In aftermath of storm, Md. government offices vary their policies 

Posted: 6:23 pm Mon, February 8, 2010
By Brendan Kearney
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

Heavy snowfall this past weekend pretty well clogged the wheels of justice statewide Monday, but many public legal offices and courts, if skeletally staffed, were open for business.

A majority of the state’s courthouses, from Wicomico County District Court to Frederick County Circuit Court, were closed Monday, with one notable exception: the Court of Appeals and Court of Special Appeals heard their regularly-scheduled dockets in Annapolis.

Maryland’s federal courts in Baltimore and Greenbelt were also closed.

The Attorney General’s Office and the Office of the Public Defender were both open, and the respective bosses of those agencies made the trek from points south of Baltimore. Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler was driven from Montgomery County by a state trooper, his spokesman reported, and Public Defender Paul B. DeWolfe Jr. made it up from Washington D.C.

DeWolfe said, as a state agency, the OPD must remain open unless the state Department of Budget and Management says otherwise. He estimated 20 percent of his co-workers at headquarters in downtown Baltimore were in Monday.

“I left it to the district public defenders on whether to grant leave to people who can’t make it in,” DeWolfe said of the statewide picture. “It’s different from jurisdiction to jurisdiction depending on how much snow they got.”

According to the National Weather Service, snowfall in Maryland ranged from about a foot in parts of St. Mary’s County, to around two feet in the Baltimore metropolitan area, to as much as three feet in Frostburg.

“We’re trying to keep the phones covered and intake open as much as we can,” DeWolfe said.

The U.S. Attorney’s office was closed Monday, a decision made by U.S. Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein after he heard the U.S. District Court would be closed and that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management had closed federal agencies in the Washington, D.C. area.

“It’s officially closed,” said Rosenstein, who was speaking from home but noted that at least eight of his 60 lawyers had made it into his Baltimore office. “But you’re always welcome to come in.”

Rosenstein noted in a follow-up e-mail that trials that have already been postponed until Wednesday may be again postponed if a second anticipated storm arrives.

“Our lawyers are ready, but we need to keep the witnesses informed and make sure they have transportation.”

The state’s highest court heard four cases, while the intermediate appellate court heard a total of 9 cases — one had to be submitted on the briefs because the snowy roads prevented oral argument — in two courtrooms, according to clerks for those Annapolis courts.

Workers riding construction equipment moved snow in the parking lot directly across from the courthouse entrance and in parking lots adjacent to Navy’s football stadium. A path, bordered by foot-high snow drifts, snaked its way up to the courthouse entrance.

Small clusters of lawyers huddled and reviewed notes outside one of the Court of Special Appeals’ courtrooms at 9 a.m., a half-hour before court was in session. Some wore snow boots with their suits, some had driven on unplowed, neighborhood streets to reach the courthouse. Many wore kind of a dazed look, like they were surprised to be there.

Attrice Howard, a dispatcher at the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office, said she was one of only four people in the Clarence M. Mitchell Jr. Courthouse on Monday. Howard said, as “essential personnel” who must respond to emergency messages and calls, she was given a ride to work.

“We don’t have a choice. We have to show up,” she said, adding that “it’s no extra pay.”

One of Monday’s most popular queries, Howard said, was “just people wanting to know if they’re going to be evicted today.” The Legal Aid Bureau, which might have represented some of those evicted, was closed.

Well?

“No. Evictions were called off today,” Howard confirmed.

Staff writer Danny Jacobs contributed to this story.