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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995                   TAG: 9505110115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: NATL/INTL   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SENATE OKS BILL ON LIABILITY

The Senate on Wednesday approved a stripped-down bill to limit punitive-damage awards in lawsuits over faulty products, putting the measure on a collision course with a far more sweeping bill approved earlier by the House.

Voting 61 to 37, the Senate passed and sent to conference a compromise product-liability bill that would limit jury awards but allow judges to award more in ``egregious'' cases.

The Senate began with a narrow product-liability bill, expanded it to include all civil litigation and then - on its 13th day of deliberations - narrowed it again to get the 60 votes needed to cut off a filibuster. The final version was less stringent than the original bill because it allowed judicial discretion, which the initial proposal did not.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan., who led the fight to broaden the bill, called the compromise a ``dramatic step forward.''

Sens. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., and John D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., sponsors of the Senate measure, said Tuesday there was hardly a ``semicolon'' that could be changed without risking Senate support.

by CNB