BI Boat Basin Associates, LLC v. Sky Blue Pink, LLC

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from a judgement of the Superior Court granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the basis of the doctrine of res judicata. On appeal, plaintiff argued that the hearing justice erred because there lacks identity of the issues between this action and the earlier partition action at which, according to the hearing justice, plaintiff should have raised the issue that plaintiff sought to litigate: whether sufficient grounds existed to trigger a termination provision in its lease. In addition, plaintiff argued that the issue it sought to litigate was not justiciable in the earlier partition action. After thoroughly reviewing the record, the Supreme Court held that the hearing justice properly granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on the basis of res judicata. In doing so, the Court held that the issue that plaintiff sought to litigate was justiciable in the earlier partition action and that there existed identity of issues between the present litigation and the earlier action. Specifically, the Court opined that, under the transactional rule, the issue that plaintiff sought to litigate arose from the same series of transactions that could have been properly raised in the earlier partition action. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.