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Philip Morris Inc. v. Angeletti5/16/2000
zed at all," argue Respondents, "it must be invoked within the prescribed time for obtaining review in any form," which, Respondents posit, is thirty days from the date of a decision. Moreover, the writ requested by Petitioners would be ineffectual if issued. Petitioners have expressly requested only that this Court vacate the Circuit Court's Class Certification Order dated February 19, 1998. Granting this mislabeled or under-inclusive request arguably would leave the Circuit Court's previous order of January 28, 1998 granting class certification intact and in effect. Because the requested writ would therefore be futile, assert Respondents, this Court ought not grant it.
Respondents further argue that the appropriate standard for determining whether a writ of mandamus or prohibition shall issue is whether there was a judicial "usurpation of power," not whether the Circuit Court's ruling was "erroneous" or "an abuse of discretion." According to Respondents, the lower court's judgment was consistent with the law applying class certification requirements to long-term mass tort cases centered upon products liability (as distinguishable, perhaps, from cases arising out of a single-event disaster), its decision was carefully reasoned and supported, and its order effected an appropriate exercise of judicial power. Specifically, Respondents contend that the Circuit Court correctly and thoughtfully decided that the proposed classes complied with both the Rule 2-231(a) requirements of numerosity, commonality, typicality and adequacy, and the Rule 2-231(b)(3) requirements of predominance, superiority and manageability. Furthermore, Petitioners possess an adequate legal remedy to correct any mistake on the Circuit Court's part, namely the right of appeal after a final judgment. For this reason alone, a writ of mandamus or prohibition at this interlocutory stage of the proceedings below is unnecessary and improper.
Respondents offer three final rebuttals to Petitioners' arguments: first, the Seventh Amendment and Maryland Constitution do not preclude bifurcation of common liability issues from individual issues such as damages, specific causation, or reliance. Secondly, the Circuit Court properly concluded that total amounts of punitive damages or punitive damages multipliers can be determined as a common issue prior to and separately from findings of specific liability and actual damages. Thirdly, the Circuit Court was correct in judging that Respondents' claim for medical monitoring was both cognizable in Maryland and appropriate for class certification as equitable relief under Rule 2- 231(b)(2).
III. Mandamus
We shall first address the threshold question of whether this Court has the authority to issue the extraordinary writ of mandamus or prohibition under the circumstances of the present case.
The common law writ of mandamus is an original action and not an appeal. See Goodwich v. Nolan, 343 Md. 130, 145, 680 A.2d 1040, 1047 (1996). Historically, this extraordinary writ has been defined, in general, to be a prerogative writ,
containing a command in the King's name, issuing from the Court of King's Bench, directed to persons, corporations or inferior courts of judicature within the King's dominions, requiring them to do a certain specific act, as being the duty of their office, agreeably to right and justice. 2 John Prentiss Poe, Pleading and Practice in Courts of Common Law ยง 708, at 664 (5th ed. Tiffany 1925) [hereinafter Poe]. It "is a summary remedy, for the want of a specific one, where there would otherwise be a failure of justice. It is based upon reasons of justice and public policy, to preserve peace, order and good government." State v. Gr
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