Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 4, 1995 TAG: 9511060056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Robert Puryear received the award last year in Roanoke Circuit Court after claiming that Norfolk Southern Corp. was negligent for not requiring its employees to wear ear protection and exposing them to excessive noise.
But in a decision Friday, the Supreme Court reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial. The high court ruled that Judge Clifford Weckstein should not have allowed the jury to receive written summaries of the testimony of Puryear and an expert witness on his behalf.
Frank Friedman, a Roanoke attorney who represented the railroad, had argued that the summaries, which were printed on large pieces of poster board and introduced as exhibits, placed an improper emphasis on the testimony.
"It takes that oral testimony, and it highlights it over all the other evidence," Friedman said.
Puryear, who retired from the railroad in 1987, suffers from noise-induced high frequency hearing loss, meaning that it is difficult for him to hear high-pitched voices or to hear over background noise.
His attorney, Richard Cranwell, told the jury that the impairment has forced Puryear to avoid certain activities, such as eating out in restaurants. "This man has virtually become a recluse," he told the jury last year.
Railroad lawyers took issue with that, noting at the time that the 62-year-old retiree played golf three times a week, visited his girlfriend in Florida, and even worked part time - as an investigator for other former railroad workers who have filed lawsuits against Norfolk Southern.
by CNB