Quadriplegic Man Secures $2 Million Settlement After Fall on Newport's Cliff Walk

On August 17, 2000, Simcha Berman was walking on the Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island when he stepped off the paved path onto an adjacent beaten dirt trail and fell approximately 29 feet to the rocks below. The fall severed his spinal cord and left him permanently quadriplegic.

Berman and his wife Sarah filed suit in 2003 against several parties: the Preservation Society of Newport County, the City of Newport, the Cliff Walk Commission, and the State of Rhode Island. Their claim against the state sought damages in excess of $30 million. The theory was that the city and state had known the unpaved shoulder along the walk presented a fall hazard, yet failed to warn visitors or close it off.

The litigation moved slowly. A superior court judge initially granted summary judgment to the city and the Preservation Society under Rhode Island's Recreational Use Statute, which limits landowner liability when land is open to the public without charge. Ronald J. Resmini, representing the Bermans alongside co-counsel Kevin P. Gavin, appealed. In a 2010 decision, the Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for the Preservation Society but vacated summary judgment as to the City of Newport and remanded the case for trial, holding that the Recreational Use Statute did not shield the city and that a question of fact existed about whether it had willfully failed to warn of a known danger.

The case went to trial before Judge Stephen P. Nugent in Newport County Superior Court in 2011. On the first day of the trial, the city settled for $2 million, the full extent of its coverage through the Rhode Island Interlocal Risk Management Trust. After a six-day trial and one full day of deliberations, the jury returned a verdict on April 13, 2011 finding the State of Rhode Island not liable.

Berman moved for a new trial against the state. The Rhode Island Supreme Court rejected that motion in a 27-page 2014 decision authored by Justice Gilbert V. Indeglia, affirming the jury's finding that the state bore no negligence. The $2 million city settlement, paid at policy limits, remained intact and was the only recovery in the case.