## Facts

- The Providence Housing Authority hired Certified Engineering and Testing Co., Inc. to inspect three public-housing buildings for asbestos, develop an abatement plan if needed, and certify the buildings were asbestos-free after removal.
- Certified found asbestos, prepared an abatement plan, and—after a separate contractor performed the removal—reinspected and certified that no asbestos remained.
- The Housing Authority then hired Bilray Demolition Co., Inc. to demolish the buildings; by statute, demolition debris had to be taken to a licensed solid-waste facility.
- Bilray instead transported some demolition debris to its own wrecking yard to crush and resell it as fill, contrary to the statutory disposal requirement.
- After later asbestos work at the same housing complex, Certified reexamined debris from the earlier demolitions and found a small amount of asbestos in debris at the demolition site and at Bilray’s wrecking yard.
- Nearby homeowners Frances and Anthony Splendorio alleged the asbestos at the wrecking yard contaminated the area and caused diminution in their property value (economic loss only).
- The Splendorios sued, asserting strict liability and negligence against Certified (among others).

## Issues

1. Whether an engineering/testing firm that inspects for asbestos, prepares an abatement plan, and certifies removal is subject to strict (absolute) liability based on asbestos later found in demolition debris.
2. Whether the firm owed a duty of care to nearby property owners to prevent or warn against economic losses allegedly caused when a third party later handled debris unlawfully.

## Decision

- The Rhode Island Supreme Court affirmed summary judgment for Certified.
- The court held Certified was not subject to strict (absolute) liability because its conduct was not an ultrahazardous or abnormally dangerous activity.
- The court held Certified owed no legally cognizable duty to the Splendorios; the alleged economic harm was not reasonably foreseeable and depended on intervening unlawful conduct by a third party.

## Legal Principles

- Strict (absolute) liability applies to ultrahazardous or abnormally dangerous activities, not merely to involvement with hazardous materials.
- Professional services such as inspection, abatement planning, and certification, performed to identify and remediate asbestos, are not ultrahazardous activities for strict-liability purposes.
- Negligence duty turns on foreseeability and policy limits; courts may decline to recognize a duty where harm is remote, indirect, purely economic, and contingent on intervening unlawful acts by others.
- Expanding duty to cover such claims risks exposing professionals to liability to an indeterminate class of potential plaintiffs.

## Conclusion

The court upheld judgment for the asbestos inspection and certification firm, ruling that strict liability did not apply to its professional services and that it owed no duty to nearby homeowners for property-value losses arising from a third party’s later unlawful handling of demolition debris containing a small amount of asbestos.


Splendorio v. Bilray Demolition Co., Inc., 682 A.2d 461 (R.I. 1996)