Moore v. Donegal (Ct. of Special Appeals)

Filed: September 30, 2020

Opinion by: J. Graeff

Holding: Whether a settlement offer was accepted within a reasonable period of time is a question of fact rather than law. 

Facts: In the course of litigating a negligence claim, the Appellee’s insurance adjuster offered to pay the Appellant a sum of $18,000. This offer was made prior to trial. During trial, Appellant made a $21,000 counter offer, which was declined and the original offer was reiterated. The trial continued and Appellant communicated acceptance of the $18,000 to opposing counsel during a recess. The Appellee’s insurance adjuster stated that the offer was no longer available. The jury trial ended and returned a verdict for the defendant. 

Appellant filed a suit for breach of a settlement agreement and a motion for summary judgement that it was undisputed that a contract had been formed. Appellee filed a motion for summary judgment that it was undisputed that a breach of contract did not occur. The circuit court denied Appellant’s motion and granted Appellee’s motion. The question before the Court was whether the circuit court had erred in doing so. 

Analysis:

The Court held that the circuit erred in granting Appellee’s motion based on its finding, as a matter of law, that the offer had lapsed. The circuit court had found that the offer lapsed after a reasonable amount of time, which not only considers the passing minutes or hours, but also the broader context. Here, the trial had advanced to a different procedural posture from the time of offer to the attempted acceptance. Thus, the offer had lapsed.

The Court held that this was a matter for the trier of fact to decide, as it is an issue of fact rather than an issue of law. The sole issue was whether the offer lapsed or whether Appellant accepted it within a reasonable amount of time. The Court relied on Barnes v. Euster, 240 Md. 603 (1965), which held that generally the reasonableness of delays in acceptance is a question of fact unless those facts and inferences are undisputed. In Barnes, two years after an offer for the purchase of real estate subject to an unfulfilled condition to obtain rezoning was terminated by the seller, the buyer stated it was willing to waive such condition. The Barnes court held that the delay in acceptance was unreasonable as a matter of law, given the seller’s notice of termination and the rapidly rising prices of real estate. 

Here, the delay was a matter of hours not years, and there is no case in Maryland standing for the proposition that settlement offers lapse, as a matter of law, when the procedural posture of a case changes. An offer made during trial would certainly end at the time of final judgement, but not necessarily when trial merely resumes. When an offer that does not specify a time for acceptance is pending while trial proceeds, the issue of whether the offer was accepted in a reasonable amount of time is generally an issue of fact. The Court cited persuasive authority from a Pennsylvania case regarding settlement of a negligence case that circumstances such as the nature of the contract, the relationship of the parties, their course of dealing and usages of the particular business are all relevant. 

The full opinion is available in PDF.

4900 Park Heights Avenue LLC v. Cromwell Retail 1, LLC (Ct. of Special Appeals)

Filed: April 30, 2020

Opinion by: C.J. Fader

Holding: Appellant’s attorney had the authority to enter into a settlement agreement despite the client misunderstanding the legal effects of a provision; the settlement agreement placed on the record in lieu of trial was valid and binding where there were no open terms, and the language and context indicated an intent to be bound. However, approving a written version that omitted a provision incorporated by reference when set out orally on the record was an abuse of discretion by the circuit court.

Facts: Appellant owns and operates a lot on a business park developed by the Appellee. Appellant filed suit to resolve whether it had the right to erect a sign on its premises. The parties settled the matter and counsel placed the agreement on the record the morning of trial. The parties had agreed as to the location of the sign, legal fees and court costs, a mutual release, and to modify a declaration of covenants. However, the parties were unable to agree on a final draft of the agreement, and Appellee filed a motion to enforce the settlement. The circuit court held that the terms placed on the record were binding on the parties and issued an enforcement order containing Appellant’s written version of a mutual release and Appellee’s version of a declaration of covenants. 

Analysis: Appellant argued that its attorney did not have the authority to settle on its behalf. The attorney, it argued, had mistakenly interpreted the client’s statements that it did “not care about the covenants” to mean that he should proceed with settlement; rather, Appellant meant that it was agreeable to a proposed amendment, but not insofar as it would bind its successors. The Court found that this was not a misunderstanding about the proposed amendment, but rather a misunderstanding about its legal effects. There was no genuine dispute about whether Appellant authorized the amendment. The Court also noted that Appellant and its attorney did not promptly inform the other party of the misunderstanding and proceeded with negotiations for months. 

Even if, arguendo, there was ambiguity in what the appellant authorized (as opposed to what appellant fully understood the implications of what was authorized), the attorney reasonably interpreted the client’s statement and had the authority to act in accordance with it. The Court pointed out the troubling implications of the rule Appellant would have them adopt, as it would render suspect any settlement conveyed to the court unless and until the clients independently confirmed that they authorized settlement and that they and their attorneys shared the same subjective understanding of the agreed terms. Such a rule would impede settlements and efficient operation of the courts. See Maslow v. Vanguri, 168 Md. App. 298, 317 (2006). 

Appellant also argued that the basic requirements to form a settlement agreement were not met because there was no manifestation of the parties’ intent to be bound absent their subsequent consent to the terms of the agreement. Also, certain terms were too indefinite. The Court found that there was an intent to be bound because the existence of an agreement was referenced by the trial court and not contradicted by counsel; all material terms were set out on the record; no open terms were identified; and the presentation of the agreement was made at what would have been the beginning of trial. The sole contradicting factor is the Appellant attorney’s statement regarding the open language of a mutual release; however, the Court did not need to determine whether this statement created ambiguity regarding an intent to be bound because Appellant conceded during oral argument that it did intend to be bound. 

