Blais v. R.I. Airport Corp.

212 A.3d 604
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedJune 20, 2019
DocketNo. 2017-326-M.P. (PC 15-4893)
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 212 A.3d 604 (Blais v. R.I. Airport Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blais v. R.I. Airport Corp., 212 A.3d 604 (R.I. 2019).

Opinion

"(1) In violation of constitutional or statutory provisions;
"(2) In excess of the statutory authority of the agency;
"(3) Made upon unlawful procedure;
"(4) Affected by other error or law;
"(5) Clearly erroneous in view of the reliable, probative, and substantial evidence on the whole record; or
"(6) Arbitrary or capricious or characterized by abuse of discretion or clearly unwarranted exercise of discretion."

We note that our "ultimate goal" when interpreting statutes "is to give effect to the purpose of the act as intended by the Legislature." Providence Journal Company v. Rhode Island Department of Public Safety ex rel. Kilmartin , 136 A.3d 1168, 1173 (R.I. 2016) (quoting Webster v. Perrotta , 774 A.2d 68, 75 (R.I. 2001) ). In doing so, we look to the text of a statute because "it is well settled that the plain statutory language is the best indicator of the General Assembly's intent." Twenty Eleven, LLC v. Botelho , 127 A.3d 897, 900 (R.I. 2015) (brackets omitted) (quoting Zambarano v. Retirement Board of Employees' Retirement System of State , 61 A.3d 432, 436 (R.I. 2013) ).

III

Discussion

Before this Court, RIAC argues that it has the authority to ban an individual from *612any one of its airports without issuing a formal order if that individual poses a threat to airport safety or operations. In the alternative, RIAC argues that either the no-trespass letter issued by RIAC's attorneys on February 14, 2014 or the order issued by RIAC's director on October 8, 2015 may be considered a valid final order that complies with all statutory requirements. Finally, RIAC asserts that Blais's administrative appeal is time barred because Blais never appealed from the no-trespass letter issued in 2014.

A

Mootness

Before addressing the merits of this review, we first address the threshold issue of mootness. During oral argument in this case, the parties represented that, subsequent to the appeal of the 2015 order that is the subject of this review, RIAC issued a later order that lifted the ban and allowed Blais to again make use of the premises at North Central, and that order had itself become the subject of ongoing litigation in other courts. To address potential mootness concerns raised by these representations, we issued a post-hearing order on April 4, 2019, directing the parties "to advise this Court, within five days of the date of this order, of any action pending in any other court that might directly or indirectly relate to this appeal, including the relief sought in those cases." Pursuant to that order, the parties submitted complaints filed by Blais in two separate actions: a 2016 administrative appeal in Superior Court, No. KC-2016-0724, and a 2017 civil action in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island, No. 1:17-cv-00075-S-LDA.

We previously have said that "[a]s a general rule we only consider cases involving issues in dispute; we shall not address moot, abstract, academic, or hypothetical questions." Morris v. D'Amario , 416 A.2d 137, 139 (R.I. 1980). "[A] case is moot if it raised a justiciable controversy at the time the complaint was filed, but events occurring after the filing have deprived the litigant of an ongoing stake in the controversy." City of Cranston v. Rhode Island Laborers' District Council, Local 1033 , 960 A.2d 529, 533 (R.I. 2008) (quoting Seibert v. Clark , 619 A.2d 1108, 1110 (R.I. 1993) ). In other words, "[a] case is moot if there is no continuing stake in the controversy, or if the court's judgment would fail to have any practical effect on the controversy." Boyer v. Bedrosian , 57 A.3d 259, 272 (R.I. 2012).

At first blush, RIAC's subsequent order allowing Blais to reenter North Central would seem to render our review of Blais's original administrative appeal moot, because RIAC is no longer preventing Blais from entering North Central. However, in each of the two complaints that were supplied to this Court in response to our April 4, 2019 order, Blais alleged that, while the case presently before this Court was pending, a second hearing was held by RIAC and that a hearing officer had recommended that "it is time that the 'No Trespass' order be removed - but his [Kevin Blais] status be reviewed again in six months." (Emphasis in original.) Both of those complaints concern a final order-which has not been transmitted to this Court as part of the record below and which is not currently before this Court for review-issued by the interim director of RIAC, Peter Frazier, on June 23, 2016, and which allegedly adopted the hearing officer's report and recommendation.6

*613In those complaints, Blais alleges that, although RIAC has again allowed him to use North Central, the agency has also attempted to retain jurisdiction over the present controversy and that it has left the door open to again prohibiting his use of the airport after a subsequent six-month review. If Blais's allegations in those complaints are true, then his continued use of the airport remains subject to review by RIAC's director, and his status has in fact not returned to the status quo that existed before the 2014 no-trespass letter or the 2015 order were issued. Thus, our opinion on the merits of this appeal would indeed have a "practical effect on the controversy" currently on review and, therefore, the case before us at present is not moot. Boyer , 57 A.3d at 272.

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Bluebook (online)
212 A.3d 604, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blais-v-ri-airport-corp-ri-2019.