DATE: Thursday, August 7, 1997              TAG: 9708070432

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B2   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: GREENSBORO                        LENGTH:   33 lines

FOOD LION SEEKS REIMBURSEMENT OF LEGAL FEES IN ABC LAWSUIT

Food Lion wants Capital Cities/ABC Inc. to pay more than $1 million in legal fees for its lawsuit stemming from a hidden-camera report on the North Carolina-based supermarket chain.

In a motion filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Greensboro, Food Lion asked Judge Carlton Tilley to award legal fees ``in excess of one million dollars'' in addition to $5.5 million in punitive damages awarded by a jury to Food Lion in January.

Food Lion said it was entitled to seek the payment for attorney costs under North Carolina's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act.

In July, Tilley ruled Food Lion was entitled to seek damages on its claim that the network violated the state's Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act in gathering information for its 1992 expose on the chain's food-handling practices.

But he added that the supermarket chain must choose between seeking damages for violating the UTPA and seeking damages on its claim that ABC Inc. committed fraud.

Food Lion disagreed, saying that it deserved both.

In addition to the punitive damages, a jury in January awarded Food Lion $1,402 in compensatory damages for fraud, trespass and breach of loyalty for the report that aired Nov. 5, 1992, on ``PrimeTime Live.'' The money was for the cost of hiring and paying two ABC producers who got jobs in Food Lion stores in North Carolina and South Carolina. KEYWORDS: FOOD LION ABC LAWSUIT

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