OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This case calls upon this Court, once again, to elucidate an insurer's duty to defend under Rhode Island law. The matter is before the Court on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons explained below, Plaintiff's motion is denied and Defendant's motion is granted. I. Introduction Plaintiff Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, Inc. ("Travelers") and Defendant Providence Washington Insurance Company, Inc. ("PWIC")...
ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. The Report and Recommendations of United States Magistrate Judge David L. Martin filed on February 11, 2011 (document # 8) in the above-captioned matter is hereby accepted pursuant to Title 28 United States Code 636(b)(1). No objection having been filed to the Report & Recommendation, Defendants' Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment is hereby GRANTED and Plaintiff's Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss or, in the...
ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. The Report and Recommendation of United States Magistrate Judge David L. Martin filed on May 5, 2011, in the abovecaptioned matter is accepted pursuant to Title 28 United States Code 636(b)(1). No objection having been filed, Defendant's Motion to Dismiss (ECF # 3) is hereby ruled moot and Defendant's Motion to Dismiss Plaintiffs' First Amended Complaint (ECF # 9) is hereby GRANTED to the extent that it seeks to bar Plaintiff Roca from pursuing any...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This suit arises from a confrontation between three North Providence police officers and Plaintiff Anthony Mucci. Mucci brought suit pursuant to 42 U.S.C. 1983, alleging a claim under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and supplemental state law claims of negligence, assault, battery, false arrest, malicious prosecution, and unreasonable search and seizure. Defendants have moved for summary judgment on all claims. For...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PAUL BARBADORO, District Judge. John D. Walker filed this shareholder derivative action on behalf of Textron, Inc. against two of the company's officers and 11 of its 13 directors. The defendants have responded with a motion arguing that the complaint must be dismissed because Walker filed the action without first demanding that the company bring the suit itself. The issue that the case presents is whether Walker has sufficiently alleged that a pre-suit demand would have...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court are two motions in this copyright infringement dispute between Plaintiff Gerffert Company, Inc. ("Gerffert") and Defendants William J. Hirten Company, LLC ("Hirten LLC"), James Dean, and ABC Companies 1 (collectively, "Defendants"). The first is Plaintiff's appeal of Magistrate Judge David L. Martin's Memorandum and Order (ECF No. 53 (hereinafter "Order")) granting in part Defendants' motion to deem admitted its...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on the parties' motions for partial summary judgment, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. This dispute concerns a failed mortgage loan transaction or, as it is described by the parties, a "hard money loan." 1 Plaintiff 514 Broadway Investment Trust ("Plaintiff" or "the Investment Trust") is based in California, as is its Trustee Robert Blechman, the businessman who found the two investors and formed the Investment...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This dispute marks one more chapter in the long running—and constantly evolving—battle over the clean-up of the Centerdale Manor Superfund Site (the "Site") in North Providence, Rhode Island. This chapter involves a kind of spillover fight among two insurers who were previously allied in the defense of an action brought by Emhart Industries, Inc. ("Emhart"), the company responsible for the clean-up. The two parted ways when one Liberty...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Nine of the ten residuary beneficiaries ("Plaintiffs" or "Beneficiaries") 1 named in the will (the "Will") of Magda L. Burt ("Decedent") have brought suit claiming that Bank of America Corp. (the "Bank"), a co-executor of Decedent's estate (the "Estate"), has breached the fiduciary duties it owed to them. For the reasons that follow, the Court finds that the Bank breached its fiduciary duties to Plaintiffs and is liable to some of them...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PAUL BARBADORO, District Judge. This is a securities fraud class action in which the plaintiffs claim that Textron, Inc. and several of its senior officers made a series of statements about the company's financial condition that were actionably misleading because they omitted important qualifying information. Because I determine that plaintiffs have failed to plead sufficient facts to support their contention that the statements at issue were misleading, I grant the...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, Chief Judge. I. Introduction The plaintiffs in this litigation are, or were, at the inception of this case, ten minor children who had been taken into the legal custody of the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families ("DCYF") because of a report or suspicion of abuse or neglect. The case, which was initiated by "Next Friends" on behalf of the plaintiffs, is intended as a class action suit for "all children who are or will be in the legal...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court are cross-motions for summary judgment by Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission" or "SEC") and Defendant Leila Jenkins. In this peculiar case, the Commission alleges that Jenkins concocted a Swiss client, created the appearance that the client had entrusted over one billion dollars to her company, and violated various securities laws. For the reasons explained below, the Court denies Jenkins's motion for...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. In this matter, Third-party Defendant Rouse Providence, LLC ("Rouse") seeks summary judgment under Fed.R.Civ.P. 56(c) against Third-party Plaintiff Standard Parking Corporation's ("Standard") claims for contribution, common-law indemnity, and breach of contract. For the reasons set forth below, Rouse's motion for summary judgment is GRANTED. I. Background Rouse owns the Providence Place mall, a shopping, dining, and entertainment...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendant's motion for judgment as a matter of law, or, in the alternative, for a new trial. On January 31, 2011, a jury found that Defendant had retaliated against Plaintiff for his having taken medical leave under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). 29 U.S.C. 2601. In its motion, Defendant argues that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because Plaintiff failed to provide sufficient...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, District Judge. Plaintiff seeks a declaratory judgment as to whether or not she is entitled to underinsured motorist ("UIM") benefits through her employer's automobile insurance policy. On January 28, 2009, this Court adopted Magistrate Judge Martin's Report and Recommendation granting Defendants' motion for summary judgment and denying Plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. The central holding was that "[u]nder Massachusetts law Plaintiff is precluded...
MEMORANDUM WILLIAM G. YOUNG, District Judge. 1 I. INTRODUCTION Timothy Porter ("Porter") was injured when he was struck by a motor vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was underinsured and Porter received $100,000 in uninsured motorist ("UM") benefits from his automobile insurance policy with Amica Mutual Insurance Company ("Amica"). Porter seeks a declaratory judgment that he is entitled to $300,000 in UM coverage because Amica failed to notify him in a timely manner of the availability of...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RONALD R. LAGUEUX, Senior District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendants' objection to Magistrate Judge Almond's Report and Recommendation ("R & R"), recommending that this lawsuit be remanded to State court. Plaintiff Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (hereinafter "Blue Cross") filed its Amended Complaint in Rhode Island Superior Court in June 2009, alleging four state common law causes of action. Defendants then removed the case to this Court,...
ORDER AND OPINION WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. In this suit brought under the Miller Act, 40 U.S.C. 3133, 1 use Plaintiff J.H. Lynch & Sons, Inc. ("Lynch") seeks payment from Defendants Travelers Casualty & Surety Company of America and Honeywell Building Solutions SES Corporation (collectively, "Defendants") for Lynch's work on a project at the Naval Station in Newport. Defendants move to dismiss the action, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). In the alternative, Defendants ask...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court is Plaintiff Emissive Energy Corporation's ("Emissive") objection to Magistrate Judge David L. Martin's September 24, 2010 Report and Recommendation ("R & R"), recommending that Defendant SPA-Simrad, Inc.'s ("SPA") 12(b)(2) motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction be granted. In considering an objection to an R & R, the Court conducts "a de novo determination of those portions of the [R & R] to which objection...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This is a class action challenging the constitutionality of the toll schedule for crossing the Newport/Claiborne Pell Bridge ("Newport Bridge"). The case is before the Court on the parties' cross-motions for summary judgment. For the reasons set forth below, Defendant's motion is granted and Plaintiff's motion is denied. I. BACKGROUND 1 Newport, located on Aquidneck Island, is one of Rhode Island's most attractive tourist destinations. It...
