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Janet Katsenelenbogen v. Sergey Katsenelenbogen No. 139, Sept. Term, 2000

Domestic violence.

Circuit Court for Montgomery County Family Law No. 7678 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 139 September Term, 2000 _____________________________________ _

JANET KATSENELENBOGEN

v.

SERGEY KATSENELENBOGEN

_____________________________________ _ Bell, C.J. Eldridge Raker Wilner Cathell Harrell Battaglia, JJ. _____________________________________ _ Opinion by Wilner, J. _____________________________________ _ Filed: July 13, 2001

This is a domestic violence case in which the Court of Special Appeals vacated a protective order entered by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County and remanded the matter for further consideration of whether the order was appropriate. The case is now moot, as the protective order at issue expired, by its own terms, on January 3, 2001. The concern expressed by petitioner is that both the holding of the intermediate appellate court and some of the language used in its reported opinion, Katsenelenbogen v. Katsenelenbogen, 135 Md. App. 317, 762 A.2d 198 (2000), can be construed as weakening the State's effort to respond aggressively to incidents of violence in the home and frustrating the important objectives of the State's domestic violence law. As noted in Coburn v. Coburn, 342 Md. 244, 250, 674 A.2d 951, 954 (1996), we will, on rare occasions, address the merits of a moot case when "we are convinced that the case presents unresolved issues in matters of important public concern that, if decided, will establish a rule for future conduct." That is the situation here.

BACKGROUND The incident that gave rise to this proceeding occurred on January 1, 2000. The parties had been married since 1986 and had three children, ages 8, 9, and 12. They lived in a single family home in Potomac. Respondent husband is employed full-time as an engineer; petitioner

wife is a nurse who, because of a back problem, was able to work only three days

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Maryland Law