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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 1, 1994                   TAG: 9404010204
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FAMILY, NS SETTLE IN TEEN-DEATH LAWSUIT

A multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed against Norfolk Southern Corp. by the family of one of two Henry County teen-ager killed by a train has been settled, according to an attorney for NS.

The family of Charles Barker, 13, has reached an agreement with the railroad, Leslie Hagie said.

Hagie said he could not divulge the terms of the settlement because both parties agreed on confidentiality.

"That's particularly important," he said, "because there's still another case out there."

A case on behalf of Earl Adams, 14, the other teen-ager killed on the Martinsville railroad trestle, is pending. The families were seeking a total of $24 million.

The settlement for Barker's family partially ends a passionate legal battle that started after the two boys were run over by a train in August 1992.

In their lawsuits, the families claimed that the train should have sounded a warning whistle and that NS should have cleared brush from the approach to the trestle.

"It's our feeling that the railroad was not at fault," Hagie said. "But at this point, both parties said, `Let's cut a deal and just go our own way and get this behind us without dragging it on any longer.' "

Since the accident, an ordinance has been passed in Henry County requiring conductors to sound a whistle at the trestle where the two boys were killed. Hagie said NS is complying with it.

by CNB