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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 20, 1990                   TAG: 9004200792
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ST. LOUIS                                LENGTH: Short

BARROOM BITE COSTS PRANKSTER $27,500

When she was made the butt of Charles Hurth's prank, Maia Brodie vowed revenge, and she got it - taking a $27,500 bite out of his wallet.

"I feel the damages were appropriate," Brodie said Thursday after jurors upheld her civil lawsuit against Hurth for biting her buttocks in a bar 2 1/2 years ago.

She was at the bar near St. Louis University, where she studied law, in September 1987 when Hurth grabbed her hips and bit her, Brodie testified. Hurth and his friends laughed, pointed and exchanged high-fives, she said.

The bite broke the skin on Brodie's buttocks, causing "searing and throbbing pain" so severe she couldn't sit down for three days and was unable to attend classes, said Gerald Greiman, her lawyer.

Hurth, a lawyer, admitted biting Brodie but said he did not mean to hurt her and considered his action a compliment. Hurth testified he had previously bitten the buttocks of two other women at fraternity parties in 1981 and 1982 while attending Vanderbilt University.

Jurors deliberated about 90 minutes after hearing two days of testimony, awarding Brodie $2,500 in actual damages and $25,000 in punitive damages. David Hoven, who represented Hurth, described Brodie's injury and the lawsuit as "superficial," arguing she should be awarded only the $9 she paid for medication.

by CNB