Nicholas DiBiccari v. State of Rhode Island

Syllabus

The plaintiff, Nicholas DiBiccari, appealed from a Superior Court judgment in favor of the defendants, the State of Rhode Island, James A. Diossa, in his capacity as Treasurer of the State of Rhode Island, and Terrence Gray, in his capacity as Director of the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) (collectively, defendants or the state) following the dismissal of the plaintiff's three-count complaint. The plaintiff sought declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief on the basis that DEM's onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS) regulations were unconstitutional as applied to him, and asserted facial constitutional challenges to the OWTS regulations under the state and federal constitutions' Takings, Due Process, and Equal Protection Clauses. The trial justice dismissed Mr. DiBiccari's complaint for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The Supreme Court concluded that dismissal of counts one and three for failure to exhaust administrative remedies was warranted and that dismissal of count two was similarly justified because that count failed to state a claim that the regulations were facially unconstitutional under either the state or federal constitutions. Accordingly, the Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the Superior Court.