International Depository, Inc. v. State

• Citation: 603 A.2d 1119
• Decision Date: 24 February 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91-133-A,91-133-A
• Parties: INTERNATIONAL DEPOSITORY, INC. v. STATE of Rhode Island.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Rhode Island

Page 1119

603 A.2d 1119

INTERNATIONAL DEPOSITORY, INC. v. STATE of Rhode Island.

No. 91-133-A.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

Feb. 24, 1992.

Paul J. Pisano, Dennis E. Carley, Roberts, Carroll, Feldstein & Pierce, Providence, for plaintiff.

Mark W. Siegars, Kendra Beaver, DEM, for defendant.

OPINION

SHEA, Justice.

This matter comes before the Supreme Court on the defendant's appeal from a judgment in favor of the plaintiff. We affirm.

The plaintiff, International Depository, Inc. (International), filed this action against defendant, State of Rhode Island (state), in the Washington County Superior Court in February of 1985. International sought $456,508 for storage of hazardous waste for the state, relying upon the theory of quantum meruit. By an order dated October 29, 1985, People's Trust Company (People's) was permitted to intervene as a party plaintiff on the grounds that People's, as a secured creditor of International, was a real party in interest. On May 2, 1988, People's and International filed the amended complaint that was before the court at the commencement of trial. The State Legislature passed a special act, 89-H7583, on July 12, 1989, authorizing a suit against the state by International and People's.

A jury trial began on May 7, 1990, in the Superior Court for Washington County. Immediately prior to the start of trial People's voluntarily dismissed its claim pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(ii) of the Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure. At that time the state unsuccessfully moved for dismissal of this action on the grounds that the court no longer had jurisdiction over the matter. The trial court denied the motion on the grounds that the state's motion was not timely, and the matter proceeded to jury trial.

The evidence introduced at trial showed that on November 14, 1979, Austin J. Donnelly (Donnelly), president and chairman of the board of International Armored Services (IAS), received a telephone call from the Governor's office. The caller asked Donnelly if the state could store confiscated hazardous waste at International's high-security storage facility at Quonset Point. International, a subsidiary of IAS, was a warehouse-storage company established to store precious metals, food stamps, and coins.

Donnelly understood that the hazardous waste would be stored at the Quonset Point facility for a short period of time. However, as the months passed, Donnelly began to realize that that would not in fact be the case. In April of 1983 Donnelly delivered a bill to Thomas Wright, director of the Department of Environmental Management's division of air and hazardous materials, for $456,508. Subsequent attempts by Donnelly to collect on the bill were unsuccessful. As a result International initiated the within action to recover $456,508.

At trial International presented Kenneth Woodruff (Woodruff) as an expert on storage fees for hazardous waste during the period in question. Woodruff was of the opinion that the total estimated cost would be between $300,000 and $360,000. The state attempted to rebut Woodruff's testimony by offering the testimony of three proposed witnesses. Two of those witnesses were not permitted to testify because the state had failed to identify them as witnesses in its answers to interrogatories. The third witness was precluded from testifying about the reasonableness of International's charges for storage because the witness was not identified as an expert witness in the state's answers to interrogatories.

At the close of International's case in chief the state moved for a directed verdict. The trial court denied the motion, and the state presented its case and rested. The jury returned a verdict for International and awarded it $360,000 plus interest. The trial court denied the state's motions for a new trial, remittitur, and a renewed motion for directed verdict. The state filed its notice of appeal in due course.

I

The first issue raised on appeal is whether the trial court erred when it denied the state's motion to dismiss for lack of a real party in interest.

Prior to impanelment of the jury the state moved orally to dismiss the action. The state asserted that since International was not a real party in interest--because it had assigned all its accounts receivable including the right to bring the present claim, to Fort Barton Holdings, Inc. (Fort Barton)--it could not maintain the action. The trial court ruled that the motion was not timely because it was filed on the morning of trial and that granting the motion would be highly prejudicial and cause great delay.

On appeal the state argues that the intervention of People's in this action as a secured creditor of International caused a merging of their mutual claim and that People's became the real party in interest. As a result when People's voluntarily dismissed its claim against the state, there no longer was a case in controversy before the trial court.