Appellant also argued that there were two open terms: the mutual general release and a proposed amendment to a declaration of covenants and whether it would bind successors. However, the Court found that the former is clearly defined in Black’s Law Dictionary. The latter issue is resolved by the fact that the declaration expressly referenced the record owner of fee simple title, regardless of their particular identity.

Appellant also argued that the circuit court improperly modified the settlement agreement by approving language that omitted an agreed-upon phrase. The Court agreed, finding that the settlement agreement placed on the record adopted by reference the definition of future improvements in the existing declaration of covenants. The definition included the phrase “all future material revisions thereto.” By omitting the phrase, the Court went beyond the terms of the parties’ agreement, constituting an abuse of discretion. 

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Marcia Rankin, et al. v. Brinton Woods of Frankford, LLC, et al. (Ct. of Special Appeals)

Filed: June 27, 2019

Opinion by: J. Sharer

Holding: A contract was held to be procedurally and substantively unconscionable for failing to highlight arbitration, mediation and waiver of jury trial provisions through formatting; using misleading, contradictory, and undefined terms; and including an arbitration deposit requirement and loser-pay-all provision that could preclude recourse for parties lacking financial resources. 

Facts: Plaintiff filed a negligence suit for survival and wrongful death against the Defendant, a care center where the deceased allegedly developed serious health concerns. Defendant filed a motion to compel arbitration pursuant to the admission contract. The circuit court granted the motion as to the survival claims and stayed the wrongful death proceedings. On appeal, Plaintiff argued that the admission contract was unconscionable. 

Analysis: In order to decline to enforce an arbitration agreement, a court must find both procedural and substantive unconscionability. Doyle v. Fin. Am., LLC, 173 Md. App. 370, 383 (2007). The Court held that the contract was procedurally unconscionable because it was a standard-form contract, drafted entirely by Defendant. The first paragraph misleadingly stated that the contract contains financial obligations and residents’ rights. It failed to mention that the contract also contained a waiver of a constitutional right to a jury trial. Another section of the contract stated that it was impossible to cover all important matters in that document and that additional important documents were attached as exhibits. However, no attachments were included in the record, and there were no attachments regarding arbitration, mediation, and waiver. Additionally, the mediation and arbitration provisions were simply numbered paragraphs in the same format as the other paragraphs. They were not emphasized by bold, underlined or italicized font. The failure to highlight the arbitration, mediation and waiver provisions supported a finding of unconscionability. 

The Court held that the contract was substantively unconscionable because it did not provide criteria for the selection of mediators or scheduling and timing details for mediation. It did not address allocation of fees or costs of mediation. The arbitration provisions lacked clarity and were conflicting. The arbitration process would be consistent with the “American Arbitration Associate (sic)”. The terms “Arbitration Committee” and “subcommittee of three” were not defined; the latter was used only once. The word “binding” is used for the first and only time in section D of the clause. The last two paragraphs of section D present conflicting terms: the first paragraph states that the losing party can submit the matter to a state court. The next paragraph states that the “judgement” shall not be appealable; this is the first and only time the term “judgment” is used. Defendant is a sophisticated party, and these errors and ambiguities support a finding of unconscionability. Furthermore, there is no guidance on any estimated range of fees and costs, in addition to a loser-pays-all provision. A party who cannot pay the $1,000 arbitration deposit may have to forgo arbitration. These clauses could preclude recourse for a party lacking financial resources.

The circuit court had held that the admission contract was not unconscionable, but provided no factual support for its finding. See Henry v. Gateway, Inc., 187 Md. App. 647, 658 (unconscionability issues are often fact-intensive and the burden is on the party opposing arbitration). On appeal, Plaintiff also argued that the circuit erred in granting the motion based on its finding of apparent agency theory; the Court agreed. 

Full opinion available in PDF. 

Bayou Place Limited Partnership v. Alleppo’s Grill, Inc. (Maryland U.S.D.C.)

Filed: March 13, 2020

Opinion By:  Richard D. Bennett

Holding:  Under Texas law, while Hurricane Harvey has been recognized as an Act of God, Hurricane Harvey is not a legal excuse for failure to perform under a contract when the terms of the contract do not contain a force majeure clause.   

Facts:  Landlord, a Maryland limited partnership, brought suit against tenant, a Texas corporation, alleging continuing violations of a commercial lease agreement governing a property in Houston, Texas.  Tenant began to miss rent payments due under the lease beginning July 2017.  Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Houston in August 2017.  Harvey caused substantial damage to the property and the nearby theater district. 

Landlord provided notices of default from late 2017 through February 2018 and filed its complaint on September 14, 2018.  Tenant admitted receiving notice and failure to pay the entirety of its rent, while asserting several affirmative defenses and requesting declaratory judgement that “they be excused from certain obligations to pay rent due to Acts of God.”  Tenant argued that Hurricane Harvey was an Act of God that caused substantial damage and interference to the property and should excuse Tenant’s performance under the lease.  The Landlord moved for summary judgment. 

Analysis:

The Court applied Texas law to govern the breach of contract claim pursuant to the lease’s choice of law provision.  “An occurrence is caused by an act of God if it is caused directly and exclusively by the violence of nature, without human intervention or cause, and could not have been prevented with reasonable foresight.”  The Court recognized that Texas courts have found Hurricane Harvey to be an Act of God. 

The Court then discussed the interplay between an Act of God and a contract. “[A]n [A]ct of God does not relieve the parties of their [contractual] obligations unless the parties expressly provide otherwise.”  Further, “the scope and applicability of a force majeure clause depend on the terms provided in the contract.” 

