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No. 141 - September Term, 1998 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND et al. v. BROADCAST EQUITIES, INC.

[Concerns The Necessity For Exhausting Administrative And Judicial Review Remedies]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 141 September Term, 1998 ___________________________________________

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND et al.

v.

BROADCAST EQUITIES, INC. __________________________________________ Bell, C.J., Eldridge Rodowsky Raker Wilner Cathell Karwacki (Retired, Specially Assigned), JJ. ___________________________________________ Opinion by Eldridge, J. __________________________________________ Filed: September 8, 2000

The petitions for a writ of certiorari in this action for a declaratory judgment and injunctive relief present three questions pertaining to the authority of a charter county to prohibit employment discrimination. Montgomery County's petition seeks review of the Court of Special Appeals' holding that the Montgomery County employment discrimination ordinances, which allow the County's Commission on Human Relations to award monetary damages in addition to back pay, conflict with the state statute prohibiting employment discrimination, which restricts the type of damages that can be awarded by the Maryland Commission on Human Relations. Broadcast Equities, Inc.'s cross-petition asks us to decide whether our holding in McCrory Corp. v. Fowler, 319 Md. 12, 570 A.2d 834 (1990), invalidated the entire Montgomery County statutory scheme prohibiting employment discrimination or merely invalidated the provision which purported to create a new cause of action in the circuit courts. Alternatively, Broadcast Equities contends that, even if the McCrory holding was limited to the provision relating to a new circuit court cause of action, the entire Montgomery County statutory scheme concerning employment discrimination violates Article XI-A of the Maryland Constitution because it does not constitute a "local law."1 The instant dispute between Montgomery County and Broadcast Equities also involves numerous

Article XI-A,

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Maryland Law