(a)  In order to secure and protect the monies to be received as a result of the Master Settlement Agreement, as defined in § 42-133-3 of this chapter, in civil litigation under any legal theory involving a signatory, a successor of a signatory, or an affiliate of a signatory to the Master Settlement Agreement, the supersedeas bond to be furnished in order to stay the execution of the judgment during the entire course of appellate review shall be set in accordance with applicable laws or court rules, except that the total supersedeas bond in any one case that is required of all appellants collectively shall not exceed fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) regardless of the value of the judgment. The limitation on the amount of the bond set out in this section does not apply to awards resulting from actions enforcing payments under the Master Settlement Agreement, as defined in § 42-133-3 of this chapter.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 42-133-11.1

  • Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Master settlement agreement: means the settlement agreement and related documents entered into on November 23, 1998, by the state and the four (4) principal United States tobacco product manufacturers, as amended and supplemented. See Rhode Island General Laws 42-133-3
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.

(b)  Notwithstanding subsection (a), if an appellee proves by a preponderance of the evidence that an appellant is dissipating assets outside the ordinary course of business to avoid payment of a judgment, a court may require the appellant to post a supersedeas bond in an amount up to the total amount of the judgment.

History of Section.
P.L. 2008, ch. 288, § 1; P.L. 2008, ch. 412, § 1.