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

DATE: SATURDAY, July 22, 1995                   TAG: 9507240019
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD                                 LENGTH: Medium

JURY EXONERATES RADFORD IN WILLIS MAN'S ROCK-FALL DEATH

The verdict came after deliberating just over two hours at the end of a 1 1/2-day civil trial in Radford Circuit Court.

William G. Fleeman, 23, of Willis, had been in Radford on business Feb. 6, 1991, and was on his way home when rocks slid from the sloping rock face onto East Norwood Street. The large rock rolled directly into the path of his pickup. Fleeman lost control of the truck, which slid into an embankment and flipped, coming to a rest upside down.

The top of the truck caved in, pinning Fleeman inside. He was pronounced dead at Radford Community Hospital.

Attorneys for Brenda Quesenberry Lucas, administrator of Fleeman's estate and the mother of his son, had sought to prove that the city failed to maintain the area properly. They alleged that the city's failure to build a barricade to contain rocks created a nuisance situation that could lead to accidents.

But the jury sided with the city, which argued that it had met the recommended standards of highway maintenance recognized locally and nationally.

The city said a ditch along the roadside which catches falling debris, along with a sign warning motorists to watch for falling rocks, were sufficient maintenance steps for that stretch of road.

Lucas, Fleeman's fiancee at the time of the accident, sued on behalf of their son for up to $5 million.

Her lawyers maintained that the warning sign showed the city was aware rocks could fall and that city officials should have taken more steps to lessen the possible damage from rock falls.

Those steps could have included a guardrail, a concrete barrier or fencing, a witness testified.

Andrew Ramisch, president and director of highway engineering of the Institute for Safety Analysis, a Maryland firm that specializes in litigation issues, testified that Radford "could have spent $20,000 and you could have cured this problem and Mr. Fleeman would be alive today."

Ramisch said that some rocks probably still would escape the hillside even if a barrier were constructed.

But if a barrier were in place, he said, it would help stop a vehicle from "sliding up the embankment and landing on its roof."

Radford's defense attorney, Jim Guynn of Roanoke, reminded Ramisch that several witnesses had testified they had never seen rocks fall in the area where the accident occurred. He characterized the rock fall that killed Fleeman as a freak accident.

Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the state Department of Transportation's Christiansburg office, testified that he didn't think guardrails or barricades were called for in that stretch of road, which was built as part of a state highway system in the 1930s but now belongs to Radford.

Keywords:
FATALITY