Title 8, Title 8 and Civil Procedure — Courts

(a) A person suffering from domestic abuse may file a complaint in the district court requesting any order that will protect them from the abuse, including, but not limited to, the following: (1) Ordering that the defendant be restrained and enjoined from contacting, assaulting, …

(a)(1) Upon the filing of a complaint under this chapter, the court may enter any temporary orders that it deems necessary to protect the plaintiff from abuse. (2) If it clearly appears from specific facts shown by affidavit that immediate and irreparable injury, loss, or damage …

Whenever the court grants a temporary order pursuant to § 8-8.1-4 based on a complaint alleging that a minor is suffering from domestic abuse, the court shall ensure that the appropriate law enforcement agency is notified of the complaint.

(a) The complaint and any order issued under this chapter shall be personally served upon the defendant by a deputy sheriff or certified constable except as provided in subsections (c), (d), and (f) of this section. Service shall be made without payment of any fee when service is…

(a) Whenever any police officer has reason to believe that a cohabitant or minor has been abused, that officer shall use all reasonable means to prevent further abuse, including: (1) Remaining on the scene as long as there is danger to the physical safety of the person or until t…

(a) A form in substantially the following language shall suffice for the purpose of filing a complaint under this chapter: COMPLAINT FOR PROTECTION FROM ABUSE Pursuant to chapter 8.1 of title 8 I request that the court enter an order protecting me from abuse. (1) My full name, pr…

Each protective order issued under this chapter, including a temporary ex-parte order, shall have the following statements printed in bold-faced type or in capital letters: A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THIS ORDER MAY BE GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR AND MAY BE PUNISHED BY A FINE OF AS MUCH AS…

An order granting relief pursuant to § 8-8.1-3 shall remain in effect during the pendency of the appeal to the superior court unless the order is stayed by a justice of the superior court.

(a) There is hereby established a traffic tribunal which shall be charged with the administration and adjudication of traffic violations within its jurisdiction. The traffic tribunal shall be under the supervision of the chief magistrate of the traffic tribunal, who shall be the …

No increment in salary resulting from any rule or regulation providing for an increment in salary for temporary service as chief justice, presiding justice or chief magistrate shall be construed to add to the annual salary of a judicial officer for purposes of retirement under § …

(a) Whenever any judge of the administrative adjudication court or any judge of the administrative adjudication court who is reassigned by this chapter to the traffic tribunal dies after retirement or during active service while eligible for retirement, the judge’s surviving spou…

(a) All judges of the administrative adjudication court and all judges of the administrative adjudication court who have been reassigned to the traffic tribunal, or their surviving spouses or domestic partners, who retire after January 1, 1970 and who receive a retirement allowan…

For the purposes of the calculation of retirement benefits, in the event that any judge of the administrative adjudication court or any judge of the administrative adjudication court who has been reassigned to the traffic tribunal by this chapter participates or acquiesces in a s…

All books, papers, records, current appropriations and relevant property necessary for the functioning of the traffic tribunal shall be transferred thereto from the administrative adjudication court.

All employees of the administrative adjudication court deemed by the chief judge of the district court, with the approval of the chief justice of the supreme court, and subject to the labor laws of this state and any applicable collective bargaining agreement, to be essential to …

Whenever, in the general laws, the words administrative adjudication court shall appear, said words shall be construed and interpreted as, and to mean, the traffic tribunal. Whenever, in the general laws, the words administrator/clerk of the administrative adjudication court shal…

The traffic tribunal established by this chapter shall have custody of all records, books, and papers of the administrative adjudication court heretofore existing. All proceedings and processes pending in the administrative adjudication court heretofore existing and shall continu…

If any provision of this chapter or the application thereof shall for any reason be judged invalid, such a judgment shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder of the law, but shall be confined in its effect to the provisions or application directly involved in the contr…

(a) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of law, all probationary license hearings as provided in § 31-10-26, all violations of the department of transportation, department of environmental management or council on postsecondary education regulations regarding parking, stan…

For purposes of this chapter, “domestic partner” shall be defined as a person who, prior to the decedent’s death, was in an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship with the decedent, and who certifies by affidavit that their relationship met the following qualifications: (…

A full record shall be kept by the Rhode Island traffic tribunal in this state of every case in which a person is charged with violating subparagraphs 21-28-4.01(c)(2)(iii) and 21-28-4.01(c)(2)(iv). An abstract of the record shall be retained by the court. The abstract shall be m…

(a) A judge or magistrate shall have the authority to enforce the judgments of the tribunal as authorized by law. The procedure for the collection of costs and fines shall generally follow the course of the collection of civil judgments pursuant to chapters 17 and 28 of title 9 t…

