Maryland Commission on Human Relations v. Mass Transit Administration

571 A.2d 840, 82 Md. App. 275, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 49, 53 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 40,023, 52 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 901
CourtCourt of Special Appeals of Maryland
DecidedMarch 29, 1990
DocketNo. 1092
StatusPublished

This text of 571 A.2d 840 (Maryland Commission on Human Relations v. Mass Transit Administration) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Special Appeals of Maryland primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maryland Commission on Human Relations v. Mass Transit Administration, 571 A.2d 840, 82 Md. App. 275, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 49, 53 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 40,023, 52 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 901 (Md. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

GILBERT, Chief Judge.

We are asked to determine if the Maryland Commission on Human Relations (MCHR) is entitled to appeal an adverse decision made by its own Appeal Board, an integral part of itself. Before answering the question, the extraordinary procedural background of this case must be reviewed.

MCHR filed a statement of charges in 1984 against the Mass Transit Administration (MTA) for alleged unlawful discrimination in employment practices. The charges were based, on a complaint filed with MCHR by Mark Dungee.1 The latter asserted that the MTA denied him employment as a security guard because of a physical handicap. The MCHR’s Hearing Examiner, after a public hearing followed by a delay of approximately thirty months, determined that the MTA violated Md.Ann.Code art. 49B by not hiring Mr. [277]*277Dungee. The MTA promptly appealed the decision to the MCHR’s Appeal Board.2

The Appeal Board reversed the decision of the Hearing Examiner. By way of some sort of ultraism, MCHR then appealed its own decision to the Circuit Court for Baltimore City (Ward, J.). MTA moved to dismiss the appeal; and, after a hearing on the motion, Judge Ward dismissed the case. Aggrieved at the dismissal of its appeal, MCHR seeks relief in this Court.

The Law — Right of Appeal

We held in Comptroller v. Myers, 59 Md.App. 118, 124-25, 474 A.2d 941 (1984), that

“ ‘when an agency exercises a quasi-judicial function ... it is not a party to the proceeding before it or before an appellate body authorized to review its decision, and it has no judicially cognizable interest in what happens to that decision. Absent some special statutory authorization, therefore, it does not have the right to appeal the judgment or determination of the appellate body to protect its own decision.’ (Emphasis in original.) Md. Port Adm. v. C.J. Langenfelder & S., 50 Md.App. 525, 533-34, 438 A.2d 1374 (1982), and cases cited therein; also Maryland Board v. Armacost, 286 Md. 353, 407 A.2d 1148 (1979); McIntyre v. Bd. of Ed. of Kent County, 58 Md.App. 219, 226, 461 A.2d 63 (1983).”

MCHR’s statutory mandate is found in Md.Ann.Code art. 49B. There, the Legislature carefully delineated the duties and powers of MCHR, its Executive Director, the hearing examiners, general counsel, and “outside” legal advisors,3 [278]*278as well as the handling of appeals from hearing examiners.4 The statutory scheme is absolutely silent as to authorizing the MCHR to seek judicial review of its own decisions.

Nevertheless, MCHR seeks to justify its appeal by pointing to Md. Port Adm. v. C.J. Langenfelder & Son, Inc., 50 Md.App. 525, 438 A.2d 1374 (1982). Langenfelder, however, is inapposite.

In Langenfelder, we observed that the Legislature specifically created a Board of Contract Appeals as a separate unit of the Department of Transportation. That Board has had conferred upon it certain enumerated powers, and it was provided that the Administrative Procedures Act applied to proceedings before the Board of Contract Appeals. Moreover, the Board had jurisdiction over all disputes involving the decisions of other agencies of the Department of Transportation.

Moreover, Langenfelder further differs from the instant ease in that the Department of Transportation may, by statute, appeal from its own Board of Contract Appeals. No similar provision is found in the legislation dealing with MCHR.

We were told on oral argument that the Executive Director decided that the Appeal Board’s decision should be appealed to the circuit court and thence here. What authority the Executive Director has to appeal the case is not explained.

The MCHR argues that Consumer Protection v. Consumer Pub. Co., 304 Md. 731, 501 A.2d 48 (1985), compels us to hold that MCHR is the type of administrative agency that is “so identified with the execution of some definite public policy as the representative of the State, that their participation in litigation affecting their decisions is regarded by the Legislature as essential to the adequate protection of the State’s interests.” Board of Zoning Appeals v. [279]*279McKinney, 174 Md. 551, 561, 199 A. 540 (1938). We disagree.

In Consumer Protection, the Court of Appeals noted that

"[t]he Consumer Protection Division of the Office of the Attorney General is not the kind of non-adversarial, quasi-judicial agency contemplated by McKinney, [Maryland Pharmacy Bd. v.] Peco [234 Md. 200, 198 A.2d 273 (1964)] and their progeny. The Division is part of the Attorney General’s office, and the ultimate administrative authority is the Attorney General himself. The Attorney General is a constitutional officer, Maryland Constitution, Art. V, whose duties include prosecuting and defending cases on behalf of the State in order to promote the State’s policies and protect its rights. State v. Burning Tree Club, 301 Md. 9, 34, 481 A.2d 785 (1984). The Consumer Protection Division acts as an arm of the Attorney General, entrusted with broad powers to enforce and interpret the Consumer Protection Act, Code (1975, 1983 Repl.Vol.), Title 13 of the Commercial Law Article, and with a mandate to protect and promote the welfare of consumers.”

Consumer Protection, 304 Md. at 744-45, 501 A.2d 48.

The difference between the Consumer Protection Division and MCHR is that the Executive Director of the MCHR, not the Attorney General of the State, ordered the appeal. The Executive Director, unlike the Attorney General, is not a constitutional officer; nor is the director authorized to prosecute cases on behalf of the State so as to promote the State’s policies. By making the Consumer Protection Division part of the Attorney General’s Office, the Legislature determined that protection of the consumer is in the State’s interest. To enforce its determination, the General Assembly authorized the Attorney General to act in consumer matters on behalf of the State as a civil prosecutor. The Legislature has not, as yet, elevated MCHR to that stature.

[280]*280MCHR’s statutorily prescribed goal is to eliminate discrimination based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, marital status, physical or mental handicap, and age. It is mandated by Md.Ann.Code art.

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Related

Maryland Port Administration v. C. J. Langenfelder & Son, Inc.
438 A.2d 1374 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1982)
State Ex Rel. Attorney General v. Burning Tree Club, Inc.
481 A.2d 785 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1984)
Maryland Board of Pharmacy v. Peco, Inc.
198 A.2d 273 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1964)
Comptroller of Treasury v. Myers
474 A.2d 941 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1984)
Myers v. State
472 A.2d 1027 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1984)
McIntyre v. Bd. of Educ., Kent Co.
461 A.2d 63 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1983)
Board of Zoning Appeals v. McKinney
199 A. 540 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1938)

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571 A.2d 840, 82 Md. App. 275, 1990 Md. App. LEXIS 49, 53 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) 40,023, 52 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 901, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maryland-commission-on-human-relations-v-mass-transit-administration-mdctspecapp-1990.