PROVIDENCE – Developer H. Charles Tapalian will get $2.9 million after the R.I. Supreme Court ruled in his favor over a long-standing sewer-line dispute with Johnston.
The state’s high court on July 1 lifted a $100,000 award cap imposed by Superior Court Court Judge William E. Carnes Jr. in 2019, while letting a $1.2 million Superior Court jury award to the Seekonk developer stand. The high court added 12% statutory interest dating to when Tapalian notified the town of the sewage mess, bringing the award to $2.9 million.
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In 2010 it was discovered that a sewage problem at the Park Plaza Apartments off Atwood Avenue stemmed from a development built in the 1980s across the Pocasset River. A sewer line from that development had been linked to the Park Plaza Apartments’ sewer system that Tapalian’s company claimed it had owned.
In 2019, while arguing he owned the sewer lines at the Park Plaza complex, Tapalian claimed it was Town Administrator Mario aaRussillo who was involved in drilling into the Park Plaza system, causing the sewage problem.
Johnston argued the town, not the developer, owned the sewer system under the Park Plaza Apartments.
In 2019, a Superior Court jury ruled the town trespassed on Tapalian’s sewer lines. Carnes capped damages against the town after the jury awarded Tapalian’s company $1.2 million. Carnes reasoned it was a design issue with a municipal sewer, with the government being responsible.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul A. Suttell dismissed the $100,000 cap, ruling it was not applicable because the operation of a sewer was a proprietary function and could be performed by a private person.
