Opinion ID: 1910258
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: seawall movement

Text: The third issue of error raised on appeal is that the trial justice misconstrued material evidence. The plaintiff claims that the trial justice misunderstood testimony of William Zoino (Zoino), Fondedile's geotechnical expert, in determining the nature of the seawall's movement. Finding of fact No. 10 states: The Court rejects the testimony of Iovino that the movement of the seawall caused its granite blocks to move relative to one another. The Court accepts the testimony of other witnesses, including William Zoino, called by the plaintiff, that the wall moved integrally. Indeed, the plaintiff's theory that the seaward rotation of the top of the wall caused a relaxation of the backfill through which it had to drill to reach the back side of the wall depends on the whole wall rotating away as an integral unit from its overburden. While the wall rotation away as an integral unit from its overburden. While the wall rotation might have caused some intramural fracturing of the granite blocks, the Court does not find that any such disruptions contributed materially to the grout loss or drilling difficulties the plaintiff encountered in and below the wall. (Emphasis added.) The plaintiff claims that this finding is incorrect because Zoino testified that individual granite blocks making up the wall moved at different rates relative to one another and that the wall did not move as a uniform, integral unit. The record supports plaintiff's claim. Zoino testified that the wall did not move monolithically and that in his opinion the wall moved throughout its entire height in varying amounts. Zoino also testified that wall movement increased the number of voids in the wall thereby causing increased grout consumption to fill the voids. These statements on the record show that the trial justice erred in basing his finding of fact in part on Zoino's testimony. This mistake, however, does not rise to prejudicial error, because the precise nature of the wall's movement is not determinative of plaintiff's right to recover. The plaintiff made its claim for increased drilling and grouting costs on a theory that wall movement increased the number and size of voids in the wall thereby increasing drilling difficulties and causing excess grout consumption. The plaintiff never proved, however, that wall movement was the proximate cause of plaintiff's damages. Therefore, the exact manner in which the wall moved does not affect the outcome of plaintiff's claim, and any mistake made by the trial justice in determining the nature of the wall's movement is nonprejudicial. See Ryer v. Hyde, 21 R.I. 485, 44 A. 719 (1899).