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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 25, 1992                   TAG: 9203250189
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS
DATELINE: PEARISBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

GILES TREASURER SAYS SUIT AGAINST HIM HAS NO CAUSE

Giles County Treasurer Richard Cook has answered the lawsuit of a Pearisburg woman who said Cook defamed her and caused her emotional distress after he hired and fired her before she worked a single day.

Jane Tabor of Pearisburg filed suit against Cook on March 3 asking $100,000 in damages.

Cook, who was elected treasurer in November and assumed office Jan. 1, challenged the suit on the grounds that the facts outlined in it failed to establish a cause for suing under Virginia law. He also argues that the Virginia Workers Compensation Act covers Tabor's claims against him and bars the lawsuit.

Cook's attorney, W. Fain Rutherford of Roanoke, filed the one-page response to Tabor's suit on Tuesday, just meeting a 21-day deadline.

Tabor's attorney, Darrell Tillar of Blacksburg, said she would move quickly for a hearing on the Workers Compensation argument. The act can't cover the charges because Tabor was never an employee, she said.

Tillar said she also plans to file another lawsuit against Cook soon in federal court in Roanoke. Tabor will charge Cook violated her constitutional rights, she said.

In her Giles suit, Tabor said she was hired by Cook on Feb. 5 and was to report to work on Feb. 18. In the meantime, she quit her job with Leggett in Christiansburg.

But on Feb. 14, Tabor said, Cook called her at work in Christiansburg and told her he was withdrawing the job offer because he could not fire another employee.

Her conversation with Cook upset her, made her ill and she eventually had to visit a hospital emergency room, Tabor said.

"[Cook's] conduct was outrageous and intolerable, offending the generally accepted standards of decency and morality in the Giles County community," the suit says.

The suit also charges that Cook said things in person and in writing about Tabor's job qualifications that were false, misleading and insulting.

As a result of Cook's statements, Tabor suffered psychological harm and injury to her reputation, the suit says.

Tabor, 52, worked for Leggett for 30 years and has returned to work for the company.

Tabor is asking the court to award her a $50,000 judgment from Cook on both the emotional distress and defamation counts and interest and court costs.

by CNB