A Day In the Life of Montgomery County District Court

Associate Attorney Vi Nguyen comes to Bulman Dunie having just completed a year-long judicial clerkship for the 13 judges of the District Court of Maryland for Montgomery County. The District Court has exclusive jurisdiction over traffic matters, misdemeanors, certain felonies, and landlord-tenant cases. The jurisdictional limit for the amount in controversy in a civil claim filed in the District Court is $30,000. Arguably, matters decided in the District Court are those that have the greatest day-to-day impact on Marylanders.

Here, Vi gives the inside scoop of what you can expect if you find yourself in the District Court for any reason.

Step 1: Go to the Correct Courthouse!

Before you leave the house, be sure to look at the court location designated on your notice to appear because Montgomery County is one of six (6) counties in Maryland with multiple District Court locations. We have one in Silver Spring and one in Rockville. They are about 25 minutes away from each other without traffic. And there is rarely no traffic. Oftentimes during my clerkship, I observed litigants and – yes – even attorneys – show up on the day of their case at the Rockville courthouse when they were supposed to be at the Silver Spring courthouse, or vice versa.

Step 2: Clear Security

The bad news – there are often long lines to clear security. And unlike the airport, you won’t be able to take advantage of TSA-Pre or Clear! But the good news is you don’t have to take your shoes off! Unlike in the old days, everyone needs to clear security – attorneys and litigants.

Step 3: Find Your Courtroom

Once you’ve confirmed that you’re at the correct courthouse and after you’ve cleared security, now you must find your courtroom. Each courthouse has multiple floors with multiple courtrooms on each floor. On any given day, courtrooms are simultaneously handling traffic court, criminal misdemeanor, civil personal injury, peace order/protective orders, red light tickets, school bus tickets, landlord-tenant, and bond hearings. Just like an airport, the courthouses have large monitors. Search for your last name and you’ll find the courtroom where your case is being heard.

There have been many changes to how the courtrooms are run, specifically the scheduling of the dockets. In the past, there were dockets scheduled for the morning and the afternoon of each day. Currently, all dockets are scheduled to begin in the morning, apart from bonds and traffic dockets. This means that all cases for a particular day are scheduled to begin in the morning, typically 9:00 a.m. Most litigants should plan to arrive by 8:30 a.m. to have time to clear security, and consider that your case might be called at 9:00 a.m. but also understand that if all cases are set for 9:00 a.m., there will be some that do not begin until later in the morning.

Step 4: Who Is Going to Hear My Case?

The District Court holds bench trials only, which means that there are no jury trials. You will appear in front of a judge who will hear your case and then render a ruling. The District Court for Montgomery County has 13 active judges but to accommodate judges’ leave schedules, the retired judges (referred to as “senior judges”) regularly preside.

You may not appear in front of the judge who you (or your attorney) initially thought your case had been assigned. With a heavy volume of cases each day, when one judge clears his/her docket, he/she often takes overflow cases from another judge. Your case may be sent to a different courtroom or – unfortunately – even postponed if there is just no way your case will be heard that day.

A day in the District Court is rarely dull… just be sure to go to the right place and to be early!