Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103050218
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK and MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: ROANOKE LENGTH: Medium
The settlement was reached Monday in Roanoke Circuit Court, where a civil trial had been scheduled to enter a second week.
In a 1989 lawsuit, Evelyn Raines, a secretary and word processor at Cowgill, blamed Valley Roofing Corp. for an air contamination problem that forced Tech to close the building temporarily after more than 80 people complained of symptoms such as drowsiness, nausea and headaches.
Raines, who had asked for $3 million in the suit, claimed that Valley Roofing allowed fumes from sealants and adhesives used to install the roof to enter the building's air vents.
Also named in the suit was Carlisle Syntec Systems, a Pennsylvania firm that provided sealant, bonding adhesives and other chemicals used to install the roof.
Although Valley Roofing agreed to settle the case, lawyer Tom Lawson of Roanoke questioned whether the contaminated air was, in fact, caused by chemicals used to put a new roof on the building.
Raines and her attorneys "never showed any specific dosage or level of exposure to any chemicals," Lawson said. He suggested that that air in the building, which houses Tech's architecture department, could have been contaminated by various glues and adhesives used by students for class projects.
Raines' attorneys could not be reached for comment Monday. But in testimony last week, they called an expert witness who attributed the problem to materials used in the roofing job.
Because the case was settled before it went to a jury, the amount Raines received was not disclosed. Lawson said the company decided Sunday night to settle the case.
Although dozens of Tech students and employees were affected by the contamination problem, Raines' sickness was one of the most serious. She was hospitalized for several days after complaining of drowsiness.
Tech - which paid more than $600,000 to investigate the problem, repair the building and pay medical bills of its employees - was not named as a defendant in the suit.
David Nutter, a Tech spokesman, said Monday that the problems at Cowgill have been attributed to two sources - the roofing chemicals and a so-called "sick building syndrome."
Raines was the only person known by Tech officials to have suffered from the roofing chemicals, he said. Other students and employees apparently were affected by the sick building syndrome, in which microscopic life infested the building.
by CNB