SUITS SAY HARASSING CALLS MADE FROM DOMINO'S

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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 6, 1993                   TAG: 9301060156
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                LENGTH: Medium
SUITS SAY HARASSING CALLS MADE FROM DOMINO'S
A Radford father and son each have filed suit against Domino's Pizza and three of its employees, alleging the employees made harassing phone calls to them during working hours.
Arthur Bruce Duncan and his son, Arthur B. Duncan II, each are asking for $150,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Domino's Pizza Inc., local franchise owner Hokie Pizza Inc. and three employees of the Radford Domino's.
The employees named are Rhonda Whaling, 28, of Christiansburg, and Russell K. Simpson, 33, and Tony Parks, 26, both of Radford.
The lawsuits, filed in Radford Circuit Court last week, allege that last January and February the three employees made numerous "prank telephone calls using foul, crude, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit and obnoxious language."
The suit alleges that the three employees made the calls during regular working hours and at the end of working shifts.
The phone calls also were threatening, the suit alleges, and were "made with the intent to inflict extreme and severe emotional distress."
Arthur Duncan was 56 at the time he received the phone calls. In the lawsuit, his attorneys, Robbie Jenkins and Jimmy Turk, allege that his age and health made him susceptible to emotional distress.
Duncan's health has suffered as a result of the annoying calls and he has incurred doctor bills, the lawsuit says.
The son, 22 at the time the calls were made, also has incurred medical bills as a result of problems attributable to the phone calls, the suit alleges.
According to Radford General District Court records, charges of making annoying phone calls were taken under advisement last spring and dismissed in October. Each worker was ordered to make a $100 donation to the city's tree fund and not have any contact with the Duncans.
The workers admitted making the calls, but Domino's still continued to employ them, according to the suit. That act constitutes a condoning of their actions, the suit alleges.
But Dutton Olinger, a Blacksburg lawyer who represents Whaling, said Tuesday that the three do not admit to the allegations in the lawsuit.
Olinger said his understanding is that the phone calls began as a game between the younger Duncan and some of the employees.
Olinger said the man would play games with people on the phone and ask them to punch certain numbers on the telephone in response to questions he asked. There may have been some calls made to the younger Duncan, Olinger said.
"My client had very little to do with it," Olinger said.
"It seemed to be like a little game that got going between Mr. Duncan and the various parties that he has sued."
Olinger said Whaling told him she was fired from Domino's following the lower court action. He said he also understood that the other two also were dismissed.
Domino's could not be reached for comment.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB