"The Robing Room: MD State Judges

Hon. Althea M. Handy	See Rating Details
Circuit Judge Circuit Court
Baltimore City County 8th Circuit	See Comments

Attorney Average Rating: 4.4 - 25 rating(s) Non-Attorney Average Rating: 1.0 - 8 rating(s)	Please send me alerts on this judge E-mail Address:

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Only items marked with (*) are averaged into the displayed overall rating.

General Rating Criteria

* Temperament		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Scholarship		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Industriousness		(1=Not at all industrious,10=Highly industrious)
* Ability to Handle Complex Litigation		(1=Awful,10=Excellent)
* Punctuality		(1=Chronically Late,10=Always on Time)
* General Ability to Handle Pre-Trial Matters		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
* General Ability as a Trial Judge		(1=Not all Able, 10=Extremely Able)
Flexibility In Scheduling		(1=Completely Inflexible,10=Very Flexible)

Criminal Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Criminal Litigation		(1=Demonstrates Bias,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
General Inclination Regarding Bail		(1=Pro-Defense,10=Pro-Government)
Involvement in Plea Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved, 10=Very Involved)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Pretrial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Trial Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)
General Inclination in Criminal Cases Sentencing Stage		(1=Pro-prosecution,10=Pro-defense)

Civil Rating Criteria (if applicable)

* Evenhandedness in Civil Litigation		(1=Not at all Evenhanded,10=Entirely Evenhanded)
Involvement in Settlement Discussions		(1=Not at all Involved,10=Very Involved)
General Inclination		(1=Pro-defendant, 10=Pro-plaintiff)

Comments

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What others have said about Hon. Althea M. Handy

Comments

Other

Comment #: MD9545
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge Handy is unprofessional and biased. She reacts based on emotion and her own opinion, giving a harsh sentence because she disagreed with the jury's verdict. From her demeanor and her words, she clearly had already decided the case regardless of the outcome of the jury. Her understanding and judgement of situations involving interpersonal conflict and IPV is disturbing. She has no place in the courtroom, making decisions that impact people's lives forever.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD9435
Rating:1.0

Comments:
`Altea M. Handy has no reason to be on the bench. She does not have the temperament needed to be an unbiased judge. She is rude, yells at litigants and lawyers and does not care to understand anyone’s point of view but hers.
She is clearly not suitable to be a judge. No one should be voting for her to be reelected. She’s clearly unhinged and needs a psychological evaluation. It’s time she booted off the bench.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD9033
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge Handy was EXTREMELY bias! She was totally for the plaintiff. She did not listen to the defendant, told him to be quite and did not want to see any evidence he produced. She made her decision totally by what the plaintiff said. She also began speaking in Spanish to the plaintiff so that what was said wasn't understand by the defendant. There was no need for Spanish because the plaintiff is fluent in English. If there were zeros on this rating scale, that's what the judge would have gotten. The defendant was stopped from speaking and told that he was disrespectful. This woman should NOT be a judge!!!! It was clearly a personal attack and my rights were violated.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD8385
Rating:10.0

Comments:
I have won and lost In Her Honors court room. So my opinion is not based on my own personal success or failure in Her Honors court room. Moreover, it’s not based on my emotions. She is an outstanding Judge. She has the ability to see through people. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She is extremely fair and can be stern when it is required. As a lawyer, she has disciplined me when I have disrespected the court and praised me when I learned to conduct myself properly. She is very graceful and distinguished as a human being and as a Judge. I try many cases all over the state. I have won a lot of jury trials in many different jurisdictions. Baltimore City Circurt prepares any trial attorney to be successful in any court room in America . Either you excel or get destroyed as a trial attorney in that arena. Likewise, Her Honor prepares any attorney to be successful ..... She treats defendants with respect , attorneys with respect, staff with respect. Again, she will be stern when it is required. Her Honors Court room exudes civility and fairness not because it’s a court room, but because it’s The Honorable Judge Althea M. Handy’s court room. One thing is for sure, you better be ready to pick 12 or 6 when you are in front of her with a case. Rain, sleet or snow she is picking that jury.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD8035
Rating:1.2

Comments:
If there were zeros, I would have used them. This Judge is by far the most incompetent and inhumane judge I have ever encountered in thirty years of litigation- and there was some stiff competition. She continued to hold after I told her that I just received a phone call from the hospital that my mother was dying and to come immediately. Only after it became obvious that I was in a state of shock and could not respond to her questions. Thirty days later when the hearing was reconvened, I identified myself and client for the record. Those were the only words I spoke. After the hearing she called me up and proceeded to chew me out, telling me I was disrespectful to the court. She actually told me my face was disrespectful! This woman should not be on the bench.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD7651
Rating:1.0

