On the Record

If you’re in Towson right now and thinking about lunch, you finally have another restaurant to consider.

Yes, our long local nightmare has ended: The Perring Place Express Deli is officially open!

I’ll try to provide a restaurant review soon; in the meantime, anyone who has eaten there already can provide feedback below for your fellow Towson lunchgoers.

I walked past what used to be the Court Towers Deli today in Towson and saw something I haven’t seen in 19 months: people eating.

The Perring Place Express Deli was doing a dry run during breakfast, its second dress rehearsal in a week. The deli, as I’ve chronicled here before, was originally supposed to open by the end of September.

I popped in as the maroon-shirted staffers were preparing to close, so I have no report on the food. (Sources indicated it was tasty, however.) A lady behind the counter said the restaurant could open officially on Monday, although the inflection of her voice seemed to indicate it was more of a prediction than a statement of fact.

I guess we’ll all find out next week.

In my story Monday about Baltimore County Circuit Court, I mentioned that foreclosure filings have inundated clerks’ offices at courthouses around the state, and that Prince George’s County has led the state in foreclosures for at least two years.

Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain foreclosure statistics from the clerk’s office in Prince George’s County by my deadline. But I received the data yesterday, and it’s startling.

In 2006, the clerk’s office received 4,148 filings. (That’s more than Baltimore County has ever received.)

In 2007, the clerk’s office in Prince George’s received 7,019 foreclosure filings.

In 2008, the clerk’s office received 8,237 filings.

This year, through Sept. 30, the clerk’s office has received 9,389 filings - and they are projecting 12,000 for the entire calendar.

Obviously, on an individual and family level the increase in foreclosure filings is bad news. But what does it say about the economy as a whole? Are we flushing out all of the toxic mortgages on the road to recovery? Or has news of the recession’s demise been greatly exaggerated?

The two law school students picked the right hearing for their assignment in a civil procedures class.

Judge Ruth Ann Jakubowski ruled on 21 motions in one case Tuesday morning in Baltimore County Circuit Court, according to court records. I had to refer to court records even though I was in the courtroom because I lost count during the two-hour hearing.

The case, Alatortsev v. H& J Motors Inc. et al, drew my attention because it was one man against eight defendants, including several BMW dealerships. I was all prepared to write a humorous blog post about all those defense lawyers playing musical chairs at the defense table to be heard. (I felt especially bad for the court reporter, who could have used name tags to keep track of everyone.)

But then the hearing began, and it wasn’t quite as funny. The case has consumed seven volumes since Vadim Alatortsev filed his complaint in August 2008. From what I gathered, he alleges there were multiple problems with a used BMW he purchased in late 2007.

Alatortsev cited COMAR several times, held up reams of paper and said he “always reads the small print,” but apparently he wasn’t clear on the rules of procedure and discovery.

Judge Jakubowski denied all 11 of the plaintiff’s motions, which ranged from requesting a court-appointed forensic scientist to review allegedly forged paperwork to seeking a protective order to prevent the defense from obtaining personal information about Alatortsev and his wife through discovery.

“Once you file a lawsuit, you become an open book,” said Jakubowski, who, as chairwoman of the Maryland State Bar Association’s Judicial Administration Council, is developing guidelines for attorneys facing self-represented litigants.

Jakubowski also denied Alatortsev’s motions to sanction the defense lawyers for their actions, explaining that the lawyers are simply doing their jobs. She ordered Alatortsev to allow the defense experts to examine his car, and ordered him and his wife to sit for depositions within the next 45 days.

“At some point in time, with the pleadings in this case, you’re going to subject yourself to attorneys’ fees or the case’s dismissal,” Jakubowski said. (One of the defense laywers indicated in court that he would seek attorneys’ fees from Alatortsev.)

The whole hearing got me thinking – is this an extreme case of the perils of self-representation? Or is this more common than I think? If you don’t want to leave a public comment, please e-mail me.

If my home were ever burglarized, I think the strangest thing a thief could pilfer would be an 18-inch-tall sailor statue that sits on a side table in my living room. (Old Salty is good at his job; I’ve never gotten seasick nor have I been attacked by pirates while sitting on my sofa.)

I thought about this after I received a press release from Baltimore County police yesterday warning residents that the burglar of a Monkton home took two hand grenades that possibly could explode.

