Rhode Island procedural guides

Plain-English guides to the Rhode Island Superior Court Rules of Civil Procedure, each one tied to the rules it relies on. Every rule named in a guide has its own page with the official text.

• Responding to a Rhode Island complaint: 20 days, and ten days' notice before judgmentRhode Island Rule 12(a) gives 20 days after service to serve an answer, or 60 days if you waived service — and an appearing defendant gets ten days' notice before a default judgment, the longest in the country.
• Setting aside a Rhode Island default judgment: ten days' notice, and no judgment without a military affidavitRhode Island requires ten days' written notice before a default judgment hearing — the longest in the country — and bars any default judgment until a military service affidavit is filed.
• The Rhode Island motion to dismiss: twenty days to answer, ten after a denialRhode Island Rule 12(b) carries the familiar seven defenses, gives 20 days to answer, and 10 days after a motion is denied.
• Rhode Island summary judgment: everything counts backwards from the hearing dateRhode Island Rule 56 sets no response deadline in days — the motion must be served at least ten days before the hearing, and opposing affidavits may be served any time before the day of hearing.
• Rhode Island wage attachment: a hearing before your employer is ever served, and not objecting waives nothingRhode Island Rule 69(f) requires a motion, notice and a hearing before any post-judgment wage attachment, and says a debtor's failure to object waives no statutory exemption.
• The Rhode Island motion to compel: ask for an order that dismisses the case by itselfRhode Island Rule 37(a)(4)(A) lets an order compelling discovery provide in advance for dismissal or default if it is not obeyed within 30 days — and unlike most states, its fee shift is permissive rather than mandatory.
• Rhode Island depositions: nobody extra in the room without 48 hours' noticeRhode Island Rule 30 bars anyone beyond the reporter, witness, attorneys and parties from attending a deposition unless every attorney of record was told at least 48 hours in advance.
• Rhode Island restraining orders: refused once, and only a change of circumstances reopens itRhode Island bars a second ex parte restraining order application to another judicial officer unless circumstances have materially changed, and requires the first officer to note the refusal in the case file.
• Rhode Island subpoenas: the electronic-discovery test is benefit against burdenRhode Island Rule 45 builds a full electronic-discovery regime into the subpoena rule, ordering production from inaccessible sources only where likely benefit outweighs likely burden, and requiring courts to limit even accessible discovery.

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