The Lagasse Report

19/11/2024

At tonight’s Board of County Commissioners open session, it was revealed that as of Nov. 15, the county has paid out just under $1.5 million in the legal case arising from the board’s decision to bar District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) from voting on the employment contract of County Administrator Mark Belton. It was also revealed that there is a potential liability to the county of over $139,000 if it were to be sued for the payment of Coates’ legal fees in her appeal of the circuit court decision that was issued last September.

At the request of District 3 Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart (D), the County Attorney’s Office will break down the costs by case (circuit court case and Appellate Court of Maryland appeal) and present those numbers at a future open session.

14/10/2024

Just over a year after a circuit court judge upheld a decision by the Board of Charles County Commissioners to bar District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) from voting on the employment contract of the current county administrator, attorneys for both sides returned to court last week to argue whether the ruling should be overturned. Attorneys representing Coates and her opponents — District 3 Commissioner Amanda M....

Just over a year after a circuit court judge upheld a decision by the Board of Charles County Commissioners to bar District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) from voting on the employment contrac…

12/10/2024

The Appellate Court of Maryland has posted the video of Monday's oral arguments in Coates v. Board of County Commissioners et al.

07/10/2024

After a little over 45 minutes, oral arguments have concluded. Next, the court will issue a written opinion. There are no deadline constraints on the court for issuing the opinion.

After the opinion is issued, both parties have a 30-day window to inform the court about errors or concerns, after which the court issues a mandate laying out the court's final judgment. Appeals to the state supreme court can be made no earlier than 30 days after the issuance of the mandate.

TLR hopes to publish a summary of the oral arguments this weekend, and will post a link to the recording of the oral arguments when they appear on the court website. Stay tuned!

07/10/2024

BREAKING: Oral arguments in Thomasina O. Coates v. The Charles County Board of Commissioners, et al. in the Appellate Court of Maryland will begin in five minutes. Watch the livestream here:

For a schedule of cases, see the Court’s schedule webpage.   Webcasts are made available to the general public for informational purposes only and do not constitute an official record of court proceedings. Rebroadcast of this transmission is prohibited without the express permission of the Suprem...

27/09/2024

A proposal by the Maryland Department of Transportation to drastically reduce the budget for the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit project would harm the region’s prospects for economic growth and continue subjecting commuters to needlessly long travel times, the Board of Charles County Commissioners and members of the state delegation told MDOT Secretary Paul Wiedefeld Tuesday afternoon during an often tense face-to-face meeting with state transportation officials.

A proposal by the Maryland Department of Transportation to drastically reduce the budget for the Southern Maryland Rapid Transit project would harm the region’s prospects for economic growth and co…

25/09/2024

UPDATE: Please note that the 9am 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.

24/08/2024

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.

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…

19/08/2024

BREAKING: The Appellate Court of Maryland has scheduled oral arguments in Coates v. Commissioners et al. for Monday, Oct. 7 at 9 am.

The oral arguments will be live streamed here: https://www.courts.state.md.us/acm/webcasts

If you miss it, or want to watch it again, the recording will be archived here: https://www.courts.state.md.us/acm/oralargumentarchives

14/04/2024

TLR apologizes for accidentally uploading an annotated version of the appellant brief earlier today. A clean copy has now been uploaded to the document library.

14/04/2024

To accompany the two-part review of the opposing counsel’s briefs in the appellate court case (see previous post), TLR’s document library has been updated with the latest filings including the complete record abstract, which contains the circuit court documents that the judges will refer to in deciding the case.

As a public service, TLR is making available copies of selected documents filed in the court cases resulting from the question of whether District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) is allowed to …

14/04/2024

As TLR recently reported on Facebook, the Appellate Court of Maryland has agreed to hear oral arguments in the appeal filed in October 2023 by District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) seeking to overturn the circuit court's decision to permanently bar her from participating in votes related to the employment contract of County Administrator Mark Belton....

This story is the first of two parts. Part 2 will be published soon. As TLR recently reported on Facebook, the Appellate Court of Maryland has agreed to hear oral arguments in the appeal filed in O…

13/04/2024

According to MD Case Search, oral arguments in the appeal have been scheduled for October. The specific date and time, plus the names of the judges assigned to hear the oral arguments, have not been announced yet. TLR will provide that information when it becomes available.

06/04/2024

All parties have filed their briefs with the Maryland Court of Appeals, and TLR is preparing a summary of both sides' arguments — watch this space!

Something else we're tracking: Following the circuit court decision last September, the judge in the case mailed an attorney's-eyes-only written summary of his legal reasoning to counsel to help them prepare their appeal briefs. The attorneys for District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) have filed a motion requesting permission to include the document in the record abstract (the collection of circuit court filings that the appeals court will refer to in deciding the case) and to remove the AEO seal. Counsel for the commissioner appellants (District 3 Commissioner Amanda M. Stewart (D) and District 1 Commissioner Gilbert Bowling III (D)) responded that they don't object to including the document in the record abstract but requested that the court leave the AEO designation in place.

Chief Judge Gregory Wells ordered the document temporarily sealed while the three-judge panel assigned to the case considered the request. TLR will post the panel's decision when it is published.

04/02/2024

The Charles County Ethics Commission on Wednesday issued an advisory opinion recommending that District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) should recuse herself from voting on whether the county should pay for her legal expenses related to her appeals of last September's circuit court ruling. The opinion, the commission's first in over a year, says that Coates would violate the county's…...

The Charles County Ethics Commission on Wednesday issued an advisory opinion recommending that District 2 Commissioner Thomasina Coates (D) should recuse herself from voting on whether the county s…