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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 18, 1990                   TAG: 9007180220
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FATAL-BOATING SUIT AGAINST APCO OUSTED

A federal judge has dismissed a Campbell County man's lawsuit against Appalachian Power Co. that alleged the company ignored several warnings about an overhead power line at Smith Mountain Lake that was struck two years ago by a sailboat, killing a passenger and seriously burning the plaintiff.

U.S. District Judge James Turk granted Apco's motion to dismiss the suit, filed in June 1989 by Edward Neal Alford. Alford was at the helm of a sailboat the night of July 16, 1988, when its mast struck the 7,200-volt line near Hales Ford Bridge.

Joseph A. Sanzone, Alford's Lynchburg attorney, said the judge's ruling does not mean an end to litigation in the case.

"No, there was always a serious question on whether this will be tried in state or federal court," he said. "We'll make a decision within two weeks on whether to appeal or not."

An appeal of Turk's decision on jurisdiction could be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, Sanzone said.

Alford alleged that Apco should have known that the power line that touched off the fatal accident posed a danger to boaters at the lake. He claimed that a boater wrote Apco in 1980 to report that he had received an electrical shock when the mast of his sailboat touched the power line and that other people had told the company that the overhead line obstructed navigation on Smith Mountain Lake and posed a hazard.

Alford sought $5 million in compensatory damages and $50 million in punitive damages. The suit stated that several fingers on Alford's right hand were burned off and that he suffered disfiguring burns on his head and legs.

In issuing his ruling, Turk concluded that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear Alford's claims. Alford had asserted in his suit that the court had "admiralty jurisdiction" in the case. But Turk ruled that while federal courts have jurisdiction over certain waterways, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia did not have the power to hear claims pertaining to Smith Mountain Lake.

Alford also had claimed that the court had jurisdiction under the Federal Power Act and the Rivers and Appropriations Act of 1899.

Apco settled claims made by other passengers involved in the accident and disclaimed liability. Apco agreed to a $1.4 million out-of-court settlement with the widow of an Amherst County man killed in the accident.

Apco sued Alford last year for $749,597 in Franklin County Circuit Court, claiming that Alford should share responsibility for the accident. That suit is pending as well as a suit Alford filed last month in Franklin County Circuit Court against Apco.

The fatal accident prompted Apco to "de-energize" the overhead power line and transmit electricity across Smith Mountain Lake via a wire running through a conduit attached to Hales Ford Bridge.

But Alford's lawsuit alleged that Apco knew well in advance of the accident that the power line posed a "navigation hazard."

Staff writer Ron Brown contributed information for this story.

by CNB