DATE: Thursday, October 9, 1997             TAG: 9710090522

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ERIKA REIF, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG                      LENGTH:   32 lines

WILLIAMSBURG POTTERY WITHDRAWS LAWSUIT AGAINST SON OF FOUNDER

The Williamsburg Pottery has withdrawn a $500,000 lawsuit against Fred Maloney, son of Pottery founder Jimmy Maloney.

The Pottery, a retail outlet between James City and York counties that draws millions of shoppers every year, filed suit in January against the son, who left the company in 1992.

The lawsuit sought $500,000 from Fred Maloney in tax reimbursement distributions he had received in 1993 based on his ownership interest in the Pottery.

The Pottery made its claim after losing money that fiscal year. A judge dismissed the suit Sept. 24 at the request of the Pottery, said one of the company's attorneys, Joseph Phillips. Phillips would not comment on why the suit was withdrawn.

Fred Maloney's attorney, Charles W. McIntyre Jr. of Richmond, said his firm had requested that the Pottery furnish general business and tax records from 1987 to 1996. After the court ordered the plaintiff to furnish the documents, ``that's when they approached us about dismissing the claim with prejudice,'' McIntyre said. Dismissing a suit ``with prejudice'' means it cannot be refiled.

The documents would have shown that the $500,000 distribution to Maloney covered taxes from previous years, not only that fiscal year, said Ronald Eimer, another of Maloney's attorneys.

McIntyre also said there was no confidential settlement agreement. ``We did not pay anything,'' he said.

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