In the context of a medical malpractice case, the Supreme Court has held that it was not error for the trial court sua sponte to instruct the jury not to consider what affect insurance may have on the case or whether the case will affect the defendants' insurance...
Firm News
Expert Disclosures in Federal Court
In an apparently unpublished decision, Magistrate Judge Sullivan of the federal district court has held that Rule 26(a)(2) requires the disclosure of all facts or data considered by an expert witness, not just the facts or data upon which the expert relies. The issue...
Injury due to school horseplay not foreseeable to school
The Rhode Island Supreme Court has held that a private high school does not have an obligation to insure the safety of its students throughout the entire school. Rather, it has a duty only to provide a safe environment when it is foreseeable that a student may be...
“Citizen-Only” FOIA Statutes Are Constitutional
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has held that state Freedom of Information Acts that only allow state citizens to obtain documents through the acts violate neither the federal Privileges and Immunities Clause nor the dormant Commerce Clause. Two plaintiffs...
Civil Rights, Federal Tort Claims Act & Statutory Interpretation
In a unanimous decision written by Justice Thomas, the Supreme Court has held that liability exception in the Federal Tort Claims Act for "investigative or law enforcement officers" applies regardless of whether they commit the specified torts in the course of...
First Amendment and Municipal Liability
The federal district court has found that a plaintiff's First Amendment rights were violated when she tried to distribute flyers outside an auditorium at which the former mayor of Providence was giving a speech. However, the court found there were issues of fact as...
Privilege Log
A justice of the Superior Court has written a decision on a issue not addressed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court and required the production of a "privilege log" when ever a party withhold documents from discovery on the basis of some kind of privilege. In so doing,...
Personal Guarantees, Oral Modifications, Mitigation, Waiver
The Rhode Island federal district court has rejected the arguments of three defendants who personally guaranteed a loan that the lender had made oral modifications of the loan terms, had waived its rights or failed to mitigate its damages. The defendants made the...
Yacht Mortgagee Appropriately Sold Yacht Pursuant to Mortgage
A yacht mortgagor argued that the mortgagee was barred from pursuing him for a deficiency on the sale of a repossessed yacht because it did not give the mortgagor notice of the time and place of the sale as required by one section of the mortgage. The First Circuit...
USDC-RI finds diversity juridiction due to fraudulent joinder
The Rhode Island federal district court has found there was diversity jurisdiction over plaintiff's property damage claims against a Delaware company because the Providence Board of Licenses and its individual members were fraudulent joined. Plaintiff filed suit in...