MEMORANDUM AND ORDER JOHN J. McCONNELL, JR., District Judge. This case involves the issue of how much of a partial settlement from a third-party liability lawsuit a plaintiff must pay to his workers' compensation insurance carrier as reimbursement. Defendant workers' compensation carrier, Ohio Casualty Insurance Company 1 ("Ohio Casualty"), says that Plaintiff, Frank A. Vellucci, owes Ohio Casualty the full amount of a settlement that he recently received in his third-party liability...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court is Defendants' motion for partial judgment on the pleadings pursuant to Rule 12(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Having unsuccessfully sought dismissal of the entire action, see Dennett v. Archuleta, 915 F.Supp.2d 248 (D.R.I.2013), Defendants now take a piecemeal approach and seek to eliminate just those claims accusing them of the unauthorized practice of law through this motion. As set forth below, because...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER RONALD R. LAGUEUX, Senior District Judge. This matter is before the Court on the parties' cross motions for summary judgment, urging the Court to affirm or vacate the Decision and Award issued by Arbitrator Tim Bornstein ("the Arbitrator") on October 17, 2012. The parties to the dispute include labor union New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199 ("the Union"), and employer Women and Infants Hospital ("the Hospital"). The Union filed an unsuccessful...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. "A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen." J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 17 (Scholastic Press 1997). And yet, according to Plaintiffs Jeffrey and Linda Wyrostek ("Plaintiffs" or "Wyrosteks"), astonishing things did happen at Number Four Privet Drive. 1 The Wyrosteks come to court seeking...
DECISION AND ORDER RONALD R. LAGUEUX, Senior District Judge. This matter is before the Court on the Motions of Defendants to dismiss both lawsuits against them, pursuant to Fed. R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). Because the legal issues presented in both cases are identical, these motions have been consolidated for the purpose of this decision. Plaintiffs in the first-filed case are the Cities of Providence and Cranston, as well as the Cities' mayors, treasurers and tax collectors in their official...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, Chief District Judge. Defendant, Stephan Cover ("Defendant"), acting pro se, has moved for a reduction in sentence pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 3582(c)(2). Defendant bases his motion on the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 ("Act") 1 and Retroactive Guideline Amendment 750. Petition for Modification of Sentence; Docket # 92. The Government has filed an objection. A "sentencing court has no authority to entertain a sentence reduction motion under section 3582(c)(2)...
MEMORANDUM & ORDER JOHN J. McCONNELL, Jr., District Judge. In its opinion on Certain Defendants' interlocutory appeal in the Fryzel v. Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. case, the First Circuit determined that this Court's stay of the mortgage foreclosure litigation — implemented in an effort to foster a meaningful mediation program — was an injunction and that that injunction was imposed outside of the requirements of Fed. R. Civ. P. 65(a). Fryzel v. Mortg. Elec. Registration...
ORDER ADOPTING REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION OF THE MAGISTRATE JUDGE AND DENYING OBJECTION THERETO WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendants' objection to Magistrate Judge Lincoln D. Almond's Report and Recommendation, dated March 26, 2013. (ECF No. 17.) Magistrate Judge Almond recommended that this Court deny Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. This Court's review of such objections is de novo . See Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3). Upon careful review of the Report...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Defendant-Petitioner Edward Baez has filed a motion to vacate, set aside, or correct sentence pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 2255 (ECF No. 41) in the above-captioned matter. For the reasons that follow, the motion is DENIED. I. Background and Travel On November 23, 2005, Baez was indicted by a grand jury sitting in the District of Rhode Island. This resulted from a six-month investigation by members of federal and local law enforcement...