The suspect stole so-called “pineapple” hand grenades commonly used in World War II. Here are the key sentences from the police e-mail:

“The caretaker of the weapons does not remember whether the grenades were disabled or are live. These grenades are DANGEROUS, and can cause injury or death.”

I would have to echo a person who responded to The Sun’s story about the burglary: why did the homeowner have possible live grenades in his home?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, no corned beef for anybody.

Last week, I wrote a new restaurant replacing the Court Towers Deli across from Circuit Court in Towson had pushed back its opening one week, to Sept. 21.

Alas, it was not meant to be, as the Perring Place Express Deli is still not open. Walking past the deli the last two days, I’ve noticed a fridge fully stocked with Red Bull and a new soda dispenser. But the tables remain pushed in one corner and the space remains mostly dark as work continues inside.

Unlike last week, there is no sign on the front door now announcing a new opening date. Stay tuned.

I wrote a blog post earlier this month about a new restaurant set to open Sept. 14 in the old Court Towers Deli in Towson, across the street from Circuit Court.

I ended my post thusly:

After 18 months of wondering and waiting, I’ll believe the deli is open when I see it, but I’ll keep you posted.

Sure enough, I walked past the restaurant Monday on my way to court and saw no customers, only a few workers inside continuing renovations. A new sign outside the Perring Place Express Deli says it will now open Sept. 21.

Not to sound like a broken record, but after 18 months of wondering and waiting, I’ll believe the deli is open when I see it. I’ll still keep you posted.

The husband and wife who pleaded guilty last month to animal cruelty charges in the death of one horse and neglect of two others at their Windsor Mill home have filed appeals of their convictions, according to court records and the prosecutor in the case.

Hilton and Donna Silver were each sentenced in Baltimore County District Court to three consecutive weekends in jail and ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution. No trial dates have been set, but Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Lippe said he would try to keep the Silvers together as in district court proceedings.

The appeals also complicate the future of the two surviving horses, which have recovered and are ready for adoption, Lippe said. While Donna Silver has signed a waiver relinquishing ownership of the horses, Hilton Silver, a Baltimore County lawyer, has not, Lippe said. So the horses cannot be moved until the legal issues in the case have been resolved.

Until then, the horses will remain at Days End Farm Horse Rescue in Woodbine, where they have lived since April. During last month’s hearing, Lippe said the county has spent at least $10,000 caring for the horses.

I wrote about the closing of the Court Towers Deli in April 2008. Since then, I’ve watched the ground-level space sit vacant on Pennsylvania Avenue, a block from Baltimore County Circuit Court in Towson. Occasionally I would see people inside, scoping the place out. I heard rumors that a restaurant would be opening last fall, but nothing came to pass.

The restaurant was and is a topic of conversation of the people I see in and around the courthouse. So it gives me great pleasure to report a sign I saw on the space’s front door Monday:

Perring Place Express Deli

Tentative Opening Date:

Monday, Sept. 14th, 2009, 7 a.m.

New window treatments are already being mounted inside, a quick search online reveals the deli is already listed. The name suggests a spin-off of Perring Place in Parkville.

After 18 months of wondering and waiting, I’ll believe the deli is open when I see it, but I’ll keep you posted. 

A motions hearing scheduled for today was postponed in a mass-action lawsuit filed by Jacksonville residents against Exxon Mobil Corp. for a 25,000-gallon-plus leak at a local gas station in early 2006.

Lawyers on both sides have a bit more time to iron out their pre-trial issues, however – in July, Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Susan Souder agreed to revise the case’s scheduling order, making the trial’s new start date Oct. 4, 2010. The case is estimated to end Feb. 28, 2011. 

The trial had been set for January, and Souder said during the July hearing the delay would also help ensure full staffing of the daily docket. Two of Souder’s colleagues, John O. Hennegan and Lawrence R. Daniels, announced earlier this year they would be retiring when their terms expire in November.

Because of the size of the case  — more than 400 plaintiffs, represented by The Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos – you can always tell when a hearing is scheduled: the daily Circuit Court docket online grows to 25 or more pages (compared to five or six on a typical day) and the docket shown on video boards in the courthouse balloons to more than 50 pages (compared to a dozen or so pages normally).