Lighthouse Masonry, Inc. v. Vision Construction Management, Inc.; 110 North Main, LLC; 110 North Main Management, LC; Robert L. Shaffer a/k/a Rick Shaffer; 110 N Main Owner, LLC; JCM Opportunity Fund I, LLC; Joyal Capital Management, LLC; JCM Fund Manager, LLC; JCM Investment Manager, LLC; Gary F. Joyal, ABC Corps 1-10; John Doe 1-10; Jane Doe 1-10

CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedJune 30, 2026
Docket1:24-cv-00339
StatusUnknown

This text of Lighthouse Masonry, Inc. v. Vision Construction Management, Inc.; 110 North Main, LLC; 110 North Main Management, LC; Robert L. Shaffer a/k/a Rick Shaffer; 110 N Main Owner, LLC; JCM Opportunity Fund I, LLC; Joyal Capital Management, LLC; JCM Fund Manager, LLC; JCM Investment Manager, LLC; Gary F. Joyal, ABC Corps 1-10; John Doe 1-10; Jane Doe 1-10 (Lighthouse Masonry, Inc. v. Vision Construction Management, Inc.; 110 North Main, LLC; 110 North Main Management, LC; Robert L. Shaffer a/k/a Rick Shaffer; 110 N Main Owner, LLC; JCM Opportunity Fund I, LLC; Joyal Capital Management, LLC; JCM Fund Manager, LLC; JCM Investment Manager, LLC; Gary F. Joyal, ABC Corps 1-10; John Doe 1-10; Jane Doe 1-10) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lighthouse Masonry, Inc. v. Vision Construction Management, Inc.; 110 North Main, LLC; 110 North Main Management, LC; Robert L. Shaffer a/k/a Rick Shaffer; 110 N Main Owner, LLC; JCM Opportunity Fund I, LLC; Joyal Capital Management, LLC; JCM Fund Manager, LLC; JCM Investment Manager, LLC; Gary F. Joyal, ABC Corps 1-10; John Doe 1-10; Jane Doe 1-10, (D.R.I. 2026).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF RHODE ISLAND

) LIGHTHOUSE MASONRY, INC., ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) VISION CONSTRUCTION ) MANAGEMENT, INC.; 110 NORTH ) MAIN, LLC; 110 NORTH MAIN ) MANAGEMENT, LC; ROBERT L. ) C.A. No. 24-339-JJM-PAS SHAFFER a/k/a RICK SHAFFER; 110 ) N MAIN OWNER, LLC; JCM ) OPPORTUNITY FUND I, LLC; ) JOYAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, ) LLC; JCM FUND MANAGER, LLC; ) JCM INVESTMENT MANAGER, LLC; ) GARY F. JOYAL, ABC CORPS 1-10; ) JOHN DOE 1-10; JANE DOE 1-10, ) Defendants. )

) 100 N MAIN OWNER, ) Third-Party Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) JCM EDGE BROWN, LLC, ) Third-Party Defendant. ) )

ORDER Before the Court is Defendants JCM Investment Manager’s (“JCM IM”) and JCM Fund Manager, LLC’s (“JCM Fund Manager”) (collectively “JCM Defendants”) Motion for Summary Judgment on the final two claims remaining against them in Plaintiff Lighthouse Masonry, Inc.’s lawsuit; they are for a violation of the Rhode Island Uniform Void Transfers Act (“RIUVTA”) (Count IV) and common law fraud (Count V). ECF No. 107. Under the RIUVTA, a debtor can be held liable for transfers of money or other property made with the intent of avoiding paying legitimate

creditors. In this case, Lighthouse argues that 110 North Main transferred $73,172 from its assets to the JCM Defendants to avoid paying legitimate debts it owed to Lighthouse. Because the Court finds that both claims fail as a matter of law, the JCM Defendants’ motion is granted. I. BACKGROUND Plaintiff Lighthouse Masonry, LLC performed over $1.5 million dollars of masonry work at properties on Canal Street and North Main Street in Providence,

Rhode Island (“Properties”) pursuant to a subcontract between it and Vision Construction Management, LLC. Vision paid some, but not all that money back. Understanding that it owed this balance, Robert Shaffer, as President of Vision, executed a Promissory Note (“Note”) to Lighthouse for $1,011,026. The record is clear and undisputed that the JCM Defendants did not owe Lighthouse any money on the subcontract or the Note. In an effort to recover, Lighthouse attempts to tag them

through their relationship with 110 North Main, who it is undisputed received the net proceeds from the sale of the Property. Defendants sold the Properties for $57 million. After payoffs, roughly $7.9 million in net seller proceeds remained. Those proceeds were then paid out according to an August 26, 2022 Side Letter Agreement executed by, among others, JCM IM and JCM Edge Brown, listing all creditors of the debtor company, 110 North Main, in the order they should be paid.1 Lighthouse was not listed as a creditor in the Side Letter. Attached to the Side Letter was an A/P Aging Summary2 listing 110 North Main’s creditors and amounts owed; Lighthouse was also not listed as a creditor in

