Depends on whether there are negotiations
By Will Collette
Normally, when a lawsuit is filed, you can talk about it as if it was the Superbowl. You can compare offenses and defenses. You can speculate who will be in the line-up. You can spout off about what plays will be run. And you can make your predictions (and wagers) about the eventual winner and the point spread.
In Lisa A. DiBello v. Town of Charlestown
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| Record-holder: most lawsuits filed against Charlestown |
While DiBello’s mentor Jim Mageau has sued the town more than half a dozen times, at least he refrained from suing Charlestown
DiBello has made it impossible for the town to respond to her. Why? Because of her obvious conflict of interest, DiBello cannot participate in any Town Council action involving her case. And because she is suing fellow Council members Gregg Avedisian and Marge Frank, they are also ethically barred from participating.
The Town Charter, under a CCA-promoted 2010 change, now requires not less than three Council members voting yes to approve any Council action. Only Tom Gentz and Dan Slattery, both DiBello political allies, are able to participate and vote on a DiBello matter without obvious conflict.
Further, DiBello has either refused or ignored repeated requests from Town Solicitor Peter Ruggiero to seek an emergency exemption from the RI Ethics Commission that would allow the Council to sit and be able to deliberate over her case, given the gridlock imposed by the current crisis.
It’s clear that DiBello and her lawyer do not want to pursue this case through the courts. Their $1.5 million “ransom demand” is still on the table and they have still not served the actual lawsuit complaint on the town or the nine individual defendants, all past and present town officials.
There’s this passage in the January 23rd lawsuit filing that discusses why this lawsuit was filed on January 23
Section 16 notes that this lawsuit was filed within the 90-day period allowed under the Notice of Right to Sue.
But Section 17 is a bit of a mystery. DiBello has already presented Charlestown
Section 17 says “alternative actual notice” will happen at least 40 days prior to DiBello actually serving the lawsuit complaint on the town. But what is it? Chris Keegan’s article in the Westerly Sun? A candy-gram? Something we haven’t seen yet?
The expression “alternative actual notice” does not appear in the RI Superior Court’s Rules of Civil Procedure, or in the on-line legal dictionaries. Neither does “alternative notice.” That’s not a definitive answer about whether “alternative actual notice” is a proper legal procedure – just that it’s so uncommon that it doesn’t come up in a search. Still….
Does DiBello intend to finally take some action to lift the gridlock she has placed on the Town Council? Of course, resigning would be a good step in that direction since it would end one major conflict of interest.
How is the gridlocked Town Council supposed to respond to a lawsuit that hasn’t been served and that may never be served? Or to what DiBello has already put on the table, or may put on the table sometime soon?
At some point soon, I would expect the Town of Charlestown
This is just the beginning of a new chapter in this gothic novel about Lisa DiBello and the poor citizens of Charlestown
In upcoming articles, we’ll discuss what might happen when this case goes into “Discovery,” which is what normally happens.
We’ll look at the odds that this case might actually go to trial. Pop quiz: what percentage of civil lawsuits actually go before a jury?
There are bound to be issues of state wiretap law and surveillance that will come up. Pop quiz: under what circumstances are wiretaps legal under Rhode Island