We need not address this issue. The established rule of law in Rhode Island is that we shall not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal that was not properly presented before the trial court for its consideration. Bouchard v. Clark, 581 A.2d 715, 716 (R.I.1990); Rhode Island Hospital Trust National Bank v. de Beru, 553 A.2d 544, 547 (R.I.1989). A review of the record in this matter unequivocally reveals that the state has raised for the first time on appeal the issue of whether People's was the real party in interest. Because the state did not properly present the issue before the trial court, we shall not review it here. We also note that the issue raised before the trial court, that Fort Barton was the real party in interest, has not been addressed in the state's brief. "Claims of error that are unsupported by either argument or citation of authority are entitled to no consideration on review." James J. O'Rourke, Inc. v. Industrial National Bank, 478 A.2d 195, 198 n. 4 (R.I.1984).

II

The next issue before the court is whether the trial court erred in allowing the jury award to stand in light of the enabling legislation, 1989 R.I. Acts & Resolves 54 (the act), that authorized suit against the state by International and Peoples.

According to the state, no evidence was presented that International suffered any loss. International argues that the jury award was within the scope of the act.

The law in Rhode Island concerning interpretation of an act that waives the state's sovereign immunity is well settled. See In re Sherman, 565 A.2d 870 (R.I.1989); Andrade v. State, 448 A.2d 1293 (R.I.1982). The Legislature is presumed not to have relinquished any part of the state's sovereign power unless the intent to do so is "clearly expressed or arises by necessary implication from the statutory language." 448 A.2d at 1295.

Section 1 of the act states the following:

"The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations consents to have brought against it Civil Action No. WC 85-60, presently pending in Washington County Superior Court, by International Depository, Inc. and People's Bank, National Association, upon a claim for reimbursement for monies expended on behalf of the state in obtaining an Environmental Protection Agency permit for the storage of toxic waste, procuring requisite insurance relating to said storage, preparing and maintaining facilities for the storage of toxic waste and storing toxic waste." 1989 R.I. Acts & Resolves 54.

Clearly the Legislature consented to International's action for both reimbursement of expenses on the state's behalf and payment of fees for storing the hazardous waste. Section 3 of the act empowers the jury to award up to $500,000 if it finds that International and People's "sustained damages as a result of the wrongful failure of the state * * * to reimburse them for services rendered."

The state's interpretation of the act would attribute to the Legislature an intent that would lead to an absurd result and clearly would detract from the underlying purpose of the enactment. Such an interpretation is ridiculous in light of the express consent set forth in section 1 of the act. Furthermore the Legislature knew that the specific service International rendered to the state was storage of hazardous waste. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not err when it affirmed the jury award.

III

The third issue before the court is whether the trial court erred when it denied the state's motion for a new trial. According to the state, the trial court should have granted its motion for a new trial because there was no evidence in the record to substantiate the jury's award of $360,000.

Ruling on a motion for a new trial involves a two-step process. First, the trial justice must evaluate the evidence presented at trial in light of the jury instructions. Izen v. Winoker, 589 A.2d 824, 828 (R.I.1991). In doing so, the trial justice "exercises his or her independent judgment regarding the weight of the evidence and the credibility of the witnesses." Id. Relying on this evaluation of the evidence, the trial justice, acting as a superjuror, must decide whether to set aside the verdict. Id. If the jury verdict is clearly wrong because it "fails to respond truly to the merits of the controversy, fails to administer substantial justice, and is against the fair weight of the evidence," then the verdict should be set aside. Id. at 828-29. But if the evidence is evenly balanced or is such that reasonable minds could differ regarding a verdict, then the trial court must affirm the jury's verdict. Id. at 829.

Our review of the trial justice's ruling involves a different process. Id. If the trial justice has performed the above-described process, his or her decision is accorded great weight by this court and will not be disturbed unless the appellant can show that the "trial justice overlooked or misconceived material and relevant evidence or was otherwise clearly wrong." Id.

Here the trial justice's evaluation of...