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

DATE: TUESDAY, February 5, 1991                   TAG: 9102050093
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By Landmark News Service
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

RAIL-INJURY BILL PASSES SENATE, 30-5/

After an acrimonious debate between two South Hampton Roads lawmakers, senators voted 30-5 for a bill to curtail the flow of railway-injury lawsuits into Portsmouth Circuit Court.

The measure, which now goes to the House, would close a 13-year-old loophole in state law that prevents Virginia judges from dismissing suits brought by out-of-state railroad workers injured outside Virginia.

During the past four years, lawyers for hundreds of injured railroad workers have filed suits against Norfolk Southern Corp. and CSX Corp. in Hampton Roads courts, particularly in Portsmouth. The workers, from as far away as Michigan and Alabama, brought 202 lawsuits in Portsmouth and 61 in Norfolk.

Railroad lobbyists contend a handful of local lawyers - particularly former state Sen. Willard J. Moody of Portsmouth - collect handsome fees for representing the out-of-state workers. The lobbyists last month said the two railroads have shelled out more than $41 million in damage payments to out-of-staters since 1987.

The lobbying efforts now shift to the House, where both the railroads and Moody are expected to mount vigorous campaigns. Moody last week conceded he would probably lose in the Senate.

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