DATE: Friday, May 30, 1997                  TAG: 9705300682

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MARC DAVIS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   63 lines

EX-TOURIST SUES OVER MONOXIDE POISONING AN ALEXANDRIA MAN SEEKS DAMAGES FROM A BEACH MOTEL AND ITS FORMER OWNERS.

A tourist from Northern Virginia who was badly poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes at an Oceanfront motel in 1995 has filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the motel and its former owners.

The tourist, Larry Corbett of Alexandria, was among 44 guests poisoned by carbon monoxide at Murphy's Emerald Isle Motel on Aug. 7, 1995. Investigators said it was caused by a faulty furnace.

No one was killed in the incident, but Corbett, then 25, suffered the worst effects. He was so badly poisoned that he had to be placed in a pressurized chamber on a Navy ship to purge the carbon monoxide from his blood.

About a dozen of Corbett's relatives also were poisoned, including an infant, who was semiconscious when medical workers arrived.

Corbett has sued the motel and its former owners, Thomas M. and Lela F. Murphy of Virginia Beach, and their partnership, Murphy Associates, in Circuit Court. The lawsuit accuses the Murphys of negligence and breach of contract for failing to maintain a ``fit and habitable and reasonably safe'' motel. It seeks $1 million in damages.

This appears to be the only lawsuit filed over the poisoning incident, but Corbett's attorney, Brien A. Roche of McLean, said he expects to file more.

The Murphys no longer own the motel at 11th Street and Pacific Avenue. A new owner took over this spring after buying the motel from a bank, said an employee who answered the phone there Thursday.

At home Thursday, Thomas Murphy said he was unaware of the lawsuit and would not comment on it or the poisoning incident.

The incident began early in the morning when Corbett woke up vomiting and with a headache. He was with a group of about a dozen relatives staying in two rooms at the Emerald Isle. As they awoke, all the relatives felt sick.

At first, Corbett thought he and his family were victims of food poisoning. They were taken to Virginia Beach General Hospital, where blood tests showed high levels of carbon monoxide.

Back at the motel, dozens of other guests were feeling sick, too. Inside the building, firefighters found high concentrations of carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless gas that can, in high concentrations, sicken or kill.

Forty-four motel guests were taken to hospitals. All except Corbett were in good condition by the end of the day.

Some guests may have been spared serious illness because it was a cool night and they had slept with their windows open, venting the gas.

Ironically, the very weather that saved some guests was responsible for Corbett being at the hotel in the first place. He and his family had been staying at a campground near the resort strip, but heavy rain sent them searching for a motel room.

Corbett, who manages a Best Western hotel in Mount Vernon, had tried first to find a room at local Best Westerns, but learned they were all full. He then booked rooms at the Emerald Isle.

Corbett's attorney said his client suffered some long-term injuries, but he would not be more specific. The lawsuit cites ``loss of use of affected body parts,'' but offers no details.

This is the second local lawsuit in recent years over an accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. Another case is pending in Norfolk Circuit Court over the 1994 deaths of four relatives in a Norfolk home. They were overcome by carbon monoxide exhaust from a clogged chimney.

That case, against Virginia Natural Gas and the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, is scheduled for trial in July. KEYWORDS: LAWSUITS CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING

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