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Supreme Court No. 2003-615-Appeal. (KC 00-436) Arnold Road Realty Associates, LLC, et al. v. The Tiogue Fire District. : : :

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the Rhode Island Reporter. Readers are requested to notify the Opinion Analyst, Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 250 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02903, at Telephone 2223258 of any typographical or other formal errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion is published.

Supreme Court No. 2003-615-Appeal. (KC 00-436) Arnold Road Realty Associates, LLC, et al. v. The Tiogue Fire District. : : :

Present: Williams, C.J., Goldberg, Flaherty, Suttell, and Robinson, JJ. OPINION PER CURIAM. The plaintiff, Arnold Road Realty Associates, LLC (Arnold Road), filed a civil action to recover damages from the defendant, the Tiogue Fire District (Fire District), on two counts of slander of title. The basis of the alleged slander was both the recording of, and the failure to remove, a tax collector's deed to property that Arnold Road formerly owned in Coventry, Rhode Island. Finding no malice, the trial justice rejected the slander-of-title claims and ordered that judgment enter in favor of the Fire District on both counts. Thereupon, Arnold Road sought to amend its complaint by adding A. Cardi Realty Company, Inc. (Cardi Realty Company) as a party plaintiff, and by adding counts for declaratory judgment and to quiet title. Ruling that his earlier decision on the slander-of-title claims was dispositive of the additional claims, the trial justice granted the plaintiff's motion to amend and summarily entered judgment for the plaintiffs on the declaratory-judgment and quiet-title counts. Judgment was entered on October 22, 2003, from which all parties appealed.1 For the reasons set forth herein, we affirm the judgment of the Superior Court.

1

The record discloses that only one filing fee was paid in conjunction with the filing of plaintiffs' notice of appeal on November 7, 2003. An additional filing fee, however, was tendered on February 24, 2005, for the "second plaintiff." -1-

Facts and Travel Arnold Road owned property in Coventry designated as Assessor's Plat No. 15, lot No. 97.1 (lot No. 97.1). It had acquired the property from Cardi Realty Company by warranty deed dated January 18, 2000. In March 2000, Arnold Road was negotiating to sell lot No. 97.1 to A title examination of the property by

Commerce Park Realty, LLC (Commerce Park).

Commerce Park uncovered the fact that on August 14, 1992, the Fire District had conducted a tax sale of the property because of unpaid fire district taxes. There were no bidders at the tax sale and the Fire District received title to the property through a collector's deed. The collector's deed, dated August 28, 1992, indicates that a portion of taxes assessed from December 31, 1988 through December 31, 1991, had not been paid and that notice of the tax sale had been sent to A. Cardi Construction Company (Cardi Construction). As a condition of completing the sale to Commerce Park, Arnold Road was required to place $50,000 cash into an escrow account with the closing attorney pending payment of any unpaid fire district taxes and release of the collector's deed. The closing was held on March 31, 2000, and Arnold Road transferred title to Commerce Park by warranty deed. On April 19, 2000, Arnold Road, through counsel, notified the Fire District by letter that the collector's deed was invalid. It asserted that the 1992 tax sale had been conducted for unpaid fire district taxes allegedly owed by Cardi Construction, but that Cardi Construction had never owned the subject parcel. Arnold Road further alleged that the recording of the collector's deed had slandered the title of the property, causing it to suffer damages, and that it was poised to initiate litigation if the matter were not resolved promptly. Receiving no response, Arnold Road filed suit on June 2, 2000, for compensatory and punitive damages, alleging that the Fire District slandered its title on two occasions

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