Sola v. Leighton
Annotate this CasePlaintiff Cheryl Sola appealed from a superior court decision dismissing her defamation claim as time-barred and granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants, the City of Newport and Detective Michael Caruolo, individually and in his capacity as a member of the Newport Police Department (collectively, Defendants). The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) even though Plaintiff included John Doe defendants, the provisions of R.I. Gen. Laws 9-5-20, which tolls the statute of limitations to provide a plaintiff with an opportunity to discover an unknown defendant, were unavailable to Plaintiff; (2) Plaintiff's claim accrued on the date when the statements at issue were published, not on the date on which Plaintiff was fired as a result of Caruolo's allegedly defamatory statements; and (3) Plaintiff's argument that the statute of limitations should have been tolled because Caruolo fraudulently concealed Plaintiff's cause of action was without merit.
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