“In other words, when the parties have themselves defined the contours of force majeure in their agreement, those contours dictate the application, effect, and scope of force majeure.”  The Court summarized, “[i]f the contract does not contain a force majeure clause, ‘Act of God is not a legal excuse for failure to perform.’”  Because the lease did not include a force majeure clause, the Court found that Hurricane Harvey is not a legal excuse for Tenant’s failure to perform the contract.  Further, Tenant began to miss payments prior to Harvey. 

The Court also reviewed the following additional affirmative defenses raised by Tenant:  offset of payments, unconscionability of late fees and frustration of purpose. 

The opinion is available in PDF.

Transamerica Premier Life Ins. Co. v. Selman & Co., LLC (Maryland U.S.D.C.)

Filed: July 9, 2019

Opinion by: Ellen L. Hollander

Holding:

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland denied a motion for failure to state a claim for (1) breach of contract, in light of ambiguous extrinsic evidence of intent to create a novation, and (2) unjust enrichment, where the existence of a contract governing the subject matter was in dispute.

Facts:

Plaintiff (“Insurer”) underwrote insurance products brokered and administrated by Defendant (“Agent”). Agent and Insurer’s business relationship eventually came to include products called TRICARE Supplements: voluntary plans offered to members of the military and their families that covered the various out-of-pocket costs not covered by the government-provided TRICARE health insurance program.

As Insurer and Agent transacted their insurance business together, three relevant sets of contracts came into being: one from 2002 (the “Original”), two acquired by assignment in 2014 (the “Acquired”), and a 2016 amendment to the 2002 agreement (the “Amendment”).

Under the 2002 Original agreement, Agent would administer and manage certain life and health insurance products, but the Original agreement’s language did not contemplate TRICARE supplement policies and lacked an exclusivity clause.

Pursuant to the 2014 Acquired agreement, Agent began to market, sell, and administer TRICARE Supplement policies in consideration of a portion of the premiums collected on those policies. In order to help Agent meet its contractual obligations, Insurer provided significant confidential and proprietary information (such as customer leads, records, risk analysis, performance results, and other non-public data). Agent and Insurer agreed to a confidentiality clause in order to protect this information, and to a narrow exclusivity clause with regard to the TRICARE Supplement policies marketed toward employers. An at-will termination clause allowed either party to terminate the Acquired agreement with 180 days' notice.

The 2016 Amendment reaffirmed the Original agreement but replaced the original fee schedule with a revised one that included the TRICARE accounts Agent had taken on since 2014. Two years passed.

In a November 2018 meeting, an Agent executive informed an Insurer executive about Agent's intent to move its TRICARE Supplement policies to one of Insurer’s competitors on January 1, 2019. Agent’s executive acknowledged the existence and enforceability of the exclusivity clause but implied that the provision only served to limit Insurer’s rights to underwrite coverage – not to limit Agent’s rights to move its business elsewhere.

Insurer promptly requested Agent cease and desist taking actions to transfer the policies, but Agent failed to comply. Insurer brought suit, alleging breach of contract (of the exclusivity and confidentiality clauses), anticipatory breach of contract (for failure to adhere to the 180-day notice requirement), and unjust enrichment (for taking Insurer’s data, services, and commission payments without consideration).

Agent moved to dismiss for failure to state a claim.

Analysis:

The court began by noting that in order to survive a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the complaint must contain facts sufficient to state a claim to relief that is plausible at face value. Sufficiency required more than bald accusation or mere speculation, but less than detailed factual allegations: enough to suggest a cause of action even if the actual proof was improbable or recovery was unlikely. Accordingly, the court indicated the authenticity and import of the contract documents at issue and noted it would consider them at the 12(b)(6) complaint stage.

The court next evaluated whether the 2016 Amendment constituted a novation. If so, it would supersede the terms of the earlier Original and Acquired agreements, eliminating any language about exclusivity or confidentiality and mooting Insurer’s claims for breach of contract.

A novation forms a new contractual relationship and requires four elements: (1) a previous valid obligation, (2) agreement of the parties to the new contract, (3) validity of the new contract, and (4) the extinguishment of the old contract by substitution.

The court was ultimately unpersuaded that the parties had intended a novation because the contract text failed to clearly establish the parties’ intent to extinguish the 2002 Original and 2014 Acquired documents with the 2016 Amendment. The court considered the parties’ conflicting and ambiguous extrinsic evidence about their motivations for the 2016 Amendment to indicate lack of the requisite clear intent. In a light most favorable to Agent, the extrinsic evidence suggested an intent to keep separate and in force certain terms. Due to the conflicting extrinsic evidence, the court considered it premature (at the 12(b)(6) stage) to conclude that a novation could have occurred. Because the court declined to find a novation at this stage, Insurer had clearly stated a viable claim for breach of contract. The court separately noted that although Insurer had established sufficiency for its anticipatory breach claim, it would construe the count as one for breach of contract because the “anticipatory” relationship to January 1, 2019 had expired.

Finally, the court evaluated the unjust enrichment claim, explaining the general rule that no quasi-contractual claim for relief could arise where an actual contract existed. But a plaintiff is not barred from pleading such a theory in the alternative where existence of a contract was in dispute. At the 12(b)(6) stage, the court found it premature to conclude that one or the other or no contract language might govern the claim at issue. Accordingly, Insurer had met its burden of sufficiency for a claim of unjust enrichment.

The court denied Agent’s motion to dismiss in its entirety.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Credible Behavioral Health, Inc. v. Johnson (Ct. of Appeals)

Filed: November 20, 2019

Opinion by: Judge Clayton Greene Jr.

Holding: On appeal, the circuit court must review the district court’s factual determinations for clear error and legal conclusions de novo.  Pursuant to a valid promissory note, an obligation to repay an employer-provided tuition loan exists whether the employee is fired or quits.

