‘Tech court’ gets high marks as rulings start to trickle in

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After a low-key start, the Maryland Judiciary’s innovative business and technology case management program, the first of its type in the country, is slowly shifting into gear.

In the most recent of a trickle of decisions issued by the 23 judges assigned to the program, Baltimore law firm Piper Rudnick was granted summary judgment in a dispute with a group of plaintiffs who had purchased bonds issued by the Greater Southeast Community Hospital in the District of Columbia.

The opinion, issued at the beginning of September, was the first under the program to be issued by Prince George’s County Circuit Judge Stephen I. Platt, who chairs the committee charged with implementing the scheme, and is one of only a handful of cases from across the state to have been concluded so far.

The program has been in operation since Jan. 1, when Maryland Rule 16-205 took effect.

“I found it to be very effective and a really well-designed system for dealing with a complex case,” said Gerson A. Zweifach, a Washington-based lawyer who represented Piper in the case. “We had regular access to one judge who was very familiar with our case.”

Despite being on the losing side, Noam B. Fischman, one of the lawyers representing the bondholders, agreed with his opponent’s assessment, noting that the program will only get better as judges become more knowledgeable about the issues.

“The same kinds of cases will be going to the same judge time and time again, and you will get some institutional memory,” Fischman said.

The case was a dispute over Piper’s role when Prince George’s County issued $50 million in tax-exempt revenue bonds in 1993 on behalf of the hospital.

Platt ruled that Piper, acting on behalf of the county, was not liable to the investors for failing to perfect their security interests in Washington.

As a result of the failure to perfect the security interest in D.C., the bondholders (whom the Bank of New York represented at trial as trustee) were unable to recoup the money owed to them when the hospital went bankrupt in 1999.

Speaking yesterday about the program in general, Platt said it is getting high marks from lawyers across the state.

“It’s been well received wherever I’ve gone,” he said.

Platt is especially pleased with the progress made in training judges, noting that the process was now “two-thirds complete.”

The judges have already participated in four days of training workshops and will attend another three-day session early next year.

Platt said the number of cases in each jurisdiction obviously differs, based on the demographics of the area, with Prince George’s County, Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Anne Arundel County expected to be the busiest once the program is fully operational.

There are currently more than 20 cases on the docket in Prince George’s County, he added.

In Baltimore City Circuit Court, Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr. — who oversees the docket there — has assigned 17 cases to the program since January.

Several have settled and Matricciani, who shares the docket with Judges Evelyn Omega Cannon and Kaye A. Allyson, has written opinions in “five or six,” he said yesterday during a recess in one such case, Semtek International Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp. et al (see story, page 1B).

“I think it’s going very well and there’s a high level of enthusiasm from the three judges,” he added. “We meet on a regular basis, we share ideas, and we discuss issues.”

The only problem is finding time, Matricciani said, because all three judges have to juggle business cases with regular duties.

Platt conceded yesterday the state’s budget problems have meant that purchasing video-conferencing equipment and other high-tech devices, as envisioned in the original Court of Appeals-sanctioned plan, may have to wait.

“The General Assembly is asking for funds back at the moment instead of giving them out, so we are not expecting that,” he said.

The division is moving ahead with plans for e-filing programs, Platt said yesterday. He also revealed that selected opinions will soon be posted on the management program’s Web site.