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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 31, 1990                   TAG: 9007310179
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LEGAL FEES ADD UP IN PUBLIC HOUSING SUIT

The Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority spent $98,403 on legal fees defending a lawsuit by public housing tenants who were overcharged for electricity in the early 1980s.

The authority's original contract with the law firm of Woods, Rogers & Hazlegrove called for a fee of $65,000, but the firm provided more legal services than anticipated as the case stretched over four years.

The authority's board of commissioners voted Monday to approve the additional payment of $33,403.

Herbert McBride, executive director of the authority, said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved the higher legal fees.

Settlement of the lawsuit cost $382,464, including about $165,000 in legal fees.

Fees for the Legal Aid Society of the Roanoke Valley, which represented the tenants, were about $67,000.

HUD agreed to provide the money for both the refunds for the tenants and the attorneys' fees.

The refunds will total $216,000 under an agreement approved by Judge James Turk in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

McBride said the authority expects to publish a legal notice soon notifying tenants and former tenants they can file claims for refunds.

The lawsuit, filed eight years ago on behalf of 1,100 families in the city's public housing projects, claimed that the housing authority acted improperly when it imposed surcharges for electricity in excess of a monthly allowance.

The tenants accused the authority of improperly computing electricity needs and then overcharging them by adding surcharges from 1981 to 1984. They claimed that an allowance imposed by the authority was not enough to meet their basic needs.

Turk originally threw out the lawsuit, ruling that the tenants had no right to sue in federal court over alleged violations of housing regulations.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and the Legal Aid Society appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1987, the high court ruled 5-4 that the tenants had a right to sue - sending the case back to Roanoke and leading to the settlement.

by CNB