Estate of Louis Campagnone, By and through its Administrator, Dana Martinelli v. The State of Rhode Island

Syllabus

The plaintiff, the Estate of Louis Campagnone by and through its Administrator, Dana Martinelli, appealed from an order and judgment of the Superior Court granting summary judgment in favor of the defendant, the State of Rhode Island, in a negligence action involving a slip-and-fall accident in a bathroom at Scarborough South State Beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island. On appeal, the plaintiff argued that the trial justice erred in finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact regarding whether the state's failure to warn Mr. Campagnone of a dangerous condition rose to the level of willfulness or maliciousness required to defeat the presumption of immunity under the Recreational Use Statute. The Supreme Court concluded that the plaintiff had not demonstrated that any genuine issues of material fact existed with regard to whether the state willfully or maliciously failed to warn Mr. Campagnone of a dangerous condition and that therefore the state was entitled to immunity under the Recreational Use Statute. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the Superior Court's order and judgment granting the defendant's motion for summary judgment.