ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 27, 1996 TAG: 9611270053
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
A federal judge unlocked a litigation logjam Tuesday that will allow families of ValuJet crash victims to get their lawsuits started against the airline and a contract maintenance firm.
For months, dozens of suits have languished in federal court.
But at a hearing on Tuesday in Miami, U.S. District Judge Edward Davis granted a request to move a large number of cases back to Dade Circuit Court.
The move back to state court was important for the plaintiffs. They feared that if they had won verdicts in federal court, the decisions could have been overturned on appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
Lawyers for ValuJet and SabreTech wanted the cases in U.S. District Court, saying federal law should govern the litigation.
``What they have attempted here is appalling,'' Aaron Podhurst, chair of a plaintiffs' steering panel, told the judge.
- Knight-Ridder/Tribune
LENGTH: Short : 31 linesby CNB