(a)  Whenever any person, whether or not acting under color of law, intentionally interferes or threatens to intentionally interfere, by physical force or violence against a person, by damage or destruction of property or by trespass on property, with the exercise or enjoyment by any other person of rights secured by the United States Constitution or the laws of the United States or of rights secured by the Constitution of Rhode Island or laws of the state, the attorney general may bring a civil action for injunctive or other appropriate equitable relief in order to protect the peaceable exercise or enjoyment of the rights secured.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 42-9.3-2

  • Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8

(b)  A civil action under this chapter shall be brought in the name of the state for or on behalf of any person so aggrieved and shall be instituted in the superior court for the county where the alleged victim resides or has a principal place of business or where the alleged violation occurred or is threatened.

History of Section.
P.L. 2005, ch. 377, § 1; P.L. 2005, ch. 393, § 1.