Rhode Island Troopers Association v. State of Rhode Island, Division of the State Police

Syllabus

The defendants—the State of Rhode Island, Division of the State Police, Darnell S. Weaver, Colonel of the State Police, and Governor Daniel J. McKee—appealed from a Superior Court judgment in favor of the plaintiff, James Donnelly Taylor, that reversed the denial of his request for a disability pension. The plaintiff, a former state police officer, had filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking an administrative appeal of a decision by the superintendent of the state police to deny his request for a disability pension. After finding that the superintendent's decision was arbitrary and capricious, the Superior Court granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiff and remanded the matter to the superintendent with instructions to grant the plaintiff's disability-pension request. The defendants appealed, arguing that the superintendent's decision should have been affirmed. The Supreme Court held that the superintendent's decision was neither arbitrary nor capricious rather, the decision was rational, logical, and supported by substantial evidence. Accordingly, the Supreme Court reversed the Superior Court's grant of summary judgment on the relevant count of the plaintiff's complaint and remanded the matter with instructions to enter judgment in favor of the defendants on that count.