R.I. Gen. Laws § 9-11-8: County in which questions heard and disposed of — Intervention of jury.

All questions of pleading or practice, not arising in the trial of the case, all motions, and all defaulted cases in the superior court shall be heard and disposed of by the court for the county in which the action is pending; provided, that all such matters arising in Newport, Kent, or Washington county may, when the court is not sitting in the county, be heard and disposed of in Providence, and, if, after judgment is rendered on motion or default, damages are to be assessed, they shall be assessed by the court with the intervention of a jury unless cause be shown why there should be no intervention of a jury.