Comments:
I agree with the other reviews - biased and incompetent

Other

Comment #: MD7170
Rating:1.0

Comments:
From my brother's statement, it is obvious incidents can not be changed nor forgiven with reasonable punishment. Seems more personal.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD7046
Rating:1.8

Comments:
Her vacuous rulings have no basis in the law. Recently, watched her destroy through misapplication of the law and inability to understand it the AG's airtight case against Access and Reliance Funding who profited from scamming lead paint victims.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD6900
Rating:1.0

Comments:
A terrible temperament. Horrible power issues. You are stuck with her as postponements judge, apparently, but she should not be judging anything. Just terrible.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD6774
Rating:2.6

Comments:
She has been moved to the criminal docket; civil litigants and their attorneys should rejoice. Worst circuit court judge in my 17+ years of practice. She has virtually no clue what the law is and no inclination to find out what it is. She is scared to death of the larger law firms.

Litigant

Comment #: MD6715
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Judge Handy recently ruled on a civil matter appeal. The brief she drafted was 4 pages long, riddled with spelling errors, and had over a dozen grammatical mistakes. While these concerns aren't reason alone to leave a negative review, her ruling made no legal sense and was not fundamentally sound. She has zero clue of the law with civil matters and belongs no where near a court room that involves complex civil matters. Baltimore City, the slime of America.

Litigant

Comment #: MD6714
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge is everything you read about on this website. I had a civil matter (administrative appeal review) in front of her. There was a packed court room full of 60+ people and every person left with the same observation, she could not rule against me. Every comment she made and question she asked both sides made it appear as if she got what was wrong, well she didnt. I was warned about this judge and what a loose cannon she was from prominent attorneys in the Baltimore area. If you have this judge, prepare for the worst. She is not someone who should be on the bench.

Litigant

Comment #: MD6171
Rating:3.0

Comments:
Unfit for civil litigation. Terrible. To be fair, the coa judge that I appealed to who "wrote" the so-called opinion wasn't much better.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD5336
Rating:9.6

Comments:
Unlike other members of this bench Judge Handy is fair to both sides. She avoids the problem of some of her colleagues who simply rule in favor of the tall tower attorney firms who feel entitled.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD3986
Rating:1.5

Comments:
Judge Handy is a mean spirited judge who has her agenda made up prior to even walking in a courtroom. She engages in ex part communication and has made a mess of an already intolerable civil docket

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD3818
Rating:3.0

Comments:
Civil assignment has become even more disorganized since she took over. Hard to believe it could get worse, but it did.

Other

Comment #: MD2257
Rating:1.0

Comments:
She is incredibly temperamental, and unreasonable in her expectations of defendants. She is overly confident in her ability to be a social worker, lawyer and judge simultaneously. She is disrespectful to other professionals in the courtroom, and disrespectful of their credentials and qualifications to do a particular job.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD2233
Rating:1.3

Comments:
Judge Handy is volatile, ill-mannered, condescending and dim-witted.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD2146
Rating:1.3

Comments:
A cardiology patient, fresh out of the hospital after having suffered a heart attack barely a week earlier, and another heart attack the previous month, and under doctor’s orders to avoid stressful situations, appears for a deposition at the offices of the opposing defense counsel. Opposing counsel had denied his request to postpone the trial date after the plaintiff’s heart attack, but instead moved for dismissal of the case against his client, on grounds that the plaintiff/cardiology patient “failed to appear” at a settlement conference, the very morning that he was in the hospital undergoing emergency treatment for his first heart attack. That motion to dismiss was denied, after an earlier judge saw through his subterfuge. At the deposition, the opposing counsel does not ask any questions relative to the lawsuit, but instead focuses on questions of a personal nature, intended solely to harass and annoy. When he does not receive the answers that he wanted, he persists in hammering away with the same question over and over, despite admonitions that the question had already been answered, and reminders that the deponent had suffered a recent heart attack. When the deposition degenerated into opposing counsel arguing with the deponent, and with chest pains developing along with all the signs of another heart attack about to occur, the deponent walked out of the deposition. The opposing counsel then renewed his motion to dismiss, on the grounds that not only had plaintiff “failed to appear” at a settlement conference during his heart attack, he “failed to present” at a properly scheduled deposition. Judge Handy ruled that a deponent had no right to leave a deposition without the explicit permission of the deposer, and no matter what his excuse, he had no right to take such “unilateral action,” all the while ignoring the medical documentation from doctors which warned of instant death at any moment should the patient find himself under stress. Judge Handy further berated the plaintiff for not foregoing his medical treatment in order to attend the earlier court-designated event, before granting the insurance company staff attorney the windfall that he sought –- that of dismissal with prejudice. A motion to amend/reconsider was promptly filed, which Judge Handy sat on for a year before denying it without comment. The comment below about this judge lacking a moral compass would appear to be deserved. It’s time that the Commission on Judicial Disabilities gets serious about doing its job of removing unfit judges.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD2128
Rating:4.0

