Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 8, 1994 TAG: 9401080033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He sued Norfolk Southern Corp., and a Roanoke jury gave him $800,000.
But the Virginia Supreme Court took it away Friday, reversing the jury's verdict after ruling there was insufficient evidence on which to find the railroad negligent.
Railroad executives say the case is just one of a series in recent years in which Roanoke juries have awarded excessive verdicts for employees injured on the job.
Jury awards since 1990 have ranged from $250,000 to a clerk who fell out of his chair to $4.7 million to a signalman injured when metal doors swung shut on his back.
"In essence you can ask for the moon, and sometimes you can get it," Wiley Mitchell, Norfolk Southern's general counsel for litigation, has said.
Hughes, who had worked 26 years for the railroad, was injured the night of Oct. 14, 1988, near the small community of Webb, W.Va.
He testified at a 1992 trial that he was walking along a mile-long freight train, checking the brakes on each boxcar, when he tripped on a crosstie on an adjacent track and fell. He said he injured his arms, shoulders, elbows and knees.
Hughes claimed - and the jury agreed - that the railroad was negligent because it allowed the crosstie to split and project upward two to four inches, thus creating a hazard.
But in an opinion reversing the jury's verdict, the Supreme Court noted evidence that the railroad inspected the tracks twice a week, and that no problems were found the day before the accident.
In fact, the crosstie that supposedly caused Hughes to trip never was found, according to John Eure, a Roanoke attorney who represented Norfolk Southern.
Eure said Hughes refused medical treatment for his injuries shortly after the accident, and that he continued to work for the railroad that night and for several more months.
At the trial, a doctor testified that Hughes suffered from tendinitis in one elbow that probably was triggered by the accident. Medical testimony also showed that Hughes was unable to return to his railroad job.
Frank Lawrence, a Virginia Beach attorney who represented Hughes, declined to comment on the high court's decision.
Most workers in Virginia are covered by workers compensation and are not allowed to sue their employers for on-the-job injuries. But railroad employees can sue under the Federal Employers Liability Act, which NS lawyers say makes it easier to recover large verdicts.
In earlier interviews, railroad lawyers have suggested two reasons why Roanoke juries have been so tough on the railroad:
Because Norfolk Southern has been downsizing and laying off employees for years in a city that grew with the railroad, there may be a bias against the company reflected in many jury panels.
And due to demographic changes within the city, jury panels tend to consist mostly of blue-collar workers more likely to sympathize with an employee suing a large company.
"Every time you turn around you're reading about the profits that Norfolk Southern is producing," one juror in a railroad case said in an earlier interview.
"The jurors are saying: `It's deep pockets, so why not give it to the little guy?' "
by CNB