Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

PROVIDENCE -- Judging by the questions that state Supreme Court justices posed while hearing oral arguments Friday in John F. Cullen's lawsuit contesting a land deal in Lincoln, the justices thought he may have a point but not necessarily a case.

Cullen's suit is one of the last echoes of a major local controversy in 2004 when then-Lincoln Town Administrator Sue P. Sheppard persuaded the Town Council to sell a 1.4-acre parcel off Breakneck Hill Road to developer Ralph Branca.

Branca was a supporter of and campaign contributor to Sheppard. Critics, Cullen among them, claimed that the $67,000 Branca paid for the land was less than what it was worth.
Since then, Branca built a $2.5-million office building on the land, which is just off the Breakneck Hill Road exit from Route 146.

Cullen is asking the high court to overturn a Superior Court ruling against him. His lawsuit alleges, among other things, that the town violated the Open Meetings Law by not making public an assessment of the land that was higher than the $67,000 price Sheppard sought.

 Tags  developer land Lincoln lawsuit R.I. Supreme Court

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