(Providence, RI) -- The Rhode Island Superior Court is overturning a slander lawsuit against Johnston Mayor Joseph Polisena. Former town council member Eileen Fuoco sued after Polisena made several accusations against her in 2013, including that she tried to collect temporary disability insurance from the town and was not properly fulfilling her duties to the town council. Judge Richard Licht issued a ruling last week which overturned a Superior Court jury's decision earlier this year awarding twenty-thousand dollars in damages plus a stipend for serving on the board for two additional terms had Fuoco been re-elected. Licht said the jury's verdict demonstrated a lack of understanding to the instructions provided prior to deliberations, which highlighted Fuoco's burden to prove by clear and convincing evidence that Mayor Polisena acted with actual malice.