Facts:

Petitioner (“Employer”) offered a tuition loan program to its employees in an effort to both cultivate professional development and incentivize employee retention. Under this program, Employer agreed to provide tuition payments toward undergraduate, graduate, or post-graduate programs in the form of a loan to the participating employee. Upon completing their study, the employee might have to repay Employer the full cost, some percentage, or enjoy loan forgiveness depending on how long they remained at the company.

Respondent (“Borrower”) was in the service of Employer in 2016 and entered into its tuition loan program that year. Borrower signed an unsecured promissory note which stated in relevant part:

1. Principal Repayment: (a) The principal balance of the Loan plus all accrued interest thereon shall be due and payable in accordance with the following schedule:

(i) If you terminate employment with the Company within 12 months following achievement of the degree, 100% of the loan;
(ii) If you terminate employment with the Company after the 12 month anniversary but on or before the 24 month anniversary following achievement of the degree, 75% of the Loan;
(iii) If you terminate employment with the Company after the 24 month anniversary but on or before the 36 month anniversary following achievement of the degree, 50% of the Loan;
(iv) If you terminate employment with the Company after the 36 month anniversary following achievement of the degree, 0% of the Loan;

The appropriate percentage of the Loan… shall be due and payable 90 calendar days after the termination of your employment, whether by you or the Company, for any or for no reason whatsoever…

Employer loaned Borrower $12,529 under the tuition loan program, but terminated him in December 2017. At that time, Borrower had not yet acquired his degree. Employer and Borrower entered into a repayment plan under which Borrower made one payment in February 2018 and no further payments.

Employer’s attorneys issued a demand letter in April 2018 for full payment of the loan balance by May 2018. Receiving no subsequent payments, in June 2018 Employer sued Borrower in the District Court of Maryland sitting in Montgomery County.

The court found in Borrower’s favor, reasoning that the amounts under the repayment plan only became due if Borrower quit because the provisions within 1(a) were inconsistent: subsections 1(a)(i)-(iv) applied where an employee quit while the paragraph following applied where an employee was terminated. Without a basis to determine how much Borrower owed, the trial judge found the inconsistency should go against the party who drafted the contract.

On appeal, the Circuit Court for Montgomery County found the lower court not clearly erroneous in its interpretation and affirmed the judgment.

Employer subsequently sought and received a writ of certiorari.

Analysis:

Three questions lay before the court: (1) whether the appellate court correctly applied Md. Rule 7-113(f) when it reviewed the trial court’s contract construction for clear error rather than de novo, and (2) whether the plain terms of the contract entitled Employer to a judgment against Borrower, and (3) whether Maryland law required the appellate court to choose one of two possible readings of the contract consistent with the parties’ intent.

The court began by referencing both statute (Md. Rule 8-131(c)) and case law (Friendly Finance v. Orbit, 378 Md. 337, 342-43 (2003)) to delineate the standards of review under Md. Rule 7-113(f): judgments of a bench trial court on the evidence should not be set aside unless clearly erroneous, but the trial court’s conclusion, interpretation, or application of law must be reviewed de novo.

Contract interpretation is a clear example of a legal determination and therefore subject to de novo review. Therefore the appellate court improperly applied Md. Rule 7-113(f) in failing to review the trial court’s promissory note interpretation anew.

Accordingly, the court began a de novo review. The basic dispute centered about whether an obligation to repay existed depending on whether an employee was fired or had quit. The court found the language of 1(a) to have two contrary interpretations: an obligation to repay in both situations (fired or quits), or an obligation to repay only where the employee quits.

Examining the promissory note’s text, the court inquired into the intent of the parties by determining from the language of the agreement what a reasonable person would have meant at the time. The promissory note’s preamble communicated that “…[Borrower] unconditionally promises to pay…the aggregate principal…with all accrued and unpaid interest thereon.” The paragraph following 1(a) also clearly constituted an obligation to repay the loan: “The appropriate percentage of the Loan set forth above, plus all accrued interest thereon shall be due and payable (i) ninety (90) calendar days after the termination of your employment, whether by you or the Company, for any or for no reason whatsoever…” The subsections 1(a)(i-iv) merely determined the amount owed based on the employee’s tenure after attaining his degree.

Finding the conditions of 1(a) meaningful although awkwardly worded, the court could see no substantive indication that the amount owed should become due only where an employee unilaterally ended his employment. Because both parties had stipulated to the promissory note’s clarity (lack of ambiguity), the court declined to construe its terms against the drafter.

Finally, the court reminded that Maryland courts consistently strive to interpret contracts in accordance with common sense, and that the lower courts’ interpretation ran contrary to common sense because of the resulting disparate treatment of employees based on whether they were fired or voluntarily quit. In the nonsensical construction, a fired employee received loan forgiveness while the employee who quit kept his obligation. If this construction controlled, an employee who wanted to leave Employer and shirk his promissory note obligation could simply act in a manner that would compel the company to fire him.

Reversing the appellate court’s decision, the court determined its interpretation – that the parties intended the tuition loan to be repaid regardless of whether the employee quit or was fired – to be reasonable, in accord with a common sense approach, and with an effect of harmonizing the substance of the various sections of the promissory note.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Smith v. Wakefield, LP (Ct. of Appeals)

Filed:  February 27, 2019

Opinion by:  Judge Robert N. McDonald

Holding:  Action for back rent under a residential lease is subject to a three-year statute of limitations irrespective of whether the parties purport to convert the lease into a contract under seal.  The three-year statute of limitations governing residential leases is not subject to waiver.

