ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 5, 1993                   TAG: 9303050230
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Short


TEEN SUES PARENTS AFTER CUTTING OFF HAND

A teen-ager whose left hand was cut off while he worked with a saw has filed a $2 million lawsuit against his parents, saying they violated the state's child-labor laws by allowing him to use the tool.

David Clinkinbeard, 16, had the hand reattached after losing it in January 1992 while using a circular saw to help remodel a friend's house for $4 an hour.

The lawsuit, filed in Newport News Circuit Court, cites a law that says no child under 18 shall be "permitted or suffered to work" at operating "any circular saw, band saw or guillotine shear," among other dangerous tools.

Leonard C. Heath Jr., the boy's attorney, called the family "as close a family as I've ever seen." He declined to comment on whether the parents have insurance that might cover the accident.

- Associated Press



by Archana Subramaniam by CNB