Judiciary
In a decision that likely will have ripples reaching Rhode Island, the State Supreme Court of New Jersey has ruled that lead paint manufacturers cannot be held liable for lead-paint clean-up costs under “public nuisance” laws. If NJ municipalities want to take lead-paint manufacturers to court, they must do so under the rules of product…
Rhode Island Chief Justice Frank Williams made headlines a few months ago for his smackdown of Governor Carcieri’s idea of across the board cost-cutting as “draconian.” Well, the Governor is waving a bloody steak in front of the Judicial lion again: Governor Carcieri is criticizing legislators for authorizing up to $71 million in borrowing for…
One of the restrictions on membership on Rhode Island’s Judicial Nomination Commission, part of the system intended to provide for merit selection of judges in Rhode Island, is this…No member shall be reappointed to the commission.Governor Donald Carcieri wants to interpret this law as prohibiting only sitting members of the commission from being reappointed to…
With the exception of DuPont agreeing to roughly double its contribution to the Children’s Health Forum as part of its let’s-not-call-it-a-settlement out of the case, the Rhode Island lead paint trial hasn’t been much in the local news lately. However, the national business and legal communities are still keenly watching to see what happens next.…
For those interested in the “global warming” case (Massachusetts v. EPA) heard by the Supreme Court on Wednesday (which Rhode Island is a party to), Jonathan Adler of the Volokh Conspiracy has been compiling links on the media coverage, the Supreme Court has already posted the official transcript of the oral arguments, and the legal…
Supreme Court Justice Scalia: Deeply controversial issues like abortion and suicide rights have nothing to do with the Constitution, and unelected judges too often choose to find new rights at the expense of the democratic process, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said Saturday. Scalia, during a talk on the judiciary sponsored by the National Italian…
There are at least four problems with Judge Francis Darigan’s statement regarding the Derderian pleas in the Station Fire case that Marc posted on earlier this afternoon.
Because the section of Rhode Island general election ballots containing referenda is supposed to be sent to the printer today, two ballot related court cases are expected to be decided today. The first case, argued in Federal court, centers on whether the no-bid, favor-one-company provision of this year’s version of a Rhode Island casino amendment…
As a child, did you ever make up a new game and spend time trying to define the rules of that game? If so, did you ever end up fighting with your friends because, after you started playing the game, something unplanned happened and conflict broke out? After the conflict broke out, did you find…
To add some additional color commentary to Andrew’s coverage of the Rhode Island lead paint trial in Today’s Lead Paint Filing and The Lead Paint Trial Continues, here are excerpts from the February 27 Wall Street Journal editorial Motley Legal Crew (available for a fee): Even as its asbestos and silicosis scams are unraveling, the…