Facts:  

Petitioner (“Tenant”) in 2007 entered into a month-to-month lease for an apartment in Baltimore City owned by respondent (“Landlord”).  The lease consisted of a one-page cover page and seven pages comprising 90 numbered terms and conditions.  Among those provisions was the following sentence: 

STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS: This lease is under seal and is subject to the twelve-year limitation period of Section 5-102 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland.

Tenant vacated after a few months and ceased to pay rent though the parties dispute whether Tenant vacated voluntarily after giving notice or had been evicted.

Nearly eight years later, Landlord sued Tenant to recover unpaid rent, arguing that CJ §5-101’s three-year period of limitations did not apply to a “contract under seal.”  The District Court of Baltimore City agreed and found in Landlord’s favor.  On appeal, the Circuit Court for Baltimore City affirmed.  Tenant thereafter petitioned for and was granted certiorari.

Analysis:

First, the Court set out the two relevant statutes prescribing statutes of limitation for civil actions: CJ § 5-101 providing the three-year limit for the majority of civil actions and CJ § 5-102 outlining the twelve-year limit for “specialities” such as instruments under seal, bonds, or judgments.

In Tipton v. Partner’s Management Co., the Maryland Court of Appeals had evaluated the merits of a similar action; there, a landlord had sued to collect back rent after failing to take legal action for seven years.  The Tipton Court exhaustively researched the legislative history of CJ § 5-101 and CJ § 5-102, determining that Maryland had applied the three-year period of limitations since colonial times, even though leases and conveyances of real property had customarily been executed “under seal.”  Maryland’s legislature had seen fit not to place residential leases among the “specialties” carved out from the general three-year limit when it revised the code and created CJ § 5-101.   Tipton held that a mere seal affixed to a lease would not waive the three-year period of limitations.  The Tipton Court, however, did not reach the threshold questions of the instant case: would a clear and explicit waiver of the three-year statutory period of limitations conflict with Maryland landlord-tenant law?

Landlord argued that Tipton’s holding left room for parties to agree to modify the limitation period.  The Court responded shrewdly: had anything changed so markedly in the five decades since the last code revision that supported quadrupling the period of limitations on an action for back rent to 12 years?  The 1970s legislature not only revised the Courts and Judicial Proceedings articles, but also the Real Property articles (e.g. attempting to eliminate the custom of executing leases under seal) and Landlord-Tenant law (e.g. attempting to neutralize the superior bargaining power of landlords).   Landlord’s last bastion was an attempt to point to more recent developments.

So looking, the Court turned its focus to Ceccone v. Carroll Home Services, LLC, decided in 2017.  The Ceccone Court held that parties could modify a statute of limitations that might otherwise apply to a cause of action provided that (1) there existed no controlling statute to the contrary, (2) the modification was reasonable, and (3) the modification was not subject to other defenses such as fraud, duress, or misrepresentation.  Finding some ambiguity in the application of the first element to RP § 8-208(d)(2)’s requirement that a lease be proscribed from waiving or foregoing any right or remedy provided by applicable law, the Court found more clarity in element two.  Ceccone’s framework for evaluating the reasonableness of a modification included the following factors: the length of the modified period of limitations, its relation to the statutory period, the relative bargaining power of the parties, the subject-matter of the contract, and whether the modification was one-sided in its effect.  

Applying this framework, the Court found the factors to lean in Tenant’s favor.  Government agencies would not have retained records for so long as twelve years, the lease terms and format argued against an arms-length bargaining process, and the Court could find no potential action that a tenant might reasonably bring under a lease a decade or more after its termination making the waiver one-sided in its application.  In the Court’s view, a nine-year extension of the time to bring an action for back rent did not constitute a reasonable modification of the statute of limitations.

The Court therefore found the three-year period of limitations (1) to apply to actions for back rent under residential leases regardless of language purporting to convert the lease to a contract under seal, and (2) not subject to waiver.

Two judges wrote in dissent, noting that the Maryland legislature in 2014 excepted from the twelve-year period of limitations certain instruments such as deeds of trust, mortgage, and promissory notes signed under seal, but did not include residential leases in that legislation.  Bills in 2016 and 2017 to craft such an exception failed, indicating legislative intent to militate precisely against the court’s majority reasoning.

The dissent further noted that statutes of limitation operate as procedural mechanisms rather than rights or remedies, meaning RP § 8-208(d)(2) should not limit a lease’s modification of the three-year general statute of limitations.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Stone v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. (Maryland U.S.D.C.)

Filed January 17, 2019

Opinion by Judge Ellen L. Hollander

Holding: An arbitration agreement between a bank customer and the bank was enforceable because  the arbitration provision was broad and sufficiently related to the dispute between the parties.

Facts:

Plaintiff Meghan Stone (“Stone”) alleged that Wells Fargo Bank (the “Bank”) improperly took funds from her account, in violation of the terms of her service agreement (the “Agreement”) with the Bank.  The service agreement contained an arbitration provision requiring arbitration for any “dispute”  that could not be resolved informally. The Agreement defined “dispute” as “any unresolved disagreement” between the parties that relates “in any way to services, accounts or matters; to [Stone’s] use of any of the Bank’s banking locations or facilities; or to any means [she] may use to access [her] accounts.” The Agreement also incorporated the American Arbitration Association Rules (the “AAA Rules”), which state that “the arbitrator shall have the power to rule on his or her own jurisdiction, including any objections with respect to the existence, scope or validity of the arbitration agreement or to the arbitrability of any claim.”

In December 2014, Stone discovered that the Bank had removed approximately $45,000 from her accounts with the Bank and denied her use of her secure line of credit.  After she informed the Bank of its error, the Bank refused to return the funds and instead, suspecting identity fraud, investigated Stone’s account, resulting in fifteen felony counts and two misdemeanor counts relating to theft, fraud, and identity theft levied against Stone until they were dismissed in February 2015. 

