NEWPORT — The landlord for Trisha Smith, the Posh and Naughty boutique owner who has riled community sensibilities in Portsmouth, took advantage of a technical point in the law to begin eviction proceedings.

And he had every right to do so, according to a Superior Court judge.

In a decision from the bench yesterday, Judge Vincent Ragosta upheld a District Court eviction order, finding that a single bounced rent check put Smith in arrears long enough last December for the landlord to terminate the lease.

Unless Smith appeals to the Rhode Island Supreme Court, she has 20 days to move out of the storefront at 2576 East Main Rd. where she has engaged in what she calls “guerilla marketing.”

Wearing costumes notable for their thigh-high skirts and plunging necklines — a St. Pauli Girl, a French maid, and “Santa Baby,” among others — the blond and buxom Smith posted herself at curbside on busy East Main Road near Turnpike Avenue last fall and winter to promote the business, which sells lingerie and sex toys.

Some passersby, who apparently were offended, complained to the landlord, David Bazarsky, of Samuels Realty of Middletown.

And last November, Bazarsky’s lawyer, Evan Leviss, sent Smith a letter ordering her off the sidewalk on the grounds that her display violated the terms of the lease.

Yesterday, Smith’s lawyer, Susan T. Perkins, of Providence, told Ragosta the legal battle revolving around Smith is all about “what she does and who she is and what she sells.”

Perkins scoffed at the notion that Bazarsky has spent thousands of dollars in legal fees to evict a tenant over a single bounced check amounting to about $700.

The check was rejected on Dec. 21, and Smith testified she covered it six days later — on Dec. 27 — when she discovered her checking account was in arrears.

“It was an honest mistake,” testified Smith.

But she didn’t write Bazarsky a new check, or call to tell him that he could redeposit the old one. Nor had Bazarsky called Smith about the rent, which had been due Dec. 15.

When Bazarsky returned from vacation in Florida Jan. 2, he began eviction proceedings. State law allows a landlord to evict a tenant who is 15 days overdue on the rent.

But Perkins, Smith’s lawyer, argued that the clock on any eviction notice did not start ticking until the 25th of the month, when late penalties began. And she maintained Bazarsky hadn’t waited the required two weeks before filing suit against Smith.

Ragosta said Perkins had a “novel interpretation of a contract.”

The landlord’s waiver of a late fee “doesn’t mean they waive the right to evict under the law,” Ragosta said.

He agreed with Leviss, Bazarsky’s lawyer, that the rent had been due Dec. 15 and the landlord had the legal right to pursue eviction two weeks later.

gmacris@projo.com