ORDER MARY M. LISI, Chief District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Plaintiff's motion to modify the asset freeze as to Defendant, Estate of Martin D. Fife ("Estate"). Specifically, Plaintiff moves to (1) allow a sale of the Estate's one-half interest in commercial property ("property") located in California, and (2) allow distribution of the Estate's portion of the proceeds from the sale of the property to be paid for closing costs (approximately $3,820), a statutory legal fee ($25,...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, Chief District Judge. On May 8, 2012, the Defendant appeared before Magistrate Judge Almond for a status conference. At that time, Defendant requested court-appointed counsel. Based upon the financial information provided to the court by Defendant, Magistrate Judge Almond granted Defendant's request. CJA counsel was appointed to represent Defendant. Subsequently, the Federal Public Defender was appointed to represent Defendant. On October 11, 2012, the Court...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER MARY M. LISI, Chief District Judge. This matter is before the Court on Defendants', American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers ("ASCAP") and TuneCore, Inc. ("TuneCore") (collectively "Defendants") motions to dismiss. ASCAP moves to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1); TuneCore moves to dismiss pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 8 and Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1), (2), (3), and (6). I. Background Plaintiff, acting pro se , has filed this action alleging that...
Order WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court are three Report and Recommendations issued by Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan in the above-captioned matter. On April 30, 2013, Judge Sullivan issued a Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 6) recommending that this Court deny Petitioner's Motion to Remand (ECF No. 2). On May 6, 2013, Judge Sullivan issued a second Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 8) recommending that this Court deny Petitioner's Motion to Enforce (ECF No. 2)....
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN, Magistrate Judge. M.R. is an impaired seventeen-year-old student with limited mastery of a variety of functional living skills, including toileting. His mother, Petitioner Justine Rosenfield, as his parent and next friend, has returned to this Court with a renewed motion seeking enforcement of an Interim Order of the Rhode Island Commissioner of Education ("Commissioner") requiring Respondent North Kingstown School Department ("School Department"...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. Before the Court are Defendant Buck Consultants, LLC's ("Buck") Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 12) and its Motion to Dismiss Amended Complaint (ECF No. 18). 1 For the reasons set forth below, those motions are GRANTED in part and DENIED in part. I. Facts The following facts, which the Court (as it must on a motion to dismiss) assumes to be true, are taken from the Amended Complaint. Buck is the longtime pension actuary for the City of...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN, Magistrate Judge. INTRODUCTION On December 14, 2012, Defendant Shaun Fawster was arrested and charged by a criminal Complaint with pulling fire alarms on six consecutive floors of the U.S. Veterans Administration Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island. The Complaint charges Defendant under 18 U.S.C. 13, a provision that adopts the law of the State, here 11-44-21 of the Rhode Island General Laws, which criminalizes the "giving of a false...
OPINION AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. The motions before the Court represent the latest in the saga of Paul E. L'Archevesque's ("Paul") life insurance policy (the "Policy") with Lincoln National Life Insurance Company ("Lincoln National" or "Plaintiff"). Approximately two months after this Court granted partial summary judgment in favor of Lincoln National and declared the Policy void ab initio , Paul passed away. Each Defendant subsequently filed (1) a motion for leave to...
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. On July 12, 2013, Respondent Tina Kufner filed an Emergency Expidited [sic] Motion for Relief. (ECF No. 162.) In her Motion, Ms. Kufner seeks to "correct" several docket entries in this case, "to correct the mistakes made by this Court, including the Opinion and Order of March 25, 2007," and to reopen the case and "hold the [Petitioner Dominik Kufner] in contempt of Court for violating the Opinion and Order of March 25, 2007 `undertakings....
ORDER WILLIAM E. SMITH, District Judge. On June 24, 2013, Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan issued a Report and Recommendation (ECF No. 9), recommending that this Court grant Respondent's Motion to Dismiss (ECF No. 3). Because Petitioners have filed no objection to Judge Sullivan's Report and Recommendation, this Court now adopts it. Respondent's motion is GRANTED, and the action is DISMISSED. IT IS SO ORDERED.
REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION PATRICIA A. SULLIVAN, Magistrate Judge. Petitioners Carol Smith, Carol Smith, LLC and Carol Smith Nevada, LLC (collectively "Petitioners") initiated this federal proceeding by miscellaneous petition to quash a summons issued by the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") to the Bank of Newport ("Bank"). The summons requested Petitioners' account records from the Bank in connection with a collection action against a taxpayer, with whom Petitioners initially claimed they had...