Stone sued the Bank, alleging its employees improperly used and took her money and then negligently initiated the identity fraud investigation against her.  Her charges against the Bank included negligence, respondeat superior, and malicious prosecution (the “Charges”).  The Bank filed a Motion to Compel Arbitration and Dismiss the Action (the “Motion”), claiming the Agreement’s arbitration provision applied to the dispute with Stone.  Stone filed an opposition to the Motion, arguing the Charges were not governed by the Agreement because the Bank’s actions did not “relate or have anything to do with [her] accounts with [the Bank].”  The Bank replied, requesting either an AAA arbitrator to determine the scope of the arbitration provision, or the Court to hold Stone’s Charges arbitrable.

Analysis:

The Court first determined whether an arbitrator or the Court itself should decide whether the Charges were arbitrable.  Citing First Options of Chicago, Inc. v. Kaplan, 514 U.S. 938, 944 (1995), the Court emphasized that courts should not assume the parties agreed to “arbitrate arbitrability” without “clear and unmistakable” evidence that they intended to arbitrate the scope of an arbitration agreement.  While in some circuits, incorporating the AAA Rules into an agreement provides “clear and unmistakable” evidence, in the Fourth Circuit it remains an open question as to whether an unsophisticated party like Stone can provide clear and unmistakable evidence simply by incorporating the AAA Rules.  Given the Bank’s status as a Fortune 500 company and the fact that Stone, as a consumer, most likely did not intend for the incorporation of the AAA rules to demonstrate her desire for arbitration, the Court determined that the Court itself, and not an arbitrator, should determine whether the Charges were arbitrable. 

The Court then analyzed whether the Charges were subject to arbitration by first determining whether the parties had voluntarily agreed to arbitration, and then what subject matter the parties agreed was subject to the arbitration provision.  In this case, there was no dispute that there was a written arbitration agreement between the parties.  The Court then proceeded to consider whether the claims made by Stone were within the scope of that agreement, stating that “any doubts concerning the scope of arbitrable issues should be resolved in favor of arbitration.” In this case, the Court analyzed the language of the arbitration clause itself and categorized it as a "broad" provision.  This, coupled with the strong public policy of federal courts in favor of arbitration, required Stone to provide  "positive assurance that the arbitration clause is not susceptible of an interpretation that covers the asserted dispute."

The Court concluded that the arbitration provision relates to (i) the negligence charge because it concerns the Bank’s services; (ii) the respondeat superior charge because it is directly related to the negligence charge, which is covered by the arbitration clause; and (iii) the malicious prosecution charge because there is a “significant relationship” between the events underlying the malicious prosecution charge and Stone’s use of the Bank’s services and accounts.  Thus, the Court granted the Bank’s Motion to Compel Arbitration on all of Stone's claims.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Mt. Hawley Ins. Co. v. Adell Plastics, Inc. (Maryland U.S.D.C.)

Filed:  December 3, 2018

Opinion by:  James K. Bredar

Holding:  The United States District Court for the District of Maryland (1) granted a motion for partial reconsideration to modify an interlocutory judgment and (2) denied motion for summary judgment due to genuine disputes of fact surrounding a claim for lack of good faith.

Facts: 

Defendant (“Manufacturer”) ran a business with several buildings covered by a commercial insurance policy maintained by Plaintiff (“Insurer”).  In late 2016, fire destroyed several buildings at Manufacturer’s Baltimore facility. 

Insurer sued in early 2017 seeking a declaration that the contract did not cover Manufacturer’s losses resulting from fire.  A period of significant discovery precipitated cross-motions for summary judgment; the United States District Court of Maryland denied Manufacturer’s motion in full and Insurer’s in part.  Insurer subsequently filed motions to partially reconsider and again for summary judgment, instituting the present proceeding before the same adjudicator.

Analysis: 

First, the court approached the threshold matter of the partial motion to reconsider.  Below, the court had ruled on Manufacturer’s claim that Insurer had lacked good faith in carrying out its investigation when the court denied summary judgment.  Insurer now posited that the court had failed to rule on whether Insurer had demonstrated good faith in carrying out its investigation.  Concurring with Insurer, the court agreed to modify its interlocutory judgment below and grant the motion to reconsider.

Having successfully landed its first punch, Insurer next needed to execute a haymaker: establish the absence of any genuine dispute of material fact as to both elements of a lack of good faith claim.  In order to prevail in summary judgment, Insurer would have to demonstrate that based on the developed record, no dispute of any material fact existed and that Insurer was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the good faith claim.  "Good faith" is defined by Maryland statute "as an informed judgment based on honesty and diligence supported by evidence the insurer knew or should have known at the time the insurer made a decision on a claim." Md. Cts. & Jud. Proc. Code § 3-1701(a)(4).  The court found that few cases explained this definition of good faith, but that Maryland case law tended to take a totality-of-the-circumstances approach looking at what the insurer did to resolve the coverage dispute, the substance of the coverage dispute, and the insurer's diligence.

Returning to the factual record established below, the court found an abundance of evidence establishing a genuine dispute over both elements.  Insurer had pointed to its claim professional’s declarations and correspondence in denying the insurance claim.  Manufacturer had supported its assertions of bad faith with deposition testimony.  The record supported a genuine dispute as to why Insurer had stopped covering Manufacturer’s losses after attempts at subrogation had failed.

Finding genuine dispute of material fact as to both elements of the lack of good faith claim, the court denied motion for summary judgment.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

Al-Sabah v. Agbodjogbe (Maryland U.S.D.C.)

