92
C
ASE: 12
You Be the Judge!
You Be the Judge!
Sources
The case brie ng above contains excerpts and direct extractions from the sources noted
below that have been combined with the author's own expert legal input. The case has
been condensed and formatted from its original content for purposes of this workbook.
Volpe v. Gallagher, 821 A.2d 699 (R.I. 2003).
Rhode Island Supreme Court
May 12, 2003. Opinion written by the Honorable Justice Robert G. Flanders.
The duty of care is a legal
obligation set on an individual
that they act with a standard
of reasonable care to prevent
foreseeable harm to others. If
a persons actions do not meet
this standard of care, then the
acts are considered negligent,
and any damages resulting
may be claimed in a lawsuit of
negligence.
Nolo Contendere
(no contest) is a Latin term
which means "I do not wish
to contest." It refers to
the plea by an individual
in a criminal case where
he/she does not wish
to contest the charges
against him/her.
Walking over to the hedges that bordered the Volpe and
Gallagher houses, the neighbor soon discovered Volpe's body and
called the police.
Meanwhile, one of the Defendant's daughters entered the
basement, removed a handgun from a dresser drawer, and hid it
under a pillow on the living room couch until the police arrived and
arrested James.
e Plainti s brought a wrongful-death lawsuit against Mrs.
Gallagher. ey also attempted to sue the incarcerated James Andrew
Gallagher, but he did not testify or otherwise participate in the trial of
this civil case.
Charged with rst-degree murder by the state, James eventually
dropped his insanity defense and pled nolo contendere (no contest) to
a reduced criminal charge of second-degree murder. roughout this
trial action, James remained imprisoned for this crime.
According to Mr. Volpe and Ms. Almonte, the Defendant knew
or should have known that by allowing her mentally ill son to possess
guns and ammunition under his condition, she created an unreason-
able risk of bodily harm to others.
Although James was not formally diagnosed with mental illness,
at trial, Mrs. Gallagher admitted, "I knew he wasn't right. I just didn't
know what was wrong with him [...] he just wasn't acting right. He
always wanted to be alone in darkness. He was acting peculiar."
However, Mrs. Gallagher stated, "I just wouldn't allow anybody
to have guns in the house. I was afraid of them and didn't want them.
If I had known that my son had a gun, I would have told him to get
rid of it. If he didn't, I would have." Gallagher argued that she did not
know that James had guns and ammunition in her home. Further,
even if she had known, her son had no history of violence. erefore,
she argued that she could not have foreseen that one day he would
shoot their next door neighbor using any of the guns and ammuni-
tion that he kept at her home.
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