Active Cases

These are a few of the cases in which the Rhode Island ACLU is currently involved:

Boyer v. Jeremiah

STUDENTS' RIGHTS (2010)
A class-action lawsuit charging that the state’s truancy court system is devoid of due process protections in violation of state and federal law, that the truancy courts are frequently punitive in nature, and that truancy court magistrates threaten vulnerable children and their parents with baseless fines and imprisonment, remove children from the custody of their parents without legal justification and fail to keep adequate records of court hearings.
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Carbone v. State of Rhode Island

DUE PROCESS (2010)
A federal lawsuit against the RI Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) contesting a "notice of action" sent to plaintiff Gerald Carbone informing him that his licence would be suspended, but giving no information about the nature of the alleged offense leading to the suspension, about the penalty for the offense, or even the date that the offense purportedly took place. The suit argues that this notice and the fact that the DMV will only grant a hearing after the licence is suspended violate Carbone's due process rights. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order against the DMV to prevent the agency from taking any action against Carbone.
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Cook v. Wall

RIGHTS OF PRISONERS (2009)
A federal lawsuit alleging that correctional officials have engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional harassment against inmate Jason Cook after he publicly criticized Department of Corrections’ mail policies and sought legal assistance from the ACLU.
News Release | Lawsuit

Damiani v. City of East Providence

DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION (2008)
Federal lawsuit challenging the city’s “physical examination” requirement for the position of assistant harbormaster, imposed for the first time only after the plaintiff, with a known disability, applied for the position.
News Release | Lawsuit

Estrada v. RI State Police

RACIAL PROFILING (2007)
Lawsuit challenging the legality of the stop, hour-long detention, and transporting to immigration officials of fourteen Guatemalans; the suit argues that the stop and detention were based solely on the ethnicity of the driver and passengers.
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Fontes v. City of Central Falls

RIGHTS OF CANDIDATES (2009)
Federal lawsuit on behalf of Central Falls Mayoral candidate Hipolito Fontes, arguing that the local Board of Canvassers acted unconstitutionally in disqualifying him from the ballot earlier this month for allegedly failing to submit sufficient nomination signatures.
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Lin Li Qu v. Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation

RIGHTS OF IMMIGRANTS/RIGHTS OF PRISONERS (2009)
A federal lawsuit on behalf of the family of Hiu Lui (“Jason”) Ng, a 34-year-old Chinese detainee who died last August while in the custody of immigration officials at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls.
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Montiero v. City of East Providence

OPEN GOVERNMENT (2009)
A federal lawsuit against the City of East Providence, challenging City Charter provisions that impose increased burdens, above and beyond what state law requires, on candidates who wish to run for local office.
News Release | Lawsuit

Moura v. East Providence School Committee

OPEN GOVERNMENT (2010)
An Open Meetings Act (OMA) lawsuit against the East Providence School Committee for illegally meeting in private on September 8, 2009 to allegedly discuss what it called a “Public Comment Lawsuit.”
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Phoenix Times Publishing Company v. Barrington School Committee

OPEN GOVERNMENT (2009)
An Open Meetings Act (OMA) lawsuit against the Barrington School Committee for unlawfully meeting in closed session this past February to discuss the merits of instituting a mandatory breathalyzer policy for all students attending school dances.
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RI ACLU v. Carcieri

ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS(2008)
Open records lawsuit against the Governor for refusing to release documents relating to the chain of command for state governance during the Governor’s absence from the state.
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Rogers v. Mulholland

CHURCH/STATE (2009)
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of seven Pawtucket parents and their children, charges that the Parks and Recreation Division has, for a number of years, given preferential treatment to parochial schools over public schools in granting permits for the use of city athletics fields. The lawsuit seeks a court order declaring unconstitutional both the preferential treatment to religious schools and the City’s lack of any objective standards for granting permits for use of the fields.
News Release | Lawsuit

Simone v. The Town of Johnston

PRIVACY (2009)
A federal lawsuit against the Town of Johnston and police chief Richard Tamburini for illegally releasing the private drivers’ license information of a firefighter to a Town Councilman as part of a public dispute between the Council and the Fire Department.
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Spruill v. Alexander

RIGHTS OF THE POOR (2009)
A federal lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services, alleging that the state’s failure to timely process food stamp applications is resulting in the denial of “desperately needed assistance to help [applicants] feed their families,” and forcing them to “suffer hunger as a result.”
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URI Student Senate v. Town of Narragansett

STUDENT RIGHTS (2008)
A lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an ordinance which allows police to charge tenants and landlords with allowing, and to place orange stickers on houses that have allegedly been the site of, “unruly gatherings.”
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