Justia Rhode Island Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Defendants Earl Blamires, his wife Sylvia, and his son Brian all appealed a Superior Court decision that affirmed a trial courtâs judgment in favor of Plaintiff Val-Gioia Properties, LLC. In 2004, police responded to a complaint that Defendants were dumping a considerable amount of debris onto Plaintiffâs land. Plaintiffs sought damages for clean-up costs. None of the Defendants attended the original trial date, but instead sent letters to the court and opposing counsel explaining their reasons for not attending. Plaintiffs argued that the letters were not proper answers to the suit, and subsequently Plaintiffs received a default judgment. From there, the case went back and forth between the trial and superior Courts for various technical issues and appeals all arguing the validity of the default judgment. In October, 2008, a final judgment was entered in favor of Plaintiffs. Defendants appealed. After reviewing the trial and appellate records, the Supreme Court found that Defendants indeed did serve a proper answer in the case, and that the default judgment should not have been entered. The Court vacated the original default judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings.

Petitioner Michael West sought to develop six two-family homes on land in a residential neighborhood. After gaining initial support for his proposal by the local zoning officer, the full zoning commission denied Petitionerâs plan. The Boardâs decision was later affirmed by the Board of Appeals and the Superior Court. Because Petitioner thought he was in compliance with the zoning ordinances, he challenged the Superior Courtâs interpretation of the zoning ordinance to the Supreme Court. Furthermore, Petitioner asked the Court to resolve what he perceived as a conflict between the zoning ordinance and the municipalityâs comprehensive plan. The Supreme Court found no error with the lower courtâs interpretation of the local zoning ordinance, nor did it find a conflict with the local zoning ordinances and the municipalityâs comprehensive plan. The Court affirmed the lower courtâs decision.

Defendant Gerald Lynch appealed his conviction and sentence on four counts of first-degree sexual assault. At trial after the close of evidence, the state dismissed two counts of Defendantâs indictment, and Defendant moved for an acquittal on the remaining counts. The trial judge waited for the jury to return its verdict before ruling on Defendantâs motion. The jury found Defendant guilty on four counts of sexual assault. The judge then denied Defendantâs motion. On appeal, defendant alleged that, among other things, the trial judge erred in denying his motion for acquittal because the state failed to prove its case against him. The Supreme Court found that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to allow the jury to reach its conclusions and verdict. Finding no error, the Court affirmed the lower courtâs decision.

Plaintiff Walter Moore appealed a grant of summary judgment in favor of the Defendants, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education (Board of Governors) and the University of Rhode Island (URI). Plaintiff brought an employment discrimination suit against the Defendants in 2008, and in that suit, the record revealed that Plaintiff executed a waiver and release in which he released Defendants from liability for any lawsuits that arose from his employment with the Board of Governors. Plaintiffâs claim was then dismissed in the lower court. On appeal, the issue before the Supreme Court was whether that waiver-and-release applied to the URI as an agent of the Board of Governors. After reviewing the case records, the Supreme Court was not satisfied that the record reflected the waiver applied to the URI. The Court vacated the judgment of the lower court and remanded the case for further fact-finding proceedings.