The Appellate Court of Maryland approved a request by the attorneys representing District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) to allow into evidence notes prepared by the judge in the circuit court case as part of his ruling against Coates last September, but ordered that the notes remain sealed to all but the attorneys in the case.
In an order issued on behalf of the as-yet unnamed panel of judges that will be hearing oral arguments in the appeal, Chief Judge Gregory Wells approved the admission of confidential notes prepared by Circuit Court for Charles County Judge Leo E. Green Jr. in support of his oral ruling, issued Sept. 21, 2023, which permanently barred Coates from participating in votes related to the employment contract of County Administrator Mark Belton.
Green had submitted the notes to the attorneys in the case to assist them in drafting a written version of the order, stipulating that they remain “counsel’s eyes only.” The notes were not entered into the trial record.
Coates’ attorneys argued that the document “should never have been excluded from the record” and should be admitted as evidence in the appeal because it is “highly probative of the trial court’s reasoning in disposing of the [circuit court] lawsuit.”
”[The document] contains the trial court’s reasoning regarding its decision to enter the injunction at issue in this lawsuit and is, therefore, essential to the [appellate court’s] proper resolution of the issues on appeal,” the attorneys wrote in their request.
Attorneys representing District 3 Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart (D) and District 1 Commissioner Gilbert Bowling III (D) said they had no objection to entering the judge’s notes into evidence, but requested that the document remain sealed.
Coates is seeking to overturn the circuit court’s decision to allow the Board of Charles County Commissioners to continue enforcing restrictions placed on her in June 2020 following a confidential investigation by outside counsel that found Coates had discriminated against Belton and created a hostile work environment. The restrictions — called the “prompt and remedial action” or “PRA” for short — will remain in place as long as either Coates remained in office or Belton remained employed as county administrator (Belton has been on paid administrative leave since December 2022).
The appellate court has scheduled oral arguments in the case for Monday, Oct. 7 at 9:00 a.m. The oral arguments will be live streamed here and the recording will be archived here.
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UPDATE (Sept. 25): Please note that the 9:00 a.m. start time for the appellate court case is NOT the actual time that the case will be heard. It is the general start time for all cases being heard that day (there are six currently on the docket). The actual order of the cases will not be announced until that morning. TLR has learned that this is standard practice for the Appellate Court of Maryland.
TL;DR: Unless you want to spend all day hanging out at the courthouse, you’re probably better off watching the livestream.
Download the Court Documents Discussed in This Post
- ”Appellant Commissioner Thomasina O. Coates’ Motion for Leave to Include Document in the Record Extract and to Remove Attorney’s-Eyes-Only Designation,” March 4, 2024
- ”Plaintiffs-Appellees’ Response to Appellant’s Motion for Leave to Include Document in the Record and to Remove Attorney’s-Eyes-Only Designation,” March 12, 2024
- “Order [on Appellant’s Motion for Leave to Include Document in the Record Extract and to Remove Attorney’s Eyes-Only Designation],” August 22, 2024