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Solicitor reports $366,294 in rights-of-way legal expenses; warns eminent domain against other public entities could be litigated
Summary
Solicitor Connolly told the council the town has incurred $366,294.49 in legal fees and expenses on rights-of-way litigation and cautioned that using eminent domain — particularly against quasi-public fire districts — raises novel legal issues that will likely trigger extended litigation and complex compensation claims.
Solicitor Connolly told the Westerly Town Council on Oct. 6 that legal fees and related expenses tied to multiple rights-of-way disputes totaled $366,294.49 through August 2025. The fees include outside counsel, expert costs, title abstracts and deposition transcripts connected to disputes with regional fire districts and other interveners over Spring Avenue, the sand trail and Napa Tree Point matters.
Connolly summarized the litigation posture: several suits by the Weka Park Fire District and related challengers have been filed in Washington and Providence County Superior Courts; motions to dismiss and related arguments have produced mixed results, and the presiding justice has consolidated matters for travel. The town has prevailed in at least one dismissal and continues to litigate others; counsel noted coordination with the attorney general’s office and interveners.
On a related topic, Connolly reviewed a supplemental memo on eminent domain. He said two analogous federal cases (Coventry and Johnston) that could clarify procedural issues are pending, but he warned the council that a municipality’s exercise of eminent domain over another public or quasi-public entity (for example, a fire district created by statute) raises unsettled questions. Connolly said such actions would not only involve appraisal and just-compensation disputes but could prompt litigation over ownership status, compensable appurtenant damages and whether state statutes authorize the taking. He told the council that even carefully following procedural steps is likely to lead to extensive litigation and that appraisal and damage claims could exceed simple assessor valuations.
The solicitor urged the council to weigh process and legal risks carefully and to proceed transparently if it contemplates eminent domain. He recommended that the council consult specific case law and expect that any contested taking against another public entity would almost certainly be litigated in federal court and beyond, increasing cost and delay.
Councilors asked for a supplemental, process-focused memo and asked that the solicitor return with additional guidance; the solicitor said he would provide a written memo and that staff would continue to analyze the legal options and ramifications.
