Judge Upholds Controversial Search of Central Falls Soccer Players
U.S. District Judge William E. Smith recently ruled that Coventry police officers who searched a bus full of Central Falls soccer players for stolen cell phones and iPods were protected by qualified immunity according to a report in the Providence Journal. The soccer game ended in a tie three years ago, but what unfolded next was a search by Coventry police officers before jeering onlookers of visiting Central Falls players accused of stealing cell phones and iPods. The officers’ search turned up nothing. Eleven of those pla

Connecticut Lawsuit Alleges Retaliation in ICE Raid
The American Association for Justice reports that residents of New Haven, Connecticut, with the assistance of the Legal Services Office of Yale University, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency of the Department of Homeland Security, charging that ICE agents violated their civil rights in a June 2007 raid in which 29 people were arrested and detained. According to the complaint, about 20 ICE agents swept through the predominantly Latino neighborhood of Fair Haven, without search warrants or probable cause, and arrested

Update on James Woods Medical Malpractice Case
The Associated Press reports that opening arguments begin Monday in a wrongful death lawsuit brought by the actor James Woods over the death of his 49 year old brother, Michael Woods, at Kent Hospital in Warwick.  Woods alleges that his younger brother received negligent care when he died in 2006 of what was believed to be a heart attack.

RI Women’s Bar Association Forum: Restoring Civility in Civil Procedure
The Rhode Island Women’s Bar Association’s is hosting the second part of their Women in Law Series with an event entitled, “Restoring Civility in Civil Procedure: How to Decode the Unwritten Rules of Practice and Successfully Navigate the Discovery and Trial Process.” Learn from the pros how cooperation, respect and flexibility generally serve the best interests of the court, the client and the attorney. Lunch is included and participants will earn 1 MCLE credit for this seminar. PRESENTED BY: The Honorable Susan McGuirl, Associate Justice, RI Superior Court; Rebecca Tedford Partington, Assistant Attorney General; Melody A. Alg

RI ACLU Takes on the Orange Stickers
The Rhode Island ACLU has filed a motion in federal court, seeking a declaration, without the need for a trial, that the Town of Narragansett’s highly-publicized “orange sticker” ordinance is unconstitutional. In a 22-page brief accompanying the motion for “summary judgment,” the ACLU also requests a permanent injunction against the Town, barring enforcement of the ordinance. The ACLU filed suit last year against the ordinance, which authorize