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Daniel Beckwitt v. Maryland

Paid petition · Court of Appeals of Maryland, No. 16, September Term, 2021 · judgment January 28, 2022


Certiorari denied · October 3, 2022
Pre-decision estimate: 0% cert probability

Before the decision, well below the 4.1% base rate, with no standout signals pointing toward a grant.

Question presented

In Bouie v. City of Columbia, 378 U.S. 347 (1964), this Court proscribed “unexpected and indefensible” retroactive judicial criminalization of primary conduct. Id. at 354. Field preemption is a dispositive defense to common-law liability. See Riegel v. Medtronic, Irtc., 552 U.S. 312, 330 (2008). Petitioner's leading issue explores the overlap of these two doctrines, an area of vast importance to numerous preemptively regulated industries. First Question Presented for Review: Did Maryland's retroactive elimination of multiple field preemption defenses and imposition of absolute liability for deregulated fire safety conduct in a common law grossly negligent manslaughter prosecution violate Beckwitt's Due Process rights? In Carmell v. Texas, 529 U.S. 513 (2000), this Court addressed retroactive reductions in the burden of proof. The secondary issue is CarmelTs corollary. Second Question Presented for Review: Did Maryland violate Beckwitt’s Due Process rights by refusing to apply established common law quantitative evidentiary sufficiency rules? Third Question Presented for Review: Did Maryland present ex-ante sufficient evidence?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Daniel L. Beckwitt

For respondent
Carrie J. Williams

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Linked docket
21A816, 22A110

Proceedings

  1. Nov 21 2022
    Rehearing DENIED.
  2. Nov 02 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 11/18/2022.
  3. Oct 22 2022
  4. Oct 03 2022
    Petition DENIED.
  5. Sep 07 2022
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/28/2022.
  6. Aug 31 2022
    Waiver of right of respondent Maryland to respond filed.
  7. Aug 22 2022
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due September 23, 2022)
  8. Aug 10 2022
    Application (22A110) to file petition for a writ of certiorari in excess of word limits granted by The Chief Justice. The petition for a writ of certiorari may not exceed 12,000 words.
  9. Aug 05 2022
    Application (22A110) to file petition for a writ of certiorari in excess of word limits, submitted to The Chief Justice.
  10. Jun 14 2022
    Application (21A816) granted by The Chief Justice extending the time to file until August 22, 2022.
  11. Jun 08 2022
    Application (21A816) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from June 23, 2022 to August 22, 2022, submitted to The Chief Justice.