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Mark Barbre v. Andrew Pope, III, No. 17, September Term, 2007. MARYLAND TORT CLAIMS ACT - NOTICE As alleged in the various complaints filed in the Circuit Court for Queen Anne's County in the instant matter, on March 17, 2004, at approximately 12:30 p.m., Deputy Sheriff Mark Barbre of the Queen Anne's County Sheriff's Office attempted to stop a truck driven by Andrew Pope, III. When Pope did not stop, Barbre followed him to Pope's home, whereupon Pope got out of his vehicle and raised his hands in surrender. At that point, Barbre approached Pope with his gun drawn and fired a single shot, striking Pope in the neck. The complaint also contained allegations that Barbre acted with malice or gross negligence in shooting Pope, that Pope was not intoxicated, incapacitated, a threat to the safety of himself or others, or disorderly, and that Barbre had no warrant for the arrest of Pope and no legal cause or excuse to use excessive or deadly force against Pope or shoot Pope in the neck. Pope subsequently amended his complaint and removed Queen Anne's County as a defendant, and thereafter amended a second time, reinstating Queen Anne's County and adding the State of Maryland as defendants. The circuit court struck the Second Amended Complaint, thereby removing the State and the County as defendants, and granted summary judgment in favor of Barbre as to all claims asserted in the First Amended Complaint. On August 12, 2004, five months after the incident, Pope's attorney sent notice of Pope's intention to sue to a Queen Anne's County Commissioner. Pope later provided notice to the State Treasurer under the Maryland Tort Claims Act on May 13, 2005, fourteen

months after the incident and beyond the one year period required by Section 12-106 (b)(1) of the State Government Article, Maryland Code (1984, 1995 Repl. Vol., 2003 Supp.). The Court of Appeals held that Pope's notice delivered to the Queen Anne's County Commissioner did not expressly, nor substantially, comply with the Maryland Tort Claims Act notice requirement because Pope had not provided written notice to the State Treasurer or a designee of the State Treasurer within one year of the injury, so that the Court affirmed the grant of summary judgment under the Maryland Tort Claims Act in favor of the State and the County. The Court concluded, however, that Pope's allegations were sufficient to allege malice or gross negligence to preclude summary judgment on behalf of Barbre individually.

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 17 September Term, 2007

MARK BARBRE v. AND REW P OPE, III

Bell, C.J. Raker Harrell Battaglia Greene Wilner, A lan M. (R etired, specially assigned) Cathell, D ale R. (Retire d, specially assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Battaglia, J.

Filed: November 13, 2007

This case arises under the one year notice provision of the Maryland Tort Claims Act, Section 12-106 (b)(1) of the State Government Article, Maryland Code (1984, 1995 Repl. Vol.).1 We have been asked to determine whether the year notice provision is satisfied when a plaintiff timely delivers notice to a County Commissioner. We also have been asked to determine whether the Maryland Tort Claims Act ("MTCA") notice provision applies to claims against an individual otherwise covered under the Act's strictures, if the civil complaint, thereafter filed, alleges malice or gross negligence. Two petitions for certiorari, both seeking review of the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals, were filed in this case. The first, filed by Deputy Sheriff Mark Barbre, who was one of the defendants below, posed the following questions: 1) Did the Court of Special Appeals err in holding that MTCA's mandatory notice requirement can be circumvented merely by alleging the existence of "malice or gross negligence" in a pleading filed years after an alleged injury? 2) Does allowing the MTCA's notice requirement to be circumvented simply by alleging that State personnel acted with malice or gross negligence violate one of the essential purposes of the Act by depriving the State of the opportunity for a

Section 12-106 (b)(1) of the State Government Article, Maryland Code (1984, 1995 Repl. Vol.), states: (b) Claim and denial required.

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