4th Circuit tosses ousted PG County judge’s suit against former judicial colleagues

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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit has dismissed a former Prince George’s County judge’s appeal in her lawsuit against Maryland’s judicial disciplinary body and her former judicial colleagues.

In an order filed last week, a three-judge panel for the 4th Circuit granted Judge Anne Albright, Judge Sheila Adams, Judge Daneeka Cotton and Judge Michael Pearson’s motions to dismiss former Prince George’s County Circuit Judge April Ademiluyi’s lawsuit against them for lack of jurisdiction, agreeing with the defendants that the former judge failed to file a timely notice of appeal or to obtain an extension or reopening of the appeal period.

The appellate court similarly rejected Ademiluyi’s argument that her appeal should not be dismissed as untimely because she could not file a notice of appeal until the District Court for Maryland had disposed of a related case.

Judge Paul Niemeyer, Judge James Andrew Wynn and Judge A. Marvin Quattlebaum, Jr. sat on the panel for the court.

Ademiluyi, who the Maryland Supreme Court removed from the bench last year for “egregious” misconduct, contended her former judicial colleagues retaliated against her in violation of the 1st Amendment by filing disciplinary complaints against her and by participating in her disciplinary matter after she filed a complaint alleging one of her orders had been changed by another then-judicial colleague without her consent. Ademiluyi later added a court reporter who she hired to conduct a deposition to the federal lawsuit.

In March, a federal judge in Maryland dismissed Ademiluyi’s lawsuit against her former colleagues, finding the judges are entitled to immunity on the ousted judge’s claims of retaliation. In May, the same judge threw out Ademiluyi’s lawsuit against the court reporter, finding Ademiluyi failed to comply with court orders or federal rules of civil procedure.

Though the 4th Circuit docketed Ademiluyi’s cases — one against Albright as chair of the Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities, Adams, Cotton and Pearson, and a second against the court reporter, Adams, Cotton and Pearson — Ademiluyi has not filed an opening brief in either case.

In an email Monday, Ademiluyi said she intends to move forward with her second case against the court reporter, Adams, Cotton and Pearson, and said she continues to face harassment in relation to her claims about public corruption. That case remains pending before the 4th Circuit.

A spokesperson for the Maryland Office of the Attorney General, whose office represented Albright, Adams, Cotton and Pearson, declined to comment.

Ademiluyi has routinely portrayed herself as a whistleblower and maintained that the commission’s charges against her are part of a coordinated retaliation effort, which began when she unseated an incumbent judge in a 2020 primary election.

Ademiluyi joined the Prince George’s County Circuit Court in 2020. The Maryland Commission on Judicial Disabilities filed its first set of charges against Ademiluyi in July 2023, accusing her of repeatedly violating Maryland’s rules for judicial conduct.