Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 15, 1995 TAG: 9511150064
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Newport News Daily Press
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium
Williams, whose character witnesses included country music legends Jimmy Dean and Charley Pride, had sued the Republican Party of Virginia and the Suffolk Republican Party for $20 million. The fiddler said he was injured when hit by a tumbling pile of scaffolding during a 1992 rally for Oliver North at Suffolk's Constance Wharf.
Joseph Morrissey, an attorney for Williams, said the two sides agreed to a $725,000 settlement after a long meeting after court adjourned for the day.
Attorneys representing the Republican groups declined to comment on the settlement. Williams, 57, who now lives in Williamsburg where he played with the Old Dominion Opry until about two years ago, could not be reached for comment.
Dean and Pride, together with country singers Billy Joe Spear and Donna Meade, testified Monday that Williams was one of the top fiddlers in Nashville during the 1960s and '70s.
During opening statements in the jury trial, attorneys for Williams maintained that the Republican groups were negligent in their installation of a 10-foot scaffolding built atop a tractor-trailer to hold a large American flag. When a gust of wind swept through soon after North's speech, the flag dragged the scaffolding from atop the truck and sent it tumbling onto a flatbed trailer where the musicians were performing.
Attorneys for the Republicans, however, said there would have been no problem with the scaffolding if several of the musicians had not anchored the bottom corner of the flag to keep it from flapping on them. The flag acted as a sail when the wind began to blow, overturning the scaffolding, the lawyers said.
Williams says he can no longer play the fiddle because of his injuries. He suffered three ruptured discs and after several operations must walk with a cane and use a catheter, his attorneys said.
by CNB