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

DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991                   TAG: 9104130357
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE/ NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: ROANOKE                                LENGTH: Medium

COURT RULES CROSSTIE OWNER NOT LIABLE FOR COMPANY'S DEBTS

Dave Hammond, owner of D.E. Hammond & Co., filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in December. Hammond said Thursday he has debts totaling in the millions because of the estimated cost of cleaning up the recycling yard on First Street.

The court ruled on March 27 that Hammond is released from personal liability and creditors are prohibited from attempting to collect any debt that has been discharged in the case.

Court papers show Hammond claimed $512,250 in debt under a Chapter 11 reorganization filed in 1987. That debt was converted to Chapter 7 liquidation in December.

Hammond's business ran into trouble last year when the state Department of Waste Management told him he had to install monitoring wells to check for possible ground-water contamination.

The state and the city of Radford, concerned about possible fire hazard, ordered Hammond to remove all the crossties by the end of the year.

"He's slowly but surely getting rid of them," city Environmental Engineer Larry Amy said. "We're not taking a hard line with him because it's not an environmental problem in the strictest sense."

No evidence of contamination has been found, and the city has worked out an emergency response plan for the site.

Further, Amy said, Hammond's other business, Central Recycling, is the only recycler in the city that takes aluminum, glass and scrap metal.

"For now, he is the recycling savior of Radford," Amy said.

For several years, Norfolk Southern Corp. paid Hammond to unload the ties from rail cars. But Hammond claims the railroad gave him unmarketable ties and now should have to pay for the cleanup.

The city agrees.

"The city's position is that the railroad was the generator and hauler of the waste, and as such is responsible for the removal of waste from the site," Amy said.

NS spokesman Bob Auman said Hammond may file a claim with the company "if he feels he has a legitimate claim against the company."

The railroad and Hammond had a simple contract for the crossties, Auman said.

"It would seem to me that once a buyer contracts to purchase something and he receives that commodity, that concludes the transaction."

However, fiscal responsibility for environmental cleanup remains a murky area in the law.

The waste department has said it would refer the matter to the state attorney general's office. It was unclear Friday whether the department has done so.