EXCLUSIVE: Superior Court Judge Licht Received $1.2 Million Payment in Settlement With RI

EXCLUSIVE: Superior Court Judge Licht Received $1.2 Million Payment in Settlement With RI

The State of Rhode Island and associated insurance companies have paid Superior Court Judge Richard Licht and his wife, Roanne Sragow Licht $1,225,000, GoLocal has learned. 

The State of Rhode Island’s payments are tied to an incident two years ago.

According to police reports, Licht was crossing Smith Street near the Rhode Island State House, not in the crosswalk, on the evening of February 15, 2023. He was hit by a vehicle and severely injured.

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The driver of the vehicle reportedly remained on-site and cooperated, according to multiple reports.

Licht was severely injured and was initially in critical condition.

He overcame months of rehab and returned to the bench six months after the incident.

 

Latest for Licht - And Wife

Licht has been a powerbroker in the Democratic Party in Rhode Island for decades and served as Lt. Governor in the late 1980s.

Now, Licht, who was appointed to the bench by then-Governor Lincoln Chafee, has told multiple people he is a candidate to succeed retiring Presiding Superior Court Judge Alice Gibney. 

According to the settlement agreements secured by GoLocal via an Access to Public Records Request, the payments to Licht were comprised of $466,100 made by Rhode Island College, $500,000 by Genesis Insurance Company, and $258,900 by United Educators — a private insurance company linked to the state of Rhode Island. What is not disclosed by the agreement is why RIC is a payor.

The 14-page settlement agreement was finalized on September 29, 2024, and was signed by both Licht and Sragow. It has been kept private until now,

Sragow is a former Massachusetts Judge and was nominated to the Paramount Board, but that was short-lived as Paramount was purchased by Skydance. Her board tenure was less than three months.

According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, she received more than 16,000 shares of Paramount stock prior to the merger.

 

 

The Agreement

A settlement agreement cites that releases the parties “of and from any and all claims, actions, causes of action...resulting from or arising out of an accident or incident which occurred on or about February 15, 2023, at or near Smith Street in Providence."

GoLocal reached out to Licht for comment, but he did not respond at the time of publication.

The settlement agreement was notarized by former Speaker of the House Joseph DeAngelis, who was once Licht’s law partner. He told GoLocal he did not negotiate the settlement on behalf of Licht; he only notarized it.

This story was first published 9/30/25 at 2:22 PM