This matter is before the Court on the motion of Subaru of America ("Subaru") for summary judgment pursuant to Super. R. Civ. P. 56. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 6-13.1-5.2... Facts and Travel... This is an action brought under the Rhode Island Deceptive Trade Practices Act, codified at § 6-13.1-1, et seq. ("RIDTPA"). Joseph Chen ("Plaintiff"), appearing pro se, is the fourth owner of a 1995 Subaru Impreza sedan that is equipped with front-wheel...  

This action pits the Cranston School Committee against the Mayor of the City of Cranston and the Cranston City Council. It asks this Court to decide whether the School Committee can garner an additional appropriation of approximately $4.5 million from the City Council, under the Caruolo Act, R.I.G.L. § 16-2-21.4, to cure its budget deficit for fiscal year 2007-2008, after the fact, when it anticipated a deficit early in the fiscal year and yet continued to overspend without taking any of...  

This matter came before the Court for a jury-waived trial held between March 25 and April 15, 2008. The plaintiff, Amicable Congregational Church ("the Church"), is the record-title owner of a certain 26.347 acre parcel of land in the town of Tiverton, bordering the eastern side of South Lake Road and described in the Tiverton Tax Assessor Map at Map 4-2, Block 127, Card 8. The defendant, Richard K. St. Aubin ("St. Aubin"), a resident of the town of Little Compton, is the owner...  

This matter is before the Court on the motion of non-party Vikas Mehrotra ("Mehrotra") to quash a subpoena for documents and testimony that D.B. Zwirn Special Opportunities Fund, L.P. ("Zwirn") has caused to be issued... Facts and Travel... In the underlying civil action filed in the Supreme Court of New York, Zwirn claims that Defendants Greg L. Rhodes ("Rhodes") and Ashish Paul ("Paul") defrauded Zwirn in the amount of $7,523,711.25. Defendants allegedly...  

Before this Court is the application of Roberto Brito-Batista ("Brito-Batista" or "petitioner") for post-conviction relief. Brito-Batista contends that he was denied his right to effective assistance of counsel prior to entering a plea of nolo contendere to one count of simple possession of cocaine. This plea, entered in 1997, now carries the potential of deportation for Brito-Batista. The Court is mindful that immigration generally and deportation specifically is today, as it...  

Petitioner, Robert Sullivan, appeals the decision of the City Personnel Board ("Board") for the City of Providence to terminate his employment as a firefighter. Sullivan requests that this Court reverse the Board's decision and award damages for his lost earnings. Contending that its decision was proper, the Board requests this Court affirm. Because this Court finds, for the reasons set forth below, that the Board's factual conclusions were not clearly erroneous and that its decision to...  

This matter comes before the Court on cross-motions for summary judgment by the Town of South Kingstown and South County Sand & Gravel Co., Inc. ("South County"). South County filed its complaint with this Court on August 20, 1996, seeking a declaratory judgment that certain amendments to South Kingstown's Zoning Ordinance (the "Ordinance") enacted on July 22, 1996 (the "Amendments") are invalid.1 Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 9-30-1... Facts and Travel......  

The complaint in this case was filed on August 1, 2008. The complaint is a three-count complaint in which the Plaintiff challenges the legality of Executive Order No. 08-06, signed by Defendant Governor Donald L. Carcieri on July 31, 2008... Shortly after the complaint was filed, the Plaintiff requested a Super. R. Civ. P. 16 pre-trial chambers conference with the Court. During the conference, the parties agreed to a briefing schedule on Plaintiff's anticipated motions for temporary restraining...  

Before this Court is a timely appeal by Petitioner/Respondent Loungxay, Inc., ("Loungxay, Inc.") d/b/a Warwick Banquet Hall or Catfish Grille from an April 17, 2006 decision of a hearing officer of the Department of Labor and Training ("Department"), ordering the payment of back wages to Respondent/Petitioner Joseph Giocastro ("Giocastro"). Loungxay, Inc., seeks reversal of that administrative decision, contending that Giocastro was not a salaried employee of Loungxay,...  

The Auto Body Association of Rhode Island ("ABARI") seeks review of a final Decision ("Decision") by the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation ("DBR" or "agency"). In that Decision, DBR, acting through its director, A. Michael Marques ("Marques"), denied ABARI's declaratory request that the prevailing rate for labor is to be determined solely by the provisions of G.L. 1956 § 27-29-4.4. The Rhode Island Administrative Procedures Act...  

