Welsh v. Mignini

Hammond, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court. The appellants, the administrator of a girl of high school age who was killed in an automobile accident and the girl’s parents, sued the motorist they claimed was liable for her death and lost. The administrator filed in the trial court a “Petition to Prosecute an Appeal in Forma Pauperis,” alleging that an appeal to this Court was filed from the judgment for the defendant in the trial court, that his counsel advised the prosecution of the appeal and that he has no funds in the estate to pay counsel or the cost of the appeal. He prayed “for an appeal in the above-entitled civil cause without fee or cost to the Estate, including the cost of the transcript” (estimated to be from $1,000 to $1,500).

The parents filed a similar petition. Judge Solter, after hearing argument, advised counsel by letter that: “The short and simple question is whether or not an indigent party in a civil action is entitled to prosecute an appeal to the Court of Appeals of Maryland at the expense of the State. For the ²⁵² purposes of this decision, it will be assumed that the Affidavits of Indigency attached to the Petitions are sufficient to show indigency. “This Court has found no authorities which would lead it to conclude that the Court of Appeals of Maryland would change its clear and unequivocal holding in Schiller v. Lefkowitz, 242 Md. 461 at 472 . After reviewing the distinctions between the rights of litigants in civil and criminal cases, the Court stated: ‘The rights of indigent defendants in criminal prosecutions to court appointed counsel and to a free transcript of the proceedings on appeal are not accorded to indigent civil