Filed:  January 14, 2019

Opinion by:  Ellen L. Hollander

Holding:  Motions for summary judgment (1) granted in part as to breach of contract claim where no genuine dispute of material fact existed as to the formation of a contract for a loan and its subsequent default, and (2) denied in part as to a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation where genuine dispute of material fact existed as to the requisite scienter.

Facts: 

Plaintiff (“Donor”) is a Kuwaiti citizen who met Defendant (“Entrepreneur”) in 2014 in Baltimore.  Entrepreneur operated a few restaurants and convinced Donor to invest in his business and to entrust him with the creation of investment entities and charitable endeavors on her behalf.  Donor thereafter transferred more than $3 million for these purposes.

Instead, Entrepreneur allegedly formed entities with himself as sole owner through which he purchased commercial property.  Entrepreneur also, allegedly without authorization, purchased a $470,000 family home in cash using the proceeds of a 2015 wire transfer from Donor. 

Donor became suspicious of Entrepreneur in early 2016 and demanded documentation relating to the business and charitable entities and their transactions.  These requests were met with delays and misrepresentations.  Three months later, Entrepreneur’s wife contacted Donor claiming that a loan taken out against the family home was in default and would result in the family’s eviction if $350,000 were not paid by the end of the week.  Donor phoned Entrepreneur requesting more details.  Entrepreneur responded indicating the amount needed was only $165,000 by the next Friday or he risked eviction. 

In fact, Entrepreneur’s pending obligation was less than $10,000, paid weekly toward a personal loan and bearing no collateral relationship to the family home.

Against her better judgment, Donor provided $150,000 in the form of an interest-free one-year loan.  Entrepreneur defaulted on the loan and Donor filed suit alleging claims of (1) fraudulent misrepresentation, (2) conversion, (3) conspiracy, (4) detrimental reliance, (5) unjust enrichment, (6) breach of contract, (7) breach of agency duties, and seeking damages and other equitable relief. 

After discovery, Donor moved for partial summary judgment on the fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of contract claims. 

Analysis: 

The court began with the breach of contract claim, requiring Donor not only to establish that Entrepreneur owed a contractual obligation and breached that obligation, but also that no genuine dispute of material fact existed in the matter. 

Entrepreneur contended that a genuine dispute of material fact existed due to the possibility that the money had not come from Donor but one of her charities.  The court, however, properly found Donor to have acted through her agent as a partially disclosed principal – an arrangement which did not undermine her claim for breach of contract.  The court also found compelling the evidence that Donor had personally reimbursed the charity for the cost of the loan and that her agent had disclaimed any personal interest in the sum. 

Accordingly, the court found no genuine dispute that the parties formed a contract which Entrepreneur breached by failing to repay the loan.

Moving next to the fraudulent misrepresentation claim, the court required Donor to show no genuine dispute of material fact existed that:

(1) Entrepreneur had made a false representation
(2) its falsity was known to Entrepreneur or made with reckless indifference to its truth
(3) the misrepresentation was made for the purpose of defrauding Donor
(4) Donor relied on the misrepresentation and had the right to do so
(5) Donor suffered compensable injury from the misrepresentation. 

Evaluating the factual record, the court found no genuine dispute as to element 1 given that the actual amount owed was less than $10,000 and that Entrepreneur’s representation of needing $165,000 would have made the actual amount received, $150,000, insufficient to meet the purported obligation.

The court had more difficulty finding the necessary scienter requirement of element 2, refusing to impute deliberate intent to deceive from Entrepreneur’s failure or inability to explain why he thought eviction was imminent or why he needed such a large sum of money.  Faced with ambiguity and silence, the court determined a fact-finder more appropriate to determine the merits of Donor’s fraudulent misrepresentation claim.

The full opinion is available in PDF.

URS Corp. v. Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission (Ct. of Special Appeals, Unreported)

Filed: July 6, 2018

Opinion by: Judge Doug Nazarian

Holding: Separate indemnification provisions in multiple documents that form a single agreement between the parties are not in conflict with each other where one indemnification provision provides a duty to defend but the other is silent. 

Facts:  The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (the "Commission"), as part of Montgomery County, and URS Corporation ("URS") entered into an agreement for URS to provide the Commission with engineering services for the construction of the Rock Creek Hiker-Biker Trail Bridge over Veirs Mill Road.  The agreement consisted of: (1) a basic ordering agreement between Montgomery County and URS for transportation and engineering services to facilitate the planning and design of various projects (the "BOA"); (2) a request for proposal, extending the basic ordering agreement to include the Commission as a party; (3) a task order issued by the Commission for the specific engineering services; (4) a proposal from URS in response to the task order; (5) a contract between the Commission and URS for the specific engineering services (the "Contract"); and (6) the Commission's procurement rules, regulations and laws.  The BOA contained an indemnification provision that, in addition to indemnification, obligated URS to defend Montgomery County (including the Commission) in any action or suit arising out of URS's "negligence, errors, acts or omissions" arising under the BOA.  The Contract contained an indemnification provision that did not expressly obligate URS to defend any such claims.  The Contract also provided that, in the event of a conflict among the documents comprising the agreement among the parties, the Contract had precedence over the BOA.

Fort Myer Construction Corporation (the "Subcontractor") was retained to assist in the construction of the bridge.  The Subcontractor filed suit against the Commission claiming damages and delays due to defects in URS's design.  The Commission sent a letter to URS invoking URS's duty-to-defend and indemnification obligations under the basic ordering agreement. URS denied the Commission's demand and refused to defend or indemnify the Commission.  The Commission filed suit against URS for breach of contract and sought indemnification and contribution and URS countersued the Commission for failure to pay URS for work performed under the Contract.

