Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 2, 1994 TAG: 9402020140
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C6 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PIKEVILLE, KY. LENGTH: Medium
The six-woman panel took three hours to return the decision against Wise, Va., resident Nickie Brewer, former Pikeville subdistrict manager for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. The lawsuit was filed in 1992 by Sandra Barber, MSHA's first female mine-inspection supervisor.
Barber, of Mayking in Letcher County, claimed Brewer exposed himself and touched her on the breast during an inspection tour Sept. 17, 1991.
The jury awarded Barber $50,000 in compensatory damages for mental and emotional anguish. It also found that Brewer acted with malice and oppression against Barber and awarded her $100,000 in punitive damages.
"I'm really pleased," Barber said after the verdict. "I only wish he felt some remorse for what he did. I don't think he does."
U.S. District Judge Joseph Hood ruled Friday that the allegations against Brewer were proven when an administrative law judge in September 1992 refused to reinstate Brewer. The Federal Merit Systems Protection Board last year refused to review the case.
Brewer, a lay minister, continued to deny the allegations on the stand Tuesday. His attorney, William Moore of Midway, said Hood's decision not to allow testimony refuting the charges "hamstrung" the defense.
But Barber's attorney, Tony Oppegard of the Lexington-based Mine Safety Project, said Brewer's denial was not the issue.
"As a minister, don't you know that it's wrong to grab a woman's breast against her will?" Oppegard asked.
"I've known things like that all my life, sir," Brewer replied.
Oppegard then asked if Brewer believed his actions would subject a woman to "cruel and unjust hardship." Brewer replied, "It would depend on the person."
Barber came close to tears several times Tuesday as she testified about the incident. She told jurors that she finally showed Brewer her breasts because she believed it was the only way to placate him.
"I was panic-stricken," she said, noting they were driving on a winding mountain road. "I thought he'd surely have to kill me after this. I felt he'd have to do something to keep me from telling."
"I've lost faith in my ability to judge people, to trust people," she said. "Nickie Brewer was my mentor and supervisor. He had everything to do with me being a supervisor and remaining one."
Moore told jurors that his client has suffered greatly.
"Nick lost his job, his salary, his benefits," Moore said. "His government career ended in disgrace."
Brewer testified that he has been reduced from a $62,000-a-year MSHA salary to earning $12,000 last year from odd mine-consulting jobs and lay preaching.
by CNB