This action concerns the propriety of an arbitration decision that interpreted a collective bargaining agreement between the Rhode Island Department of Health and the National Association of Government Employees as requiring the Department to give equal weight to an applicant's education, experience and interview in making any promotional decision under the contract. Although the Arbitrator found that the assignment of equal weight to those three promotional criteria would not have changed the...  

Michael West and Michael West Builders, Inc. (collectively, Appellants) appeal from a December 7, 2006 decision of the City of East Providence Zoning Board of Review (Zoning Board), sitting as the City of East Providence Planning Board of Review (Planning... ... ... Board). In its decision, the Board upheld the Planning Board's denial of Appellants' application for a minor subdivision designed to accommodate three two-family dwellings. The Planning Board objected to this appeal.1 Jurisdiction...  

In this action for declaratory and injunctive relief, the Central Falls School District Board of Trustees and its Superintendent (the "District") move for summary judgment and ask this Court to declare that the grievance filed by the Central Falls Teachers' Union (the "Union") over the District's decision to promote Steven DeLeo over another candidate to the position of English Department Chair of Central Falls High School is not an arbitrable dispute. They also ask this Court...  

Before this Court is an appeal from a February 22, 2006 decision by the Rhode Island Department of Human Services (DHS), denying David H. Arnold (Appellant) medical assistance benefits on the grounds of disability under G.L. 1956 § 40-8-1, et seq. Appellant, seeking a reversal of the DHS decision, filed his timely appeal on March 21, 2006. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 42-35-15... I... Facts and Travel... Appellant, age thirty-nine, injured his back on June 14, 2004 while...  

Before this Court are the consolidated appeals of Beechwood Enterprises, Inc. ("Beechwood") from two decisions of the Town of Charlestown Zoning Board of Review sitting as the Platting Board of Review and Appeals ("Board"). Appellees Patricia Sprague and Carolina Compact, LLC ("Intervenors") are abutting property owners who have intervened in each appeal... The Board's first decision, filed November 9, 2006, reversed a decision of the Charlestown Planning Commission...  

This dispute arises out of action by Governor Donald L. Carcieri and his former Director of the Department of Administration, Beverly E. Najarian, to lay off for an indefinite time period the Sheriff of Newport County and three Chief Deputy Sheriffs and possibly to lay off and eliminate the position of the Sheriff of Kent County (the "Sheriffs") as a result of the State's severe budget crisis. The Sheriffs seek declaratory, equitable and injunctive relief to prevent such action, arguing...  

This an asbestos-related product liability case brought against a number of corporate defendants. In the instant matter, Defendant Caterpillar Inc. ("Caterpillar") moves for summary judgment pursuant to Super. R. Civ. P. 56. Angela Clayton, as surviving spouse of Randall Clayton ("Mr. Clayton") as well as in her capacity as executrix of his estate, and her children (collectively "Plaintiffs") object to the motion... Facts and Travel... The Plaintiffs filed a complaint in...  

This is an appeal of a decision issued by the Retirement Board of the Employees' Retirement System of Rhode Island (ERSRI), dated March 15, 2007, which denied Fred Worley's application for an accidental disability pension. Jurisdiction is pursuant to G.L. 1956 § 42-35-15... I... Facts and Travel... The record reveals that Fred Worley (Worley) began his employment with the State of Rhode Island Department of Corrections in 1990 as a correctional officer working in the Adult Correctional...  

This an asbestos-related product liability case brought against a number of corporate defendants. In the instant matter, Defendant Caterpillar Inc. ("Caterpillar") moves for summary judgment pursuant to Super. R. Civ. P. 56. Plaintiff Elizabeth Brandt, as Executrix of William Brandt's estate and as his surviving spouse, objects to the motion... Facts and Travel... William Brandt and Elizabeth Brandt filed a complaint in this Court on September 12, 2007, alleging, inter alia, that Mr....  

In this action to quiet title, the parties remaining dispute concerns the ownership of a "grassy strip" of land owned by Carol Makowski and Robert R. Natale (the defendants), and a cement extension to a driveway accessing plaintiffs' property in the City of Cranston, Rhode Island. This matter was tried before this Court without a jury. The parties each submitted their "proposed findings of fact"... Plaintiffs, John J. Bert and Teresa C. Bert (the Berts) commenced this action,...