Latest Rhode Island Headlines
All the headlines from our Rhode Island Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Rock Band Offers $1M to Settle Fatal Rhode Island Fire Suits
Sep 4 2008 // Members of the 1980s rock band whose pyrotechnics sparked a nightclub fire that killed 100 people have agreed to pay $1 million to survivors and victims’ relatives, according to court papers filed Tuesday. The...
High Car Stacks Blamed in Rhode Island Recycling Yard Fire
Aug 22 2008 // Officials in Johnston, Rhode Island say firefighters struggled to douse a large recycling plant fire over the weekend because cars there were stacked too high and were piled too close to each other. The blaze at the Metals...
R.I. Restricts Social Host Liability
Aug 21 2008 // The Rhode Island Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision by refusing to hold a Manville couple liable for the injuries a woman and her boyfriend suffered in a car crash after drinking at the couple’s...
R.I. Court Backs Drunk Driving Law
Aug 21 2008 // The Rhode Island high court has backed a 2006 law that applies harsher penalties to drivers who refuse to take a Breathalyzer test. The law doubled the minimum license suspension for those who refused the test to six...
Rhode Island Lead Paint Cleanup Proceeds under DuPont Deal
Aug 20 2008 // Rhode Island Attorney General Patrick Lynch announced that cleanup of up to 600 housing units contaminated by lead paint is now going out to bid and said the work would target properties in poorer neighborhoods of the...
Rhode Island, Town Reach $20M Deal in Club Fire Suits
Aug 20 2008 // The state of Rhode Island and the town of West Warwick have each agreed to pay $10 million to those left behind after a nightclub fire that killed 100 people, according to court documents filed Monday. The latest...
Lawyers in Rhode Island Lead Paint Case Argue Court Costs
Aug 18 2008 // A lawyer for Rhode Island said Friday that three former lead paint companies should not be allowed to recoup costs from a nine-year legal fight with the state that ended last month in their favor. The state Supreme Court...
Ex-Lead Paint Firms Seek Reimbursements after R.I. Suit
Aug 11 2008 // Three former lead paint companies want to be reimbursed for some of the costs of defending against a public nuisance lawsuit filed by the state of Rhode Island. Last month, the state Supreme Court overturned...
Fake Fire Marshals Descend on Rhode Island City
Aug 11 2008 // The Woonsocket, Rhode Island Fire Department is warning city residents to be on the look out for phony fire marshals. Officials say one or more people have been falsely representing themselves as a fire marshal. The...
Rhode Island Arraigns Allegedly Drunkest-Ever Driver
Aug 6 2008 // A Rhode Island man who authorities say had a blood alcohol level more than six times the legal limit has been arraigned on a drunken driving charge. Stanley Kobierowski, of North Providence, appeared briefly in Providence...
Rhode Island Police Arrest State’s Drunkest Person Ever Recorded
Jul 25 2008 // Rhode Island state police say they arrested a man this week whose blood alcohol level was 0.491 percent — the highest ever recorded in Rhode Island for someone who wasn’t dead. Stanley Kobierowski was taken to...
Rhode Island Toughens Social Host Liability and Underage Drinking Laws
Jul 23 2008 // Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri has signed legislation approved by the General Assembly to strengthen the so-called “social host” law and address a number of other issues regarding underage drinking and...
Rhode Island Supreme Court Rejects Social Host Liability Claim
Jul 14 2008 // The Rhode Island Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s decision by refusing to hold a Manville couple liable for the injuries a woman and her boyfriend suffered in a car crash after drinking at the couple’s...
Business Moves
Jul 7 2008 // Hudson Insurance, Hooghuis Hudson Insurance Group, the U.S. insurance division of Odyssey Re Holdings Corp.has acquired Hooghuis Group LLC, an underwriting agency specializing in U.S. directors and officers liability...
Insurers Welcome Rhode Island Supreme Court Lead Paint Decision
Jul 2 2008 // The property/casualty insurance industry is applauding a recent Rhode Island court ruling on lead paint for confirming that a state’s product liability, not public nuisance, law should govern in such cases. In its...
Rhode Island Top Court Overturns Landmark Lead Paint Ruling
Jul 1 2008 // Rhode Island’s top court Tuesday overturned a landmark lower court ruling that three former manufacturers of lead paint were liable for creating a public nuisance by covering up the health risks of lead paint. The...
Foam Company Offers $6.3 Million to R.I. Nightclub Fire Families
Jun 30 2008 // A company that sold the foam blamed for fueling a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people has agreed to pay $6.3 million to settle lawsuits from survivors and victims’ relatives, according to court papers...
Beacon Mutual Cuts Workers’ Compensation Rates in R.I. 7.2%
Jun 24 2008 // Beacon Mutual Insurance Co., Rhode Island’s largest workers’ compensation carrier, reported that it will implement a 7.2 percent average decrease in rates that has been approved by the Department of Business...
Rhode Island Labor Official Appears as Witness Before Federal Grand Jury
Jun 16 2008 // A prominent labor official has appeared as a witness before a federal grand jury that’s been investigating influence-peddling at the Rhode Island Statehouse. George Nee, the secretary-treasurer of the Rhode Island...
Packaging Company Settles for $25M in Rhode Island Nightclub Fire
Jun 16 2008 // A New Jersey packaging company sued after a Rhode Island nightclub burned down five years ago has agreed to pay $25 million to survivors and relatives of the 100 people killed, according to court papers filed Friday. The...