(a) The traffic tribunal through its judges, magistrates and clerks is hereby authorized and empowered to summon defendants and issue subpoenas to the same extent as they may be issued by the district court in civil cases in such forms as may be prescribed by rules promulgated by…

(a) All full time security officers employed by the traffic tribunal shall have the same immunities and may exercise all powers of sheriffs, city and town police officers, and constables when the security officers are enforcing the laws of this state, and all rules and regulation…

(a) Whenever any person engaged as a judge on or before July 2, 1997, has served as a judge of the administrative adjudication court or as a judge of the administrative adjudication court who is reassigned by this chapter to the traffic tribunal for twenty (20) years, or has so s…

(a) Judges of the administrative adjudication court engaged after December 31, 1989, who are reassigned by this chapter to the traffic tribunal shall have deducted from their total salary beginning December 31, 1989, and ending June 30, 2012, an amount equal to a rate percent of …

The state of Rhode Island shall make its contribution for maintaining the system established by § 8-8.2-7 and providing the annuities, benefits, and retirement allowances in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by annually appropriating an amount that will pay a rate pe…

(a) Whenever any person first engaged as a judge subsequent to July 2, 1997, has served as a judge of the administrative adjudication court or as a judge of the administrative adjudication court who is reassigned by this chapter to the traffic tribunal for twenty (20) years, or h…

When used in this chapter, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings: (1) “Court” means the superior court in the county in which the respondent resides. (2) “Extreme risk protection order” means either a temporary order or a one-year order granted under t…

(a) Any violation of any extreme risk protection order shall subject the violator to being found in contempt of court. The contempt order shall not be exclusive and shall not preclude any other available civil or criminal remedies. (b) Any violation of an extreme risk protection …

Except as provided in §§ 8-8.3-8 and 8-8.3-10, this chapter does not impose criminal or civil liability on a law enforcement agency, law enforcement officer, or the attorney general or a member of that department, for acts or omissions related to obtaining any extreme risk protec…

(a) Any extreme risk protection order form shall include, in a conspicuous location, notice of penalties resulting from violation of the order, and the following statement: “You have the sole responsibility to avoid or refrain from violating this order’s provisions. Only the cour…

Any order under this chapter shall remain in effect during the pendency of an appeal to the supreme court unless the order is stayed by a justice of the supreme court.

If any section of this chapter or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the chapter and the application of the section to other persons or circumstances shall not be affected. The invalidity or unconst…

Proceedings under this chapter shall be filed, heard, and determined in the superior court of the county in which the respondent resides. Any proceedings under this chapter shall not preclude any other available civil or criminal remedies. A party filing a petition under this cha…

(a) A petition for an extreme risk protection order shall be filed only by a law enforcement agency. (b) A petitioner may file a petition with the court requesting an extreme risk protection order that shall enjoin the respondent from having in his or her possession, custody, or …

(a) Upon the filing of a petition under this chapter, the court may enter a temporary order if the court finds there is probable cause from specific facts shown by the petition that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to self or others by…

(a) Upon hearing the matter, if the court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to self or others by having in his or her custody or control, or by purchasing, possessing, or receiving, a firearm,…

(a) A one-year extreme risk protection order issued under this chapter shall be personally served upon the respondent by the division of sheriffs. Provided, the division of sheriffs may request the assistance of the state police with the service as needed. If the division of sher…

(a) Termination of order. The respondent may submit a single written request for a hearing to terminate a one-year extreme risk protection order issued under this chapter within the twelve-month (12) period that the order, or any renewal order, is in effect. (1) Upon receipt of t…

(a) Any firearm seized or surrendered in accordance with this chapter shall be returned to the respondent upon his or her request, within ten (10) days, when: (1) The respondent produces documentation issued by the court indicating that any extreme risk protective order issued pu…

(a) The clerk of the court shall enter any one-year extreme risk protection order or temporary extreme risk protection order issued pursuant to this chapter into a statewide judicial information system on the same day the order is issued. (b) The clerk of the court shall forward …

As used in this chapter, the following words shall have the following meanings: (1) “Abusive litigation” means litigation where the following apply: (i) The opposing parties have a current or former family or household member relationship or there has been a civil order or crimin…

(a) A party may request from the court an order restricting litigation alleged to be abusive if the requesting party can show: (1) The opposing parties have a current or former family or household member relationship or there has been a civil order or criminal conviction determin…

At the hearing, evidence of any of the following shall create a rebuttable presumption that litigation is being initiated, advanced, or continued primarily for the purpose of harassing, intimidating, threatening, or maintaining contact with the other party: (1) The same or substa…

(a) If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that a party is engaging in abusive litigation and that any or all of the motions or actions pending before the court are abusive litigation, the litigation may be dismissed, denied, stricken, or resolved by other disposit…