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

DATE: THURSDAY, March 21, 1991                   TAG: 9103210220
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TAMPA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Short

OVERWEIGHT NURSE CASE OVERTURNED/ APPELLATE REVIEW CONCERNS JUSTICES

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a $44,000 award to a nursing student who was kicked out of a Rhode Island college for being too overweight, but her attorney said she will keep fighting.

Although the 6-3 decision concerning Sharon L. Russell of St. Petersburg doesn't touch on the issue of overweight people's rights, it allows for an appeals court review.

"Now for once the court will consider the real issue of this case - whether students must meet all the requirements set up by a school," said Steven Snow, the lawyer representing Salve Regina College in Newport, R.I. "In this case, Sharon's being fat clearly violated her academic contract."

The decision by the high court turned on the technical way that appeals courts review the decision of other judges.

The justices ruled that a federal appeals court, in upholding the $44,000 award, improperly deferred to the trial judge's interpretation of Rhode Island common law. The case now goes to the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for full review.

"This is just a crook in the road - we're going to keep fighting until the end," Russell's attorney, Edward T. Hogan, said.

Russell carried more than 300 pounds on her 5-foot-6 frame when she was dismissed from the Roman Catholic school in 1985.

by CNB