ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 5, 1997 TAG: 9703050078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
The state attorney general's office has filed a motion seeking the dismissal of a $10 million lawsuit a former Virginia Tech track team member filed after he suffered a permanent knee injury during practice.
Freddie Harrison Jr. filed the lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court in late January. He is suing Tech's Board of Visitors; the state attorney general; Dave Braine, Tech's athletic director; and Russell Whitenack, head track and field coach. In the lawsuit, Harrison alleges a secondhand, wooden, 200-meter track led to his injury.
The track, which was replaced in January, was 10 years old when Tech bought it in 1984 from Madison Square Garden in New York City. The new, state-of-the-art track cost $495,000 to build.
The state has asked the court to dismiss Harrison's lawsuit, stating the suit did not give the defendants "fair and reasonable notice" about what was wrong with the track. Harrison's lawsuit alleges his injury was caused by a "defective condition" in the track but does not specify what the defect was.
The state's request also says Tech officials and the state cannot defend themselves against the lawsuit without more information about what Harrison believes was wrong with the track.
Jennings Bird, one of the attorneys representing Harrison, said the track lacked support underneath, which caused his client to hyperextend his knee during a Feb. 2, 1995, practice. The injury caused cartilage, ligament and nerve damage, according to the lawsuit. Harrison graduated from the university last year.
"It was kind of like running on a trampoline," Bird said in February.
On Tuesday, Bird said his only comment about the state's motions was that they didn't change the status of the case.
"There was nothing substantive in what they have pled," he said.
In addition to the dismissal request, Assistant Attorney General Mary Shea filed a plea of sovereign immunity that says state law prohibits state agencies from being sued and the Tech officials and Board of Visitors would fall under that immunity.
In a separate motion, Shea said that even if the Board of Visitors could be sued, Harrison's lawsuit was improperly served to the board, because the lawsuit was delivered to the state attorney general's office.
Shea said she had no further comment about the lawsuit beyond the motions already filed.
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