Sargent v. Lady

Barkbs, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Frank R. Sargent, the plaintiff below, has appealed in proper person from an order of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County (Shure, J.), which dismissed his case with prejudice. At the outset, the appellee, the defendant below, asks that we dismiss this appeal because the appellant did not deliver to him within 10 days a statement of those parts of the record the appellant proposed to print. This procedure is required by Maryland Rule 828 c 2, and should have been followed by the appellant in the instant case.

Since the appellee has not shown that he was prejudiced in any way by the delay, however, we will not dismiss the appeal. Brown v. Brown, 204 Md. 197, 205 , 103 A. 2d 856, 860-61 (1954). We proceed, therefore, into the tangle of pleadings, answers, motions and orders permeating a case which hardly seems to warrant the effort expended on these procedural matters. On August 20, 1965, the appellant brought an action in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, naming as defendant the appellee, as Administrator of the Estate of John W. Staggers, deceased.

The appellant alleged that Staggers had instituted an action in the Circuit Court for Prince George’s County, upon which an injunction was issued depriving the appellant of a valuable interest in real estate located near Laurel, Maryland, and further that the appellee subsequently filed dilatory pleadings and committed other actions “to prolong the case and cloud the issues therein.” The appellant claimed that these legal proceedings and processes “were used with the malicious intent” to deprive him of contractual rights. Within the proper time, the appellee filed a demurrer, and at a hearing on October 29, 1965, the demurrer was sustained with leave being granted the appellant to amend his declaration within 15 days. On November 12, 1965, within the allotted time, the appellant filed a voluntary dismissal of his action pursuant to Maryland Rule 541 a 1. On November 19, 1965, the appellee filed a motion to dismiss the case with prejudice.

The Circuit Court, on the same day, issued an order directing the ⁵⁵⁴ appellant to show cause on or before December 3, 1965, why the case should not be dismissed with prejudice. On December 3, 1965, the appellant filed an answer to the motion to dismiss, stating that the action had been voluntarily dismissed pursuant to Rule 541, and that the matter was now moot. 1 On December 10, 1965, with both parties appearing before the court, Judge Shure dismissed the appellant’s case with prejudice. On December 15, 1965, the appellant filed a pleading entitled “Motion To Set Aside Order and Expunge the Pleadings From the Record.” The appellee answered on December 23, 1965, and a hearing was held on December 27, 1965. At the conclusion of argument by counsel, the court denied the appellant’s motion to set aside the order of December 10, which dismissed his case with prejudice.

On January 10, 1966, the appellant filed an appeal to this Court from the order of December 10, 1965, dismissing his case with prejudice. The oral opinion of the lower court indicates that the appellant’s action was dismissed with