Justia Rhode Island Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court convicting Defendant of one count of domestic assault with a dangerous weapon, holding that the trial justice did not abuse her discretion in her evidentiary rulings.On appeal, Defendant argued that the trial justice erred by granting two of the State's motions in limine precluding the jury from hearing evidence of the victim's arrest for gun charges and viewing videos of the victim having engaged in acts of violence. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial justice did not abuse her discretion when she (1) prevented any mention that Defendant had been arrested on the gun charges, and (2) excluded the videos. View "State v. Medina" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and quashed in part the final decree of the Workers' Compensation Court (WCC) upholding an award of accidental disability benefits for occupational cancer to Petitioner, holding that the WCC had jurisdiction to hear Petitioner's appeal but erred in finding that R.I. Gen. Laws 45-19.1-1 contains a conclusive presumption that all cancer in firefighters is occupational cancer.Petitioner served as a firefighter for the City of Cranston until he was diagnosed with colon cancer. Petitioner applied for accidental disability benefit based upon his cancer diagnosis. The Retirement Board of the Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island denied the application, finding that Petitioner did not prove that his cancer arose out of and in the course of his employment as a firefighter. The WCC then filed his petition arguing that, pursuant to chapter 19.1 of title 45, all cancers contracted by firefighters are presumed to be work-related. The trial judge agreed and reversed the board. The Supreme Court quashed the decree in part, holding that chapter 19.1 of title 45 does not contain any presumption that all cancers in firefighters are occupational cancers. View "Lang v. Municipal Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the order of the family court denying Father's motions to modify visitation placement, ordering Father's visitation to remain suspended, granting in part Mother's motion for a mental health examination of Father, and ordering the parties to engage a counselor for the purposes of Father's psychological evaluation as well as for a parent-child evaluation of Father and the minor children, holding that the family court did not err.The parties in this case were divorced and shared joint custody of their three minor children with physical possession granted to Mother and visitation to Father. After a few years, the family court suspended Father's visitation and ordered him to undergo a mental health examination. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the trial justice did not abuse his discretion when he issued the order. View "Tsonos v. Tsonos" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgments of the superior court granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff, Midland Funding, LLC, in these consolidated credit card debt collection appeals, holding that Defendant failed to set forth facts that established a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the credit card accounts were in fact her accounts.The complaints in this case sought to recover the unpaid balance due on two credit card accounts. The district court granted summary judgment for Plaintiff in both cases. On appeal, Defendant argued that there existed an issue of fact as to the ownership of the accounts. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the evidence was insufficient to give rise to a genuine issue of material fact. View "Midland Funding LLC v. Raposo" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court dismissing Plaintiff's complaint against Child and Family Services of Newport County (CFS) alleging defamation, constructive termination, discrimination, and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, holding that the hearing justice properly dismissed Plaintiff's claims.Specifically, the Court held (1) where the complaint did not allege that CFS made any false statements about Defendant, Plaintiff did not sufficiently allege a claim for defamation; (2) Plaintiff did not properly plead a claim for breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing; (3) the complaint did not include sufficient facts to allege a prima facie case of either employment discrimination or a civil rights violation; and (4) the hearing justice did not err in dismissing the amended complaint with prejudice. View "Ferreira v. Child and Family Services of Rhode Island" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court affirming rulings of the probate court and holding that the father (the decedent)Plaintiffs and Defendant had validly executed a last will and testament on June 9, 2011, holding that the last will and testament executed by the decedent on June 9, 2011 was valid.Plaintiffs alleged that the last will and testament was invalid because, on June 9, 2011, the decedent continued to be subject to a temporary limited guardianship, which included a provision prohibiting the Decedent from revoking or drafting any last will and testament. The superior court justice concluded that because the probate court had, on December 13, 2010, dissolved all portions of the guardianship restricting the decedent's ability to make a will, the last will and testament at issue was not invalid. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that because the condition limiting the decedent's ability to revoke or draft a last will and testament was extinguished by the probate court in 2010, the last will and testament executed by the decedent in 2011 was valid. View "Duffy v. Scire" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the superior court granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants and dismissing Plaintiff's action claiming violation of restrictive covenants and breach of the duty of quiet enjoyment arising out of Defendants' alleged wrongful construction of a multi-story structure on their property, holding that summary judgment was properly granted.Defendants failed to get approval prior to building, as required under the plain language of the restrictive covenant at issue. However, Defendants ultimately received the required approval. The requirements were not building requirements but, rather, the requirement to submit plans for approval prior to building. The Supreme Court held that because the requested relief for Defendants' breach of the restrictive covenants would lead to a futile result, the hearing justice did not err in granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment. View "Pollak v. 217 Indian Avenue, LLC" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed in part and vacated in part the order of the family court denying Father's motion for a new trial following an order that denied Father's motion to change custody and awarded sole custody of the parties' children to Mother, holding that the trial justice improperly determined that Plaintiff should be awarded sole custody.Following the entry of final judgment of divorce Father moved to modify placement, seeking an order awarding him placement of the children. The trial justice granted Mother's motion to dismiss, finding that Defendant had not met his burden of showing a substantial change in circumstances. The trial justice then found that the parents could not co-parent the children and granted sole custody to Mother. The Supreme Court vacated the order in part, holding that the trial justice (1) did not abuse her discretion when she denied Defendant's motion to modify custody; and (2) erred in awarding sole custody to Mother without determining that the change of placement was in the best interests of the children. View "Souza v. Souza" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court answered a question certified to it by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District Court of Rhode Island by holding that R.I. Gen. Laws 9-26-4(11) permits a debtor to claim an exemption for an inherited Individual Retirement Annuity (IRA).Lynette Kapsinow filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition seeking, under Rhode Island law, to exempt an inherited IRA pursuant to section 9-26-4(11). The inherited IRA was inherited by Kapsinow from her late mother. The bankruptcy court certified to the Supreme Court the question about the availability of an exemption in bankruptcy with respect to the inherited IRA. The Supreme Court answered that a debtor may claim an exemption in an inherited IRA, including one inherited from a non-spouse, pursuant to section 9-267-4(11). View "In re Kapsinow" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of assault with a dangerous weapon in a dwelling house and other offenses, holding that the trial justice did not err in admitting a recording and transcript of a phone call between Defendant and a confidential informant into evidence and did not clearly err by failing to grant a mistrial when it became evidence that defense counsel did not possess or review the complete discovery package prior to trial.Specifically, the Court held (1) the trial justice did not abuse his discretion when he admitted the transcript of the phone call into evidence; (2) there was not clear error in the trial justice's finding that Defendant was not prejudiced by not having certain materials priorate trial; and (3) having found no abuse of discretion when denying the mistrial, there is no reason to overturn the trial justice's denial of a motion for a new trial for the same reasons. View "State v. Rivera" on Justia Law