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September
2009
 Our
firm is proud of our former partner, Kristin Rodgers, who was appointed
this summer by Governor Donald Carcieri to be an Associate Justice of
the Rhode Island Superior Court. Kristin
was sworn in on July 17 in front of a standing-room only crowd at the
State House. Kristin worked
with us for 13 years handling many complex litigation matters in both
state and federal courts. While
we will miss her, we wish her continued success, confident that she will
serve the people of the State in the same professional and comprehensive
manner with which she represented our clients over the years. Joe
Cavanagh, Bill Landry, and
Karen Pelczarski are listed in the current, 15th edition of
The Best Lawyers in America (2009), the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. Joe Cavanagh has also been named as the “Rhode Island Best Lawyers Bet-the-Company Litigator of the Year for 2009”. Best Lawyers compiles its lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. Being named a “Lawyer of the Year” indicates a lawyer has received a particularly high ratings in these surveys and earned the respect of other lawyers for his or her abilities, professionalism and integrity. Chambers USA has again recognized the firm of Blish & Cavanagh for performing outstanding work in the area of General Commercial Litigation, by listing the firm in its 2008-2009 Clients’ Guide to America’s Leading Lawyers for Business.
The firm is described as a collection of outstanding trial lawyers with a wide range of expertise, and the Guide notes the firm has a particularly strong background in First Amendment and access cases.
Three of our attorneys are identified as being among the top individual lawyers in this practice area in the State of Rhode Island.
Joe Cavanagh is described as “one of the best attorneys in the state” and “an outstanding trial lawyer”, with particular note made of his media-related First Amendment work, which is described as being “most prominent on a long list of accomplishments.”
The current Clients’ Guide identifies Karen Pelczarski as “a solid player doing some excellent work” and upholding the high standards of our firm, particularly in the areas of business, commercial, tort, and employment litigation.
Kristen Rodgers is described as someone who continues to become more established and is “very highly” thought of by her peers.
Selected by Chief Judge Mary Lisi, Karen Pelczarski co-chaired the 2008 Bi-Annual Conference for the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, which was held in October, 2008.
Guests at the conference included Michael Greco (former president of the American Bar Association), Chief Judge Sandra Lynch of the First Circuit Court of Appeals, and David Kendall (who served as counsel to President Clinton in the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky matters).
Mary Cavanagh Dunn was a member of the District Court Conference Committee and co-chaired and moderated the young lawyers’ breakout session with the federal magistrate judges.
On December 17, 2008, Ed Alves was appointed Town Solicitor of the town of Smithfield, Rhode Island by the newly-elected Town Council.
This will be Ed's fifteenth year as Smithfield"s Town Solicitor, serving as the municipality’s chief legal representative and adviser.
Ed also served in the same capacity for the town of East Greenwich, Rhode Island for ten years. In November, 2008, four members of the firm were selected as 2008 Rhode Island Super Lawyers.
Joe Cavanagh and Karen Pelczarski were recognized for General Litigation,
Steve Reid was recognized for Employment and Labor, and
Bill Landry was recognized for Land Use/Zoning.
In addition to his selection in the area of General Litigation, Joe Cavanagh was again named as one of the top 10 Rhode Island Super Lawyers and he was featured in a cover article in the New England Super Lawyers magazine.
Following completion of an intensive training program in June, 2008,
Karen Pelczarski has been certified as a mediator by the Institute for Conflict Management.
Karen Pelczarski
is currently the President-elect of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music
School.
DECISIONS
AND OTHER MATTERS
Nine years after the State of Rhode Island filed a public nuisance suit against several lead pigment manufacturers, the Rhode Island Supreme Court overturned a jury verdict against three lead pigment manufacturers, including The Sherwin-Williams Company.
The Court concluded that the public nuisance claim should have been dismissed at the outset, should not have gone through two lengthy trials, and was wrong as a matter of law.
In rendering its decision, the Court stated that the lawsuit not only departed “from the traditional requirements of common law public nuisance” but that such a public nuisance claim has “never before been applied to products, however harmful.”
It further stated that the State’s public nuisance claim “would circumvent the basic requirements of products liability law”.
Importantly, the Court concluded that property owners have the sole responsibility for maintaining their property in order to keep children safe from lead hazards.
Since 2003, Joe Cavanagh and
Kristin Rodgers were an integral part of the team representing Sherwin-Williams in this landmark case.
The decision is reported as State v. Lead Industries Association, Inc., 951 A.2d 428 (R.I. 2008).
To read the full text of this decision on-line, click
here.
On September 11, 2007, a three-member American Arbitration Association Panel ruled that BZ Results, LLC did not breach its contractual obligations when it sold its major assets to ADP.
The decision is entitled Nationwide Capital Corporation v. B & Z Productions, LLC, AAA #11-118-Y-01760-06.
The claimant had sought almost $23 million in damages. The Arbitration Panel found BZ to be the prevailing party and not only dismissed the claim, but awarded BZ costs and attorney’s fees.
Joe Cavanagh, Ed Alves and
Scott Spear represented BZ in the arbitration proceedings.
On June 22, 2007, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that the Smithfield Zoning Board properly dismissed a developer’s comprehensive permit application seeking approval for 335 residential units.
The Court reversed an adverse decision of the State Housing Appeals Board (SHAB) and upheld the Zoning Board’s decision that the application was not substantially complete.
Ed Alves, in his capacity as Town Solicitor, represented the Smithfield Town Council and the Town’s Zoning Board before SHAB and the Supreme Court.
This decision is reported as Town of Smithfield v. Churchill & Banks Companies, LLC, 924 A.2d 796 (R.I. 2007).
To
read this decision online, click here.
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