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The Superior Court has held that an asbestos plaintiff who admits she cannot demonstrate general personal jurisdiction over the defendant is entitled to conduct jurisdictional discovery to determine whether there are sufficient facts to establish specific personal...
In a far-ranging and lengthy decision (almost 100 pages), the Superior Court has mostly denied defendants' motions to dismiss the claims against them arising from the guarantees given by the State of Rhode Island for $75 million of bonds issued to finance the...
The First Circuit has upheld a finding by the Massachusetts federal district court that it may assert jurisdiction over the Republic of Ukraine under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act ("FSIA") where the Republic engaged in activity of a commercial nature that had a...
The First Circuit upheld a finding in a bankruptcy adversary proceeding that plaintiff property owners had impliedly consented to a trespass on their property by defendants. However, the Court remanded for a determination of whether the implied consent gave rise to an...
The First Circuit has held that a bankruptcy debtor may be subject through agency to a discharge exception for money procured through a materially false financial statement. 11 U.S.C. 523(a)(2)(B). Further, the Circuit Court said that reckless indifference to the...
A federal magistrate judge has applied the federal Wilton/Brillhart abstention doctrine under which federal courts can decline to exercise federal jurisdiction in an insurance coverage declaratory judgment action when there is a parallel state court proceeding. After...
The First Circuit has held the federal district court in Rhode Island did not abuse its jurisdiction when it exercised supplemental jurisdiction over claims between non-diverse parties after the claims between diverse parties had been dismissed. The issue arose in a...
The Superior Court has held that the "routine" destruction of samples by a testing laboratory is not spoliation that would preclude the admission of the results of tests on the samples. The Court said the destruction of evidence was subject to sanctions only when it...
The Superior Court has held that a successful litigant in administrative proceedings before the Department of Environmental Management is not required to have a net worth under $500,000 to qualify for an award of attorney's fees under Rhode Island's Equal Access to...
The Superior Court has denied an asbestos plaintiff's motion for summary judgment respecting a defendant's government contractor defense. The Court held the defendant had established sufficient evidence to raise issues of fact for trial. Plaintiff alleges her husband...
