopping center that complied with county zoning rules but violated a 1963 City of New Carrollton ordinance limiting the size and height of free-standing signs for non-integrated businesses. Belsinger obtained a county building permit but the city ordered removal of the sign and denied a waiver. The trial court declared that the county council had exclusive zoning and sign regulation authority in the county (except Laurel) and that the city's ordinance section was null and void. The Court of Appeals modified and affirmed, reasoning that municipalities possess only limited powers under Dillon's rule and that state law (Chapter 780 of the Laws of 1959) vested zoning authority exclusively in the county within the Regional District, with no grant of sign regulation power to New Carrollton.
In Werber v. Klopfer, a Duke University alumnus published and circulated a satirical lampoon criticizing the university's invitation of controversial speakers, listing the plaintiff, a faculty member and political activist, among "sex deviates, communists, advocates of narcotics and militant blacks." The plaintiff sued for libel in Maryland state court, alleging the characterizations were false and malicious per se, though conceding no proof of specific damages. The trial court directed a verdict for the plaintiff and the jury awarded one dollar in general damages plus $5,000 in punitive damages. On appeal, the Court of Appeals of Maryland reversed, holding as a matter of law that the statements were not defamatory because, in the context of the lampoon, readers would understand the listing as identifying the plaintiff's leftist political leanings rather than making literal accusations.
This case involved a libel suit brought by Robert Fennell against GAC Finance Corp. after GAC sent a letter to Fennell's employer, Travelers Insurance, stating that Fennell had failed to repay a loan and questioning his moral and legal conduct while acting as a company representative. A jury awarded Fennell $40,000 in damages, but the trial court granted GAC's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, ruling that the letter, while morally reprehensible, was not actionable as libel per se. The appellate court reversed, holding that the letter was libelous per se because it tended to harm Fennell's business reputation by accusing him of unethical behavior in his employment context, and it entered judgment on the jury verdict.
