Affirmative Litigation
Providence City Solicitor Jeffrey M. Padwa formed the Affirmative Litigation Unit ("ALU") in 2012 to use litigation to benefit and protect the people of Providence and Rhode Island.
The ALU's efforts include the following:
- Enforcing two ground-breaking city ordinances banning flavored tobacco and tobacco pricing schemes in federal court against the Tobacco Industry;
- Changing state law in 2012 to allow City Solicitors to bring claims to recover funds under the Rhode Island False Claims Act on behalf of their municipalities;
- Changing state law in 2013 to authorize indirect purchasers of goods, including cities and towns, to bring lawsuits against businesses that engage in anti-competitive behavior;
- Seeking to recover taxpayer dollars for over-payments paid for prescription drugs due to pharmaceutical companies' anti-competitive behavior;
- Protecting our pension fund assets by moving to recoup fund losses resulting from corporate misbehavior;
- Holding corporations accountable for their misbehavior in order to maintain the integrity of the securities markets;
- Investigating violations of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act and holding banks accountable for their role in the condition of our neighborhoods;
- Collecting funds owed to the city in bankruptcies and receiverships, such as in the ProCap receivership;
- Taking action to recover debts owed to the city for police detail, city fees and fines.
- Recovering damages resulting from damage to city property caused by motor vehicle collisions and other negligent acts;
- Protecting the environment by prosecuting violators of the Significant Tree Ordinance;
- Revitalizing vacant and abandoned residential property by using tax takings and other legal actions to turn abandoned residential property into safe, affordable housing and green spaces that will benefit the community, and to repair damage done by persistent abandonment; and
- Addressing blighted Commercial Property through the city's first use of the power of eminent domain to take a damaged commercial property that has plagued a main city thoroughfare for years.
- Filing Amicus briefs in opposition to DOMA and the Arizona immigration law.
For more information contact Deputy City Solicitor Matthew Jerzyk at 401-680-5333 or mjerzyk@providenceri.com