Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 8, 1994 TAG: 9409080090
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
BOSTON - Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., has come out in favor of ordaining women as Roman Catholic priests, bucking a strict edict from the pope banning women from the priesthood.
In a short and carefully worded statement issued after The Boston Globe asked him for his position on women as priests, Kennedy, who is running for re-election, said, ``I count myself among the growing number of Catholics who support the ordination of women as priests.''
Kennedy's statement was greeted with praise by Catholic feminists, while conservative church activists dismissed his position as typical of the senator's break from Catholic doctrine. A spokesman for Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the archbishop of Boston, would not comment.
- Boston Globe
Poison ivy prank to cost thousands
HARTFORD, Conn. - Robert L. Preston wasn't fired for rubbing poison ivy on a toilet seat used by his boss. The prank brought on by workplace frustration could still cost him a lot of money, though.
The state Appellate Court on Tuesday cut the lawsuit damage figure a jury awarded Preston in 1992, agreeing with his former employer that lost wages weren't merited because the prank would have brought dismissal if his superiors had known he did it.
Preston, a former safety coordinator at Phelps Dodge Copper Products Co. in Norwich, was fired in 1989. The company said his position was being eliminated, but he claimed he was ousted in reprisal for making safety complaints.
The jury agreed and awarded him $246,000 for back pay and lost future wages, $50,000 for emotional distress and $500,000 in punitive damages. The trial judge found the punitive damages to be excessive and awarded him a total of $449,000.
The company appealed, arguing that he was not entitled to lost wages because once the poison ivy caper was discovered, he would have been fired. The court agreed and ordered the trial court to reconsider.
Preston's lawyer, Barry J. Ward, argued the company wouldn't have known he was responsible for the poison ivy if he hadn't been fired in the first place. His blame only came to light when a co-worker he warned to avoid using that bathroom stall spoke up after the litigation.
Ward said the appeals court ruling means $203,000 of the award stands. They'll fight for reinstatement of the lost wages sum.
- Associated Press
- Associated Press
AIDS-less patients win settlement
SAVANNAH, Ga. - An $850,000 legal settlement will be split among 495 former patients of a dentist who died after contracting AIDS, even though none of the patients has tested positive for the virus that causes the disease.
The settlement, formalized Friday, is believed to be the first in Georgia based on claims of emotional suffering from a fear of contracting AIDS, said Brent Savage, the plaintiffs' lawyer.
Lawsuits based on similar claims have been thrown out in Tennessee and Delaware, he said.
The plaintiffs contended in a class-action suit that Morrison Dental Associates should be held accountable for employing Dr. Ron Marasco, who died in 1992. Marasco did not tell his patients he suffered from the disease.
``Our theory ... was that if a dentist has a 100 percent fatal disease - even if the odds of contracting the disease are minuscule - that if he does not inform the patients, he has committed a battery,'' Savage said.
Morrison Dental argued that Marasco hid his illness, even from his employer.
- Associated Press
by CNB