Comments:
She may have been a prosecutor, but she is not well-versed enough in the more complex civil matters. She shows bias easily...she pretended to give me a fair shake and then ruled against me. I found her to be rude and short-tempered and...well, not very smart.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1906
Rating:8.6

Comments:
Wasn't quite sure what to expect given the uneven comments here, and because her only experience prior to the bench was as a prosecutor. After my jury trial before her, I am perplexed by the comments attacking her temperament. I can't say that she got all of the rulings correct (do they ever?), but she strove to make the correct rulings without bias for either side. And she is one of the most pleasant judges I have ever been before -- I give her an A+ for temperament. Not brilliant, but industrious, patient, and intellectually honest.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1881
Rating:9.3

Comments:
I recently completed a medical malpractice trial in front of Judge Handy that raised a number of significant and complex issues of evidence. She was a pleasure to appear before, was courteous to all counsel, witnesses, and the jury and lstened attentively to all arguments of ocunsel before ruling. Her rulings were thoughtful and well reasoned. This was my first experience with her and I was somewhat concerned having read some of the comments below. I have appeared before many judges in Md, DC, and Va over the past 23 years and based on my recent experience with her I would rate her in the handful of judges who are a pure pleasure to appear before.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1730
Rating:1.4

Comments:
About as dumb as they get. There really is no polite way to put it. There are perhaps some more sophisticated ways to describe her, but she really does not warrant such a courtesy.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD1263
Rating:1.0

Comments:
Anyone who calls Judge Handy "excellent" really needs to get their head examined. The comment below from a "Criminal Defense Lawyer" who talks about her "son's appeal case" sounds more like the Judge wrote it herself. Make no mistake. This judge is one jack-booted thug in robes. One who shows no hesitation to sic the AGC on any attorney who dares to criticize her incompetence and ignorance. Can't seem to understand the fundamentals of law. Her "scholarship" is one sick joke.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD1205
Rating:10.0

Comments:
Judge Handy was excellent. Listened attentively to all the evidence presented in my son's appeal case and used basic common sense and straight codes of law to make her determination. I totally respect her, and her concern for my son that will be the future leader in Baltimore City. She is a great judge!!!!

Other

Comment #: MD892
Rating:1.0

Comments:
This judge was extremely disrespectful to me as a juror. When asked if anyone had a reason they could not take part in the two day trial I explained that I was supervising a student intern and should be present in school as a mentor, I was told that responsible teachers schedule jury duty for Christmas or summer break, and accused of giving her an attitude for my honesty. She had me dismissed and forced to reschedule over the summer, having to return the day's payment even though I had spent 2 1/2 hours in the courthouse and had to pay for parking. This judge did not respect my profession and mocked the idea that I used my summer break to attend graduate school.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD846
Rating:2.2

Comments:
In my 16 years before the courts in a variety of matters, Judge Handy is one of the worst I have encountered. Arrogant, pompous, ignorant as regards civil law, self-righteous, pre-judgmental, very attentive to the whims of big business, an unbelievable underlying streak of just plain mean-spiritedness to the point of lacking a moral compass, don't expect anything even close to fundamental fairness if you are the victim or underdog. Gives new meaning to the term unfit.

Criminal Defense Lawyer

Comment #: MD835
Rating:8.4

Comments:
I'll give Judge Handy credit for knowing the Maryland Rules. She called me out for not knowing that I was required to submit a redlined copy when I filed an amended complaint. She read me the rule; I apologized for my lack of knowledge; and then she denied defendants' motions to dismiss based upon her precise interpretation of the relevant case law.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD468
Rating:10.0

Comments:
She is a brilliant judge who deserves to be on the federal bench. Excellent temperament, and very industriousness. Even though she ruled against me on a motion for attorney's fees, which was later affirmed on appeal, she is very evenhanded in her decision making and does an excellent job in handling jury trials.

Civil Litigation - Govt.

Comment #: MD417
Rating:3.3

Comments:
Some judges have a hard time calling balls and strikes--Judge Handy is one of those judges. She disrupts the flow of trial by interjecting herself into the matter. Her temperament also makes trying cases in front of her a chore. Although she has little understanding of civil matters, she compensates by overtalking and dressing down counsel. I do understand that she is a better judge on criminal matters.

Civil Litigation - Private

Comment #: MD41
Rating:8.5

Comments:
Found this judge to be very patient. Highly attentive and accurately took down the facts of the case.