BYRON SMITH, INDIVIDUALLY AND AS PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ESTATE OF INDIA SMITH, A MINOR, ET AL. v. MUBADDA SALIM, ET AL

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Torts — Wrongful death –Venue

The instant appeal arises out of a wrongful death and survival action filed in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City. The decedent, India N. Smith, was a three-year and eleven-month-old child who died on May 27, 2009, when her pacemaker’s battery expired. Appellants are India’s parents, Byron Smith and Carrie Youngbar. They brought suit1 against five defendants: (1) Dr. Mubadda Salim, India’s cardiologist; (2) the University of Maryland Medical Systems, Inc. (“UMMS”), Dr. Salim’s employer and the hospital where the pacemaker was implanted; (3) the Baltimore Washington Medical Center (“BWMC”), the hospital where India was treated on May 27, 2009; (4) St. Jude Medical, Inc. (“St. Jude”), the manufacturer of the pacemaker; and (5) LifeWatch Services, Inc. (“LifeWatch”), the service monitoring India’s pacemaker. The five defendants are appellees in the instant appeal.

BWMC, UMMS, and Dr. Salim (“the medical providers”) filed a motion to dismiss or in the alternative to transfer venue (“motion to transfer venue”), claiming that Anne Arundel County was the single common venue for all five defendants. Although the record reflects, and all parties agree, that appellants filed an opposition to the motion to transfer venue, the circuit court granted the motion as “unopposed,” and the case was transferred to the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County. Appellants filed a motion for reconsideration in the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and, after hearing argument and reviewing all of the pleadings (including appellants’ opposition), the court determined that venue was proper in Anne Arundel County and denied appellants’ motion for reconsideration.

Appellants present three issues on appeal, which we have rephrased and recast as questions:

1. Did the circuit court err by denying appellants’ motion for reconsideration?

2. Did the circuit court err in ruling that Anne Arundel County is a single common venue applicable to all defendants?

3. Did the circuit court’s order adequately articulate the ground on which to justify venue in Anne Arundel County?

Read the opinion here: