THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 27, 1995 TAG: 9510270501
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 54 lines
The son of an Eastern Shore woman who was killed when her house exploded in 1993 is suing the gas companies that installed a gas heater and gas line in her house.
The lawsuit seeks $2 million in damages from SharpGas Inc. and Sharp Energy Inc. It was filed originally in Accomack County, then transferred Monday to Norfolk's federal court.
The companies have denied responsibility.
The victim, Georgie D. Mason, was severely injured when her house near Guilford in Accomack County exploded on Oct. 1, 1993. She died seven days later.
The lawsuit was filed by her son John W. Mason of Accomack County.
Almost five years earlier, in January 1989, SharpGas installed a Locke Stove gas heater and a gas tank in the woman's home, the lawsuit says. The gas line between the heater and tank was improperly installed, the lawsuit says, because it was placed near, or in contact with, a corroding concrete support pillar.
The house exploded when the gas line corroded and the gas leaked out, the lawsuit says.
The suit claims that one of the woman's sons, James R. Mason, warned the gas company the day before the explosion that the gas tank was malfunctioning, and the company agreed to inspect the tank, but did not warn the family of any potential danger in the interim.
The lawsuit accuses SharpGas and Sharp Energy of carelessness, recklessness and negligence. It seeks $1 million in punitive damages, in addition to $1 million in compensatory damages, because the company was ``so reckless as to evince a conscious disregard for the safety of'' Georgie Mason and others.
The family cannot collect all of the punitive damages, however, because Virginia law limits punitive damages to $350,000.
In legal papers filed Monday, the two companies denied that they were in any way responsible for the explosion or Mason's death.
The companies also claimed that the dead woman contributed in some way to the accident, or assumed the risk of using the gas heater. In Virginia, a victim who is even slightly responsible for an accident cannot collect damages from another party, even if the other party is more than 50 percent responsible for the accident.
No trial date has been set.
KEYWORDS: LAWSUITS EXPLOSION FATALITY ACCIDENT
GENERAL by CNB