On December 12, 2016, the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulations ("DBR") filed its Medical Marijuana Program Final Rules and Regulations with the Rhode Island Secretary of State affecting cannabis entrepreneurs interesting in obtaining a cannabis cultivator...
PLDO Law Blog
Month: December 2016
Nursing Home Laws Create Extra Challenges – Vigilance is Key to Compliance
In 1987, the Nursing Home Reform Act ("NHRA") was passed to ensure that residents of nursing homes would receive quality care at all times in order to achieve and maintain their "highest practicable" physical, mental and psychosocial well-being. With the law came...
New RI Identity Theft Protection Act Requires Businesses Adopt Cybersecurity Measures
It is not uncommon these days to open the newspaper to reports of businesses fallen victim to cyber attacks. But, while front page news tends to focus on security breaches of companies of the "fortune 500" caliber, cyber attacks waged upon small family and middle...
New Law and Regulations Bring Changes for Issuers of Public Debt in RI
Rhode Island's Public Finance Management Board (PFMB), the agency tasked with overseeing public debt in the State, approved amendments to its rules and regulations in response to recent statutory changes that will impact future borrowing by state agencies and local...
REAL ESTATE TITLE DISPUTES: THE PROCESS OF RECORDING “LIS PENDENS” IN RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS
If you or your business ends up in a dispute over real estate, it is likely that you will encounter a lis pendens. Lis pendens is Latin for “suit pending,” and it means just that, it is a statutorily governed legal tool that is often used to give notice on a...
HIGH STAKES: DRAFTING AND INTERPRETING PAYMENT REJECTIONS UNDER MASSACHUSETTS’ PROMPT PAY ACT
Under the Massachusetts Prompt Pay Act, which governs construction contracts, unless an owner meets the Act's "time and substance" requirements for rejecting a payment application from a contractor (ditto for subcontractors' applications to contractors), that...
RHODE ISLAND SUPREME COURT RULES THAT A PROPERTY’S FORECLOSURE WAS VALID DESPITE PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS THAT MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS WERE “AMBIGUOUS”
BackgroundA recent case arose out of foreclosure proceedings that were instituted by Wells Fargo Bank (“Wells Fargo” or “defendant”) with respect to property located at 18 High Street in Bristol, Rhode Island. The property’s owner (“plaintiff”) secured the mortgage by...
FDA CONSIDERS RESCHEDULING MARIJUANA: A MILESTONE IN DRUG POLICY REFORM
The landscape of drug policy in the United States is poised for a significant shift as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) undertakes a reassessment of marijuana’s drug scheduling classification. The FDA is conducting a comprehensive review of marijuana’s current...
ARE NON-COMPETITION AGREEMENTS ENFORCEABLE IN RHODE ISLAND?
COURTS RULE IN FAVOR OF THE EMPLOYER’S AGREEMENT IN RECENT CASE The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently addressed the enforceability of a non-competition provision. In Walls v. Griggs & Browne Pest Control, Inc., the Court reviewed an agreement between Brian Walls...