Analysis: After multiple hearings and procedural matters that are not relevant for purposes of this analysis, the Court of Special Appeals (in an unreported opinion) affirmed the lower court's finding that URS had a duty to defend the Commission in the lawsuit brought by the Subcontractor.  The court was not persuaded by URS's argument that the indemnification provisions of the BOA and the Contract were in conflict because "the duty to defend is distinct from, and broader than, the duty to indemnify"; therefore, the duty to defend in the BOA supplemented the indemnification obligations in the Contract.  The Contract's silence regarding any duty to defend did not negate the express language of the BOA.  

The court was also not persuaded by URS's argument that the BOA applied only to the pricing of goods and services because the Contract unambiguously and unqualifiedly stated that the BOA was incorporated into the Contract.  The court found URS breached its agreement with the Commission by refusing to defend the Commission in the lawsuit brought by the Subcontractor, even though the suit was ultimately dismissed for a procedural error committed by the Subcontractor, because the duty to defend was triggered by the Subcontractor filing suit against the Commission regardless of the validity of the Subcontractor's claim.

This is an unreported opinion.  See Md. Rule 1-104.

The full opinion is available in pdf.

Charles A. Peterson v. Evapco, Inc. (Ct. of Special Appeals)

Filed: July 5, 2018

Opinion by: Andrea M. Leahy

Holding: Pursuant to the “closely-related” doctrine adopted from other federal and state jurisdictions, a forum-selection clause in a Confidentiality Agreement may be used to assert personal jurisdiction over non-resident, non-signatories where the clause itself was valid; the claims arose out of the non-signatories’ status in relation to the Agreement; and the non-signatories were so closely related to the contract such that it was foreseeable for them to be haled into the forum court.

Facts: Appellees purchased a North Carolina cooling tower products company (the “Company”) from two spouses who are non-residents of Maryland (“Appellant Husband” and “Appellant Wife,” respectively). As part of the stock purchase agreement, Appellant Husband signed a Confidentiality Agreement that contained a non-compete clause and a forum-selection clause designating Maryland. Appellant Husband remained an employee of the Company until his termination for the conduct that forms the basis of the underlying lawsuit.

Appellees claimed that Appellant Husband had, individually and through two companies (the “Appellant Companies”) sold cooling tower products to Appellees’ customers. Appellant Companies are wholly owned by Appellants and were organized in North Carolina and Georgia, respectively. Appellees sued for breach of the Confidentiality Agreement and tortious interference of contractual relations, among other counts. Appellant Wife and Appellant Companies filed a joint motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The Circuit Court for Carroll County denied the motion.

Analysis:  Appellant Wife argued that she did not consent to jurisdiction in Maryland and did not execute the Confidentiality Agreement, and even if she had, it had expired. Appellant Companies argued that they had no contact with Maryland. Appellees initially argued that Appellant Wife transacted business in Maryland by signing the stock purchase agreement, which was governed by Maryland law, and that Appellant Wife and Appellant Companies are affiliates and alter egos of Appellant Husband. On appeal, Appellees argued that no analysis under the long-arm statute or due process was necessary.

On appeal, Appellees argued that the court could assert personal jurisdiction under the “closely-related” doctrine, which holds that a non-signatory to a contract may be bound by the forum-selection clause if the non-signatory is so closely related to a dispute that it would be foreseeable that it would be bound. The Court held that the doctrine applies to non-signatory, non-residents in the context of motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction, citing case law from various jurisdictions.

The Court adopted the three-prong test articulated in Carlyle Inv. Mgmt. LLC v. Moonmouth Co. SA, 779 F.3d 214 (3d Cir. 2015). The Carlyle Court had analyzed the application of the doctrine in the context of non-signatory defendants’ motions to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction in several Delaware cases. Carlyle held that a defendant who had not signed a subscription agreement was nonetheless bound by its forum selection cause because several of the agreement’s provisions explicitly referenced the close relationship among the various, inter-connected defendant entities. Likewise, the various non-signatory entities on the plaintiff’s side could enforce the clause because they were affiliates. Also, but for the original subscription agreement that contained the forum selection clause, the disputes at issue—concerning, in part, subsequent release agreements—would not have arisen.

Applying the Carlyle test, the Court held: (1) that the forum selection clause was valid; (2) that Appellees’ claims arose out of Appellant Wife’s and Appellant Companies’ status in relation to the Confidentiality Agreement; and (3) that Appellant Wife and Appellant Company were closely related to the contractual relationship so that it would be foreseeable that they would be bound. To determine the third question, the Court examined the non-signatory’s ownership of the signatory, its involvement in negotiations, the relationship between them, and whether or not the non-signatory received a direct benefit from the Confidentiality Agreement.

As for Appellant Wife, her husband’s execution of the Confidentiality Agreement was consideration for the sale of the Company, and the entire case is premised on his conduct—in concert with her and the Appellant Companies—that purportedly violated the Confidentiality Agreement. She was a signatory of the stock purchase agreement, which explicitly referenced the Confidentiality Agreement. Also, through her ownership of Appellant Companies, she directly, financially benefitted from her husband’s conduct.

As for Appellant Companies, Appellant Husband was a co-owner and an officer of both; he was the registered agent of one; the principal places of business were the home address; he had signed checks and tax forms on their behalf; and records confirmed that he had conducted business on their behalf. Appellant Companies had derived a benefit, as they had conducted business with Appellees’ suppliers and competitors. Appellant Husband alone involved the Appellant Companies in the situation at issue. To ignore this would allow Appellant Husband to evade the forum-selection clause and undermine the Confidentiality Agreement. Thus, the Court affirmed.

The opinion is available in PDF here.