that summary. Two years after the Property’s sale, Lighthouse demanded payment from Vision due under the Note. Vision did not make this payment and is in default. Against JCM IM, Lighthouse alleges that 110 North Main fraudulently transferred $73,172 out of the $57 million sale with the intent to avoid paying its debt to Lighthouse. There is no documentary evidence in the summary judgment record that 110 North Main transferred this money. JCM IM’s 30(b)(6) witness testified that this money was paid out after monies subject to the Side Letter Agreement were

disbursed, was paid not from 110 North Main but “at the JCM Edge Brown level,” “due to/due from between affiliated entities,” and were reimbursements for property- related costs that JCM IM expended for legal fees and other project related costs.

1 Lighthouse alleges that “[w]ith the side letter agreement, JCM Investment Manager, JCM Edge Brown, 110 North Main Management and Vision agreed that the net sales proceeds would be distributed as follows: (1) first, to the payment of all current debts and liabilities of 110 North Main, including (a) to pay off legal fees owed by Shaffer, 110 North Main and 110 North Main Management, including the legal fees owed to DarrowEverett that were the basis of the DarrowEverett Action and the TRO, (b) to the repayment of certain loans made by 110 North Main’s members (including those made by JCM Investment Manager or its affiliates), and (c) to the payment of certain accrued Management Fees to JCM Investment Manager and 110 North Main Management in the amount of $4,500.00 per month; (2) second, to 110 North Main Management in the amount of $246,000 as reimbursement for amounts lent to 110 North Main; and (3) third, the remaining proceeds paid to JCM Edge Brown.” ECF No. 29 ¶ 49. 2 An A/P Aging Summary is an accounting document that summarizes the bills and invoices a business owes, broken down by creditor and due date. As for JCM Fund Manager, Lighthouse asserts that Section 6.1 of JCM IM’s Operating Agreement required it to transfer the $73,172 to JCM Fund Manager. Section 6.1 states that “net cash flow from operations and other cash available for

distribution in excess of working capital requirements (including reserves), if any, shall be distributed to the Member quarterly, or, at the election of the Manager, more frequently.” JCM Fund Manager is JCM IM’s sole member but there is no evidence that the $73,172 was in excess of working capital such that the language of the Operating Agreement would require a transfer to it as a member. There is no documentary evidence in the summary judgment record that 110 North Main or JCM IM transferred this money to JCM Fund Manager. And the JCM Defendants’ 30(b)(6)

witness testified that JCM Fund Manager did not receive any money from this transaction. II. STANDARD OF REVIEW “To prevail on summary judgment, the movant must show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” , 93 F.4th 56, 60 (1st Cir. 2024)

(citing Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a)). “The summary judgment ritual is standard fare: once the movant adumbrates an absence of evidence to support the nonmoving party’s case, the burden shifts to the nonmovant to establish the existence of a genuine issue of material fact.” (citation modified). Importantly, “to carry this burden, the nonmovant cannot simply rely on evidence that is conjectural or problematic but, rather, must present definite, competent evidence.” (citation modified). III. DISCUSSION The JCM Defendants move for summary judgment, arguing first that the RIUVTA does not apply because a creditor/debtor relationship is required and 110

North Main is not Lighthouse’s debtor and Lighthouse is not 110 North Main’s creditor. They argue that Lighthouse’s claim is based on its subcontract and Note with Vision and not traceable to 110 North Main or the JCM Defendants. The JCM Defendants also argue that there is no evidence – let alone disputed evidence – that 110 North Main ever transferred money to JCM IM or that JCM Fund Manager received any money from the sale proceeds. Finally, they argue that the common law fraudulent transfer claim is based on the same evidence (or a lack thereof) as the

RIUVTA claim so also should be dismissed on summary judgment. Lighthouse argues against dismissal, identifying issues regarding 110 North Main’s creditor status; whether 110 North Main transferred the money to JCM IM; whether the JCM Defendants took the transfer in good faith and for reasonably equivalent value; whether JCM IM was an insider under the RIUVTA; and whether JCM Fund Manager received a transfer.

A. RIUVTA – Count IV “The RIUFTA3 requires that a debtor/creditor4 relationship exist (or have existed) at the time of the alleged transfer.” , 301 F.

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Lighthouse Masonry, Inc. v. Vision Construction Management, Inc.; 110 North Main, LLC; 110 North Main Management, LC; Robert L. Shaffer a/k/a Rick Shaffer; 110 N Main Owner, LLC; JCM Opportunity Fund I, LLC; Joyal Capital Management, LLC; JCM Fund Manager, LLC; JCM Investment Manager, LLC; Gary F. Joyal, ABC Corps 1-10; John Doe 1-10; Jane Doe 1-10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lighthouse-masonry-inc-v-vision-construction-management-inc-110-north-rid-2026.