Cliff Walk suit set for April trial, puts coastline safety in spotlight

A lawsuit that could have far-reaching consequences for the Cliff Walk in Newport is scheduled to go to trial in April, filed on behalf of a New York man who was paralyzed from the neck down when he fell onto the rocks there during his honeymoon a decade ago.
Simcha Berman, of Brooklyn, N.Y., then 23, became a quadriplegic after the ground gave way beneath him as he headed down a dirt footpath leading from the paved Cliff Walk to the ocean below. He is suing Newport and the state for an unspecified amount of monetary damages.
A key issue in the case that could affect other tourist sites and popular attractions in Rhode Island involves a state law dating from decades ago, (R.I.G.L. 32-6). It gives property owners, including cities and towns, limitation from liability when they make their land available to the public without charge for recreational purposes. Past lawsuits involving the Cliff Walk have been dismissed due to this law.
In April, however, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Berman case against the city and the state could continue, but upheld a lower court ruling dismissing the Preservation Society of Newport County from it. The society owns The Breakers and other mansions along the walk and the judges ruled it is protected by the state’s limited-liability law.
The judges found that the city and state received funds for Cliff Walk repairs over the years, were aware of potential risks and had plenty of time to address dangerous conditions but failed to do so. “This failure places the members of the public whom the city invites to visit the Cliff Walk in a position of peril,” said Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, who wrote the decision.
With an estimated 600,000 to 1.2 million people visiting the Cliff Walk every year, it is one of the most popular tourist attractions in the state, if not New England. Asked how it could be made safer, Evan Smith, president of the Newport & Bristol County Convention & Visitors Bureau, declined to discuss the condition of the Cliff Walk.
Instead, he noted that people “climb all over the rocks” at such sites as Beavertail in Jamestown and Brenton Point State Park in Newport, not to mention hundreds of places along the entire Eastern shore.
“Access to the coastline is something people want and, in my mind, the Cliff Walk is no different than any other part of our coastline,” he said. “People could get just as easily hurt in other places. Do we have to wall off or fence our entire coastline?” The lawyers closest to the Berman case, both for the plaintiff and the defendants, were tight-lipped about it.
Asked what kind of defense the state will mount, Jim Lee, chief of the civil division for Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch’s office, indicated that it is too soon to say. “We’re going to have to see what he [the plaintiff] claims we did wrong before I can respond,” Lee said. The fact that Attorney General-elect Peter F. Kilmartin will be taking over for Lynch in January should not affect the case, Lee said.
Berman’s attorney, Ronald J. Resmini, noted that the suit does not specify specific monetary damages, suggesting that publicizing a dollar amount would remove the focus from his injured client and limit sympathy for him. He indicated he sought to delay the trial until April due to a heavy workload.
However, Resmini indicated that he may seek a change of venue, which would move the trial out of Newport, where jurors may be reluctant to deliver a verdict penalizing their hometown for one of its signature tourist attractions.
Providence-based attorney Mark DeSisto, representing Newport, declined comment.
Resmini said he will argue that the city and state did not do enough to keep the Cliff Walk safe. “They fixed some of it, but not all of it,” he told PBN. “Two other people have died there. How many people have to fall down a staircase before you fix it?”
He referred to Salve Regina University student Brian Putney, who fell to his death from the Cliff Walk in 1987, and to the 1991 death of 21-year-old Michael Cain, of Barrington.
Cain’s family filed a lawsuit that was dismissed on the grounds that Cain was trespassing because he was at the Cliff Walk after the official 2 a.m. closing time.
Putney’s family agreed not to sue after Salve Regina University said a fence would be erected along the walk, according to published reports, but it never was.
Some of the Cliff Walk has been fenced, but not all of it. After Cain’s death, the state spent approximately $12,000 to erect a fence, but left unprotected the spot where Berman fell, according to published reports at the time. •