ProJo: R.I. Supreme Court partly overturns ruling against Scituate developer

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island Supreme Court has partly reversed a Superior Court decision in developer Vincent Coccoli's $22-million lawsuit against the Town of Scituate, involving Coccoli's failed efforts to redevelop the historical Hope Mill.

The lower court had ruled in favor of the town in 2016.

Coccoli's company once owned the 38-acre mill site, but he lost the property to receivership, and he was unable to repurchase it from the receiver several times. In his lawsuit against the town, Coccoli alleged Scituate breached a contract with him and derailed his efforts.

The Supreme Court ruling, issued Friday, was written by Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg, who disagreed in part with the decision issued by Superior Court Justice Michael A. Silverstein denying Coccoli's $22-million claim against the town.

McKenna wrote that a memorandum of understanding about the proposed new sewer infrastructure for the mill site, which was signed by then-Town Council President Robert Budway and Coccoli, notarized, and entered into land evidence records, “is binding upon the town.” The memorandum was executed after the Town Council, on April 12, 2007, “voted to approve the sewer connection, pending receipt” of the memorandum.

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