Butterfly Realty v. James Romanella & Sons, Inc., 93 A.3d 1022 (R.I. 2014): In Butterfly, the Supreme Court reminded trial justices in this state that “lower courts . . . that receive . . . remand orders may not exceed the scope of the remand or open up the proceeding to legal issues beyond the remand.” (quoting Pleasant Management, LLC v. Carrasco, 960 A.2d 216, 222 (R.I. 2008)). Thus, “[w]hen a case has been once decided by [the Supreme Court] on appeal, and remanded to the [Superior Court], . . . [the Superior Court] . . . cannot . . . intermeddle with it, further than to settle so much as has been remanded.”
Joseph P. Notarianni Revocable Trust of January, 2007 v. Notarianni, 91 A.3d 771 (R.I. 2014): In Notarianni, the Rhode Island Supreme Court was unable to review the trial court’s decision that the plaintiff lacked standing because the motion justice did not hold hearing and made no findings of fact before reaching its decision. Consequently, the Court remanded the case to the Superior Court for an evidentiary hearing and instructed the motion justice to make findings of fact with respect to the issue of standing.
