Appellate Decisions

• State of Rhode Island v. Lead Industries Association, et al.  In the longest jury trial in Rhode Island history—the attorney general’s landmark lead-litigation public-nuisance case—AP&S successfully defended Atlantic Richfield Company, the only defendant found not responsible by the jury at trial.  We also represented Atlantic Richfield successfully on appeal, where the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed the verdict in the company’s favor.  (All defendants ultimately prevailed on appeal).  AP&S also argued on behalf of all defendants with respect to their attacks on the attorney general’s contingency-fee agreement with private counsel.
  
• Franklin Grove Corp. v. Drexel, 936 A.2d 1272 (R.I. 2007).  Summary judgment in favor of the firm’s client on the basis of the economic loss doctrine was affirmed on appeal.
• Doe v. Harbor Schools, Inc., 446 Mass. #245 (2006).  The firm’s client was granted summary judgment on statute of limitations grounds in a case alleging sexual abuse at a group home for women.
• DeCesare v. Lincoln Benefit Life Co., 852 A.2d 474 (R.I. 2004).  A watershed decision on Rhode Island class action law in which the Supreme Court clarified the legal parameters that determine when and how a nationwide plaintiff class may be certified to pursue both injunctive and monetary relief.
• Insurance Company of North America v. Kayser-Roth Corporation, 770 A.d 403 (R.I. 2001).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled in favor of the firm’s client Kayser-Roth on several issues of first impression, including insurance law issues and right to a jury.
• Textron Inc. v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 754 A.2d 742 (R.I. 2000).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court held the so-called pollution exclusion clause in commercial general liability policies to be ambiguous and thereby afforded coverage to policyholders who do not intentionally or recklessly pollute the properties of others.
• Fleet Construction Co. v. Aetna Life & Casualty Co., 746 A.2d 1247 (R.I. 2000).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court held that a broker for construction payment and performance bonds was like any other merchant, and thus not required by law to obtain bonds at the lowest premium price for its customer.
• Case of Canavan, 432 Mass #304 (2000).  The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts adopted the position of the amicus brief for the Massachusetts Defense Lawyers Association on the standard governing the admissibility of expert testimony at trial.
• Textron Inc. v. Aetna Casualty and Surety Co., 723 A.2d 1138 (R.I. 1999).  The Rhode Island Court determined the trigger for coverage for insurance policies in environmental damage cases, and also determined the kinds of expert and scientific/technical evidence that could be used to trigger policies.
• Providence & Worcester Railroad v. Pine, 729 A.2d 202 (R.I. 1999).  The Rhode Island Court held that once the railroad filled in and improved land below the mean high-water mark, the railroad established title thereto, free and clear of the public trust claims of the State.
• DiPetrillo v. The Dow Chemical Company, 729 A.2d 677 (R.I. 1999).  The Supreme Court adopted the Daubert-type standards for the admission of scientific evidence and established the procedure in Rhode Island courts for pretrial Daubert hearings.
• In re State Employees' Unions, 587 A.2d 919 (R.I. 1999).  The Supreme Court upheld the trial court's ruling that the Governor of Rhode Island had the constitutional power to shut down state services to balance the budget.
• Woodland Manor III Associates v. Kenney, 713 A.2d 806 (R.I. 1998).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court held that the Department of Environmental Management's temporary denial of a permit to a landowner to develop the last phase of a planned unit development constituted an unconstitutional temporary taking.
• Providence School Dept. v. Anna C., 108 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 1997).  The First Circuit held that the statute of limitations in the Rhode Island Administrative Procedures Act applied to an appeal under the Federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400, et seq.
• Paradis v. Heritage Loan & Investment Co., 678 A.2d 440 (R.I. 1996).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court, in a case of first impression, held that money placed in a financial institution did not have to be managed according to the institution's usual business practices for it to be considered a valid 'deposit' or 'deposit liability.'
• Pound Hill Corp. v. Perl, 668 A.2d 1260 (R.I.1996).  The Rhode Island Supreme Court held that a religious organization's actions in seeking to prevent development and zoning changes could fall within the sham exception to the Noerr-Pennington doctrine and could therefore constitute abuse of process and tortious interference with prospective contractual relations.
• Coventry Sewage Associates v. Dworkin Realty Co., 71 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 1995).  The First Circuit held that federal diversity jurisdiction was not lost by reduction of the amount in controversy to an amount below the jurisdictional minimum after the filing of the complaint.
• Bates ex rel. Murphy v. Shearson Lehman Bros., Inc., 42 F.3d 79 (1st Cir. 1994).  The First Circuit held that a brokerage firm was not liable, under a theory of apparent authority, for the misconduct of its agent in misappropriating an investor's funds.
• Environmental Scientific Corporation v. Durfee, 621 A.2d 200 (R.I.1993).  The court held that as a matter of administrative law the Director of the Department of Environmental Management must give great weight to an administrative hearing officer's findings and conclusions unless they are clearly wrong, and that DEM's rationale in reversing the hearing officer's ruling was not substantiated by anything more than philosophical differences with the officer.
• Greenwich Bay Yacht Basin Associates v. Brown, 537 A.2d 988 (R.I. 1988).  The court held that the doctrine of equitable estoppel could be applied against State agencies.