Justia Rhode Island Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The underlying action in this case concerned real property located in the City of Warwick that Defendant, Felix Carlone, dedicated to the City in 1979. Plaintiffs, Warwick Sewer Authority (WSA) and the City, brought a complaint for a declaratory judgment concerning the City's ownership of the property. The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. Defendant appealed, contending that he dedicated the property on the condition that it be used as open space, that he maintained a reversionary interest in it, and that, therefore, genuine issues of material facts should have precluded the hearing justice from granting summary judgment. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) because no ambiguity existed on the face of the writings in this case, the parol evidence that Defendant presented rightly was not entertained by the hearing justice to vary the writings' terms; and (2) the property restrictions filed by Defendant with the City did not operate to restrict WSA from rezoning the dedicated land from open space to residential. View "Warwick Sewer Auth. v. Carlone" on Justia Law

Plaintiff Thomas DePetrillo filed suit against Belo Holdings, Inc. and Citadel Broadcasting Company, challenging the validity of Citadel's right of first refusal to purchase a broadcasting tower and surrounding real estate owned by Belo. The superior court granted Defendants' motions for summary judgment, concluding that Plaintiff, as a stranger to the original lease agreement between Belo and Citadel, had no standing to challenge Citadel's right of first refusal or the effectiveness of its exercise. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Plaintiff lacked authority to challenge the validity of the right of first refusal; and (2) Citadel's right of first refusal was enforceable as a matter of law. View "DePetrillo v. Belo Holdings, Inc." on Justia Law

Declarant Bowen Court Associates created a condominium by declaration in 1989. Declarant retained a ten-year reservation to withdraw a portion of the land from the condominium. In 1992 the owner of the property foreclosed on the property. Plaintiff Joseph Alessi later purchased the parcel. In 2001, Plaintiff sought to withdraw the parcel from the condomium, but the right to withdraw the parcel from the condominium had expired. Plaintiff then filed a complaint against Defendants, Bowen Court Condominium and the president of the condominium association, contending that Defendants erroneously refused to exclude withdrawable land from the condominium. After a hearing, the trial justice granted Defendants' motion for summary judgment, concluding that the right to exclude withdrawable real estate from a condominium after a foreclosure expires when the declarant's right to withdraw the real estate otherwise would have expired. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that title to unexercised declarant rights passed to the unit owners' association as a matter of law in 1999, when the right to exclude the real estate expired. View "Alessi v. Bowen Court Condo." on Justia Law

This case arose out of a dispute over real property in the City of Newport. Plaintiffs, four individuals, filed an action to clear title to a portion of the Washington Street Extension. The trial court entered judgment in favor of Defendants, Newport and its representatives, concluding that statutory abandonment is the exclusive means by which a municipality may abandon a public highway. The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court, holding (1) the Abandonment Statute is the only method by which a municipality may abandon a public highway; and (2) because the Abandonment Statute was not complied with, the trial court correctly found that Newport had not abandoned the Washington Street Extension. View "Reagan v. City of Newport" on Justia Law

Trustee sought an order allowing him to remove the life tenant (Defendant) from property owned by the trust. The probate court issued an order in conformity with Trustee's petition after Defendant was defaulted for failing to appear. Defendant filed a complaint in superior court purportedly appealing from the decision of the probate court. The trial justice concluded that Defendant had failed to comply with the requirements for filing a claim of appeal from the probate court and granted Trustee's motion to dismiss. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the superior court lacked jurisdiction to entertain Defendant's appeal for failure to comply with every relevant provision of the statute governing appeals from the probate court, and therefore, the superior court did not err in its judgment. View "Ims v. Audette" on Justia Law

Because Property Owner failed to pay real estate taxes on his property, the Town held a tax sale of Property Owner's property. Buyer purchased the property after Property Owner defaulted on the action. The superior court subsequently granted Buyer's petition to foreclose Property Owner's right of redemption to the property. Subsequently, a judgment was entered declaring the prior tax sale void and vesting the property back to Property Owner. Property Owner then executed a warranty deed conveying the property to his Sister. Concurrently, a stipulation was entered as an order of the superior court vesting title in the property to Buyer. Thereafter, Property Owner and Sister filed the instant action, seeking a declaratory judgment invalidating the stipulation order. The superior court determined that Buyer was the proper record title holder of the property. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that a superior court judgment cannot "re-vest" title to property back to a prior owner once that owner has been defaulted in a petition to foreclose his right of redemption and a final decree has been entered. View "Medeiros v. Bankers Trust Co." on Justia Law

Plaintiff and Defendant executed an agreement in which Plaintiff agreed to purchase from Defendant an unimproved parcel of real property. The agreement included a due diligence clause, which provided Plaintiff with a ninety-day due-diligence period in which perform inspections and inquiries. After the due-diligence period had expired and the parties had not closed on the property, Plaintiff filed a complaint seeking specific performance of its agreement with Defendant as well as damages. Defendant counterclaimed, seeking declaratory relief that the agreement be declared null and void and asserting a claim for breach of contract. The trial justice granted Defendant's motion for summary judgment on Plaintiff's complaint and Defendant's counterclaim, finding it had been Plaintiff's burden to contact Defendant to close and that Plaintiff had failed to do so without any explanation for its lack of diligence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial justice did not err in its judgment where Plaintiff presented no evidence either explaining its silence or supporting its contention that it was, after the due-diligence period, ready, willing, and able to perform under the contract. View "Empire Acquisition Group, LLC v. Atlantic Mortgage Co." on Justia Law

This case arose out of a dispute over real property. Plaintiffs, a husband and wife, brought an action against Defendant, a dentist, for trespass and private nuisance, and to quiet title. Plaintiffs stated in their complaint that they were the exclusive owners of the disputed property and that Defendant intentionally encroached upon this property without their consent. Defendant counterclaimed for adverse possession. The trial justice entered judgment in favor of Plaintiffs. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial justice did not err in finding that Defendant's use of the property did not meet the "open and notorious" element of adverse possession. View "McGarry v. Coletti" on Justia Law

Plaintiff North End Realty, a developer, filed a complaint in superior court seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against defendants, the town planner, finance director, and members of the town council of East Greenwich, after the town mandated that North End pay a $200,000 fee-in-lieu before it could record any subdivision approval it might receive from the planning board and begin to develop property. The hearing justice ruled that North End had failed to establish there was a likelihood of success of its claim and entered judgment in favor of defendants. On appeal, North End made several arguments, one of which was that the town did not have the requisite statutory authority to impose the fee-in-lieu. The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the superior court, holding that the town may not legally impose a fee-in-lieu in the absence of enabling authority from the general assembly. Remanded with directions to issue an order enjoining the town from imposing, assessing, or collecting the fee-in-lieu. View "North End Realty, L.L.C. v. Mattos" on Justia Law

This case involved an alleged easement on plaintiffs' property used by defendant development company. Plaintiffs sued for injunctive relief, alleging that defendant had violated the warranty covenants in the deed that conveyed the property in dispute from defendant to plaintiffs. The trial court ruled that the easement was valid. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded. On remand, plaintiffs filed a motion for an award of attorneys' fees, damages and costs. The superior court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment, finding that plaintiffs were not entitled to an award of attorneys' fees for the successful defense of title under a general warranty deed. The Supreme Court affirmed, finding that warranty covenants do not entitle the grantee to recover attorneys' fees from the grantor for a successful defense of title even where it is the grantor who attacks the title. View "Nunes v. Meadowbrook Dev. Co." on Justia Law