Claire Hall Lawsuit: Arrest, Trial Ruling, and Settlement

The Claire Hall lawsuit was a federal civil rights case filed in August 2023 by a Newport, Rhode Island attorney who was arrested by South Kingstown police after stopping to help two young men injured in a car crash. A federal judge cleared the case for trial in June 2025, finding no probable cause as a matter of law for Hall’s arrest, and the parties settled on undisclosed terms in late 2025. The town’s solicitor said no taxpayer funds were involved.¹

What Happened at the Crash Scene

On the afternoon of February 9, 2023, two vehicles collided on Route 1 (Tower Hill Road) in South Kingstown. The drivers were a 17-year-old named Van Limoges and 21-year-old Samuel St. Hiliare. According to the complaint Hall later filed, the teenager was disoriented and appeared to have a head injury after his windshield shattered.²

Hall stopped to help. She used her own cell phone to call the teenager’s father, since the boy could not do so himself, and stayed at the scene to relay information about his condition.³

Officer Anthony Souza arrived first. The complaint described his approach as “combative” and alleged he was not equipped with a body camera. Officer Matthew White arrived shortly after with an activated body camera and shouted at Hall to move her vehicle, threatening arrest if she did not comply.³

Hall kept asking where the teenager would be taken for treatment while still on the phone with his father. When she tried to hand her phone to Officer White so he could speak with the father directly, the lawsuit alleged White “lunged at Ms. Hall with both hands.” White’s own report told a different story: that Hall was “interfering” with his investigation, shoved a phone in his face, and physically resisted arrest.²

The Arrest and Dismissed Charges

Hall was thrown to the ground, had a knee placed on her body, and was handcuffed. She told the officers she had a previously dislocated shoulder, and Officer White allegedly responded, “Well, rescue can look at you.” When Hall asked why she was being arrested, White told her it was because she “wasn’t ‘listening’ to him.”³

Officer Souza seized Hall’s phone and hung up on the teenager’s father. Hall sat in the back of a police cruiser for roughly twenty minutes before being taken to the station, where she alleged Officer White told her his body camera was off and that the station cameras were not working. Her vehicle was towed with her wallet still inside.²

She was charged with three misdemeanors: obstructing an officer in execution of duty, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest. All three were later dismissed at the state’s recommendation through not-guilty filings.⁴

GoLocalProv later obtained White’s body camera footage through a public records request. The video showed an officer repeatedly telling Hall to move her car, captured the argument that followed, and showed the moment Hall was forced to the ground.²

What Hall Sued For

On August 31, 2023, Claire Hall and her husband James Hall filed a 23-page complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. They named four defendants: Officers Matthew White and Anthony Souza in both their individual and official capacities, Police Chief Matthew C. Moynihan, and South Kingstown Town Manager James Manni.⁵

The eleven-count complaint included a federal civil rights claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for unlawful arrest and detention, assault and battery, excessive force, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution, negligence, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, respondeat superior liability against Chief Moynihan and the department, and a claim that the defendants had responded to public records requests “fraudulently and in bad faith.” Hall alleged injuries to her shoulders, teeth, breasts, and bladder, along with emotional distress. James Hall joined as a consortium plaintiff.³

The supervisory claims against Chief Moynihan alleged he failed to train and supervise the officers. The plaintiffs’ expert witness, Frank Mancini, concluded Officer White had shown signs of being an aggressive officer who needed retraining before the February 2023 incident. The court’s later order noted allegations that Moynihan had failed to conduct required annual performance reviews for both officers, overruled another supervisor who had flagged White for retraining, and led the department as it lost its accreditation in 2024, partly because of inadequate documentation of use-of-force training.⁶

The Ruling That Sent the Case to Trial

The defendants moved for summary judgment. On June 9, 2025, Judge Mary S. McElroy denied the motion on nearly every front, finding that disputed facts required a jury trial.⁴

On the false arrest and malicious prosecution claims, the judge ruled there was no probable cause as a matter of law for Hall’s arrest on disorderly conduct and obstruction. Citing South Kingstown’s own policy, the order noted that an officer “cannot effect an arrest” for disorderly conduct simply “because a citizen engages them in an argument.” Whether probable cause actually existed on the remaining question was “better left to the jury.”⁶

On the excessive force count, Judge McElroy found a jury could reasonably conclude that the force used, described in the order as a “sudden grab, leg sweep, and hard press into the ground,” was excessive under the standard set by the Supreme Court in Graham v. Connor. She preserved the negligence claims, declining to follow earlier Rhode Island precedent that would have treated them as duplicative of the intentional-force allegations. The supervisory liability claim against Chief Moynihan also survived; the court found a reasonable jury could conclude he had made a “deliberate decision not to act to resolve a known constitutional issue.” The officers’ qualified immunity defense was reserved for after the jury resolved the underlying factual disputes.⁴

The Settlement

With trial approaching, the parties reached a settlement. A stipulation of dismissal was filed on December 29, 2025, and Judge McElroy entered it on January 5, 2026, formally closing the case.⁷

Neither side disclosed the financial terms. South Kingstown town solicitor Michael A. Ursillo said “no taxpayer funds were involved” in the agreement.¹

1
Providence Journal. South Kingstown Police Brutality Lawsuit: Good Samaritan Arrested
2
GoLocalProv. Exclusive Video: Newport Lawyer Sued South Kingstown Police for Assault
3
Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly. Hall v. South Kingstown Police Department Complaint
4
Rhode Island Lawyers Weekly. Civil Rights: Excessive Force Arrest
5
PlainSite. Hall et al v. South Kingstown Police Department et al
6
GovInfo. Hall v. South Kingstown Police Department, Order on Summary Judgment
7
PACER Monitor. Hall et al v. South Kingstown Police Department et al