Inside District Court
Best Practice Tips for
Collections in the District Court of Maryland
Mary Ellen Flynn & Kate McDonough
A
s is true in all areas of the law, one should never just “dabble” in the area of Collections Law.
Before undertaking the task of writing a demand letter, making
a phone call or filing suit in a collections matter, counsel should become intimately familiar with the Maryland Rules of Civil Procedure, the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act (15 U.S.C. § 1692, et seq.); the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Practice Act (Section 14 of the Commercial Law Article of the Maryland Code), the Maryland Lawyers’ Rules of Professional Conduct, particularly Rule 1.5 which addresses legal fees, Maryland Rule 16-812, et seq., and Maryland’s requirements for debt collections licenses through the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. In this article, we presume that the reader will consult all of these resources and requirements, and we provide a summary of our tips and best practices for litigating your collections cases in the District Court of Maryland.
When in Doubt, File an Attorney’s Fee Affidavit
Meadows Homeowners Association, SunTrust Bank v. Goldman,2
Prior to the Maryland Court of Appeals cases, Monmouth Inc. v. Hamilton1
and collections attorneys were not required to document the number of hours worked to
1 Monmouth Meadows Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Hamilton, 970 A.2d 892, 408 Md. 487 (2009). 2 SunTrust Bank v. Goldman, 201 Md. App. 390, 29 A.3d 724, 730 (2011).
justify an award of attorney’s fees in District Court cases, and an attorney handling contingency fee cases only had to demonstrate that he or she was contractually or statutorily entitled to an award of attorney’s fees. However, in the wake of recent Court of Appeals cases, such as Monmouth Meadows and SunTrust, District Court judges are denying nearly every request for attorney’s fees unless counsel submits a detailed Affidavit of Attorney’s Fees prior to trial.
In
order to ensure that the litigant is awarded attorney’s fees, whether in a contingency or hourly fee case, the Affidavit of Attorney’s Fees must provide details of each task performed, including the number of hours worked and the hourly rate of that timekeeper, and the Affidavit should verify that the fees requested comport with the factors in Rule 1.5.
If
the case was unusually difficult, complex or otherwise time consuming, then the Affidavit of Attorney’s Fees should also provide those details.
Don’t Forget to File a Lien! If you have obtained a money judgment at the Circuit
Court level, your judgment will automatically constitute a lien on the judgment debtor's interest in land located in the county in which the judgment was rendered.3
However, at
the District Court level, you must take affirmative steps to index and record your judgment as a lien in the Circuit Court for each county in which the judgment debtor owns real property.4
Te easiest way to file a lien for a District Court
judgment is to use the fillable DC/CV 35 form (available on the Maryland Judiciary’s website:
www.mdcourts.gov). When filing a lien, the check for the filing fee should be made payable to the Circuit Court for the county in which the lien is being filed.
3 Maryland Rule 2-621(a). 4 Maryland Rules 2-621(c) and 2-623(b).
Trial Reporter / Summer 2012 39
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