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Jordan Towing6/12/2002
ed to the DPM, Mr. Freeman stated that there was no need as traditionally interpreted. The only party initially involved in appellant's licensing application to apply the proper need standards was the BCPD. When appellant's application was submitted to the BCPD, Officer Denker's report not only summarized the facts bearing on need for additional service, but his report also stated that there were four existing towing companies making responses, nearly twenty tow trucks, zero complaints in the previous record year, and a small projection of population increase for the next decade. Then again at the hearing before the Board of Appeals, Officer Denker repeated that his facts and figures showed appellant did not meet the "Need Criteria" consistently applied in the past. The BCPD "Need Criteria" memorandum that was issued, and the evidence of BCPD's actual use of the criteria, establish that the BCPD has consistently interpreted the Baltimore County Code section's reference to need by the standards of the "Need Criteria."
The need criteria have been recognized by the intermediate appellate court in Pollard's, have been established as the applicable standards in past Board of Appeals' opinions, have been relied upon by previous applicants in applying for a towing license, have been consistently used by the BCPD when preparing reports for the DPM, and most importantly, have been accepted by the DPM by prior consistent practice when considering license applications.
The record establishes that Mr. Freeman decided to issue a license to appellant based solely upon his determination that the towers of Baltimore County should be diverse, and, therefore, need existed for a licensed minority applicant without regard for the established criteria. Mr. Freeman simply circumvented the standards. Ultimately, Mr. Freeman granted appellant's license based solely on appellant's race. Mr. Freeman's focus on expansive definitions of the word "need" in two dictionaries ignores the long-standing interpretation of the provision used by the applicable administrative agencies.
We have previously indicated that, generally, an administrative agency should follow its own established rules, regulations and procedures. In Maryland Transportation Authority v. King, ___ Md. ___, ___ A.2d ___ (2002), Judge Eldridge, writing for the Court, quoted the Court of Special Appeals' unreported opinion (No. 420, Sept. Term 2000), where that court, quoting its prior case of Hopkins v. Maryland Inmate Griev. Comm'n, 40 Md. App. 329, 335, 391 A.2d 1213, 1216 (1978), said:
"It is well established that rules and regulations promulgated by an administrative agency cannot be waived, suspended or disregarded in a particular case as long as such rules and regulations remain in force. . . . This rule has been recognized in federal and state jurisdictions and has become known as the `Accardi doctrine' since it was announced in U.S. ex rel Accardi v. Shaughnessy, 347 U.S. 260 (1954). There the Supreme Court vacated a deportation order of the Board of Immigration of Appeals because the Board and the Attorney eneral failed to follow their own regulations." King, __ Md. at ___, ___ A.2d at _____.
For this Court, Judge Eldridge then stated:
"In Accardi v. Shaughnessy, supra, 347 U.S. at 268, 74 S. Ct. at 504, 98 L. Ed. at 687, the Supreme Court of the United States held that an administrative decision is subject to invalidation because of the agency's `failure to exercise its own discretion contrary to existing valid regulations.' (Emphasis in original). Subsequently in a series of cases, the Supreme Court, relying on the Accardi case, has recognized a rule of federal administrative law that, with som
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