Four years after Mr. Rosemann obtained the judgments against his ex-wife, Ms. Rosemann was injured on board an America West ("the airline") flight. Ms. Rosemann filed suit against the airline and hired the law firm of Salsbury, Clements, Bekman, Marder & Adkins, LLC ("the law firm") to represent her regarding her personal injury claim. The airline and Ms. Rosemann reached a settlement in the amount of $30,000.00.

Upon learning about Ms. Rosemann's settlement, Mr. Rosemann filed two writs of garnishment in the Circuit Court for Howard County against the law firm, seeking to garnish funds that the law firm held for the benefit of Ms. Rosemann.

The law firm filed a Motion for Summary Judgment claiming that the settlement funds that it held for Ms. Rosemann, were exempt from execution on a judgment pursuant to Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(2) which states, in part that "[m]oney payable in the event of sickness, accident, injury, or death of any person, including compensation for loss of future earnings" is exempt from execution on a judgment.

Although the statute clearly applied to the facts of this case, Mr. Rosemann argued that an exception should be made for individuals seeking to execute judgments based on child support arrearages. Mr. Rosemann's public policy argument was based on the fact that during the recent years, the Maryland Legislature has cracked down on "dead-beat parents" through statutory changes, making it easier to collect child support arrearages or put pressure on the debtor to pay.

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the law firm. The Court of Special Appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court. The Court of Appeals granted Mr. Rosemann's Petition for Writ of Certiorari and considered Mr. Rosemann's argument.

The Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals and held that, based on the plain language of Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(2), the Legislature intended for funds received as part of a settlement in a personal injury case to be exempt from execution on all judgments, including judgments representing child support arrearages. The Court stated that the legislature has taken several steps to ensure that non-supporting parents honored their obligations, and if the Legislature wanted to enact an exception permitting a judgment creditor to execute on exempted property where the judgment is for domestic support arrearages it could have done so. Therefore, the Court declined to judicially create an exemption to Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 11-504(b)(2) that the Legislature did not see fit to impose.