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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 5, 1993                   TAG: 9302050330
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: David M. Poole
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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EX-TENANTS SUE LANDLORD OVER FIRE

Diana Rainville lost electricity in her kitchen a few weeks after she and her two children moved into an apartment building above a Vinton generator shop in September 1991.

Rainville claims that instead of calling an electrician, the landlord's agent ran an extension cord from another room so the refrigerator would work.

A few days later, an electrical fire broke out in Rainsville's apartment and spread to other units in the cinderblock Lafferty Building at Third Street and Walnut Avenue.

Rainville and four other former tenants have gone to court seeking a total of $215,000 in compensatory and punitive damages against landlord John H. Lafferty.

In five lawsuits filed Wednesday in Roanoke County Circuit Court, the former tenants claim the Oct. 18 fire was the result of Lafferty's negligence.

The tenants contend that Lafferty's rental agent ignored their frequent complaints about electrical surges and outages.

Lafferty could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Former tenants named in the lawsuit are John and Mary Dawidziak; Tammy and Bobby Williams; Rhonda Ward; Roger and Joy Pruit; and Ranville. Their attorney is K. Keith Moore of Vinton.

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