ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 31, 1996 TAG: 9612310135
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: Bloomberg Business News
Food Lion Inc. was awarded $1,402 in compensatory damages, about $1,000 less than the supermarket chain sought, in the second phase of a three-part trial against Walt Disney Co.'s ABC television network.
A 12-member jury found that the network and four of its employees should pay that amount to Food Lion for fraud and other wrongdoing committed by ``PrimeTime Live'' producers as they got jobs as Food Lion employees to report on the company's food-handling practices.
Food Lion's Class A shares rose 1/16 Monday to a 52-week high of 93/4. They traded at 91/4 before the broadcast.
The federal jury decided earlier this month that ABC was liable for the deception used to get the undercover jobs.
Monday, it granted Food Lion $1,400 in damages for fraud, $1 for trespassing and $1 for the producers' breach of fiduciary duty to the chain, which is based in Salisbury, N.C.
The jury also recommended that the judge hearing the case give Food Lion $1,500 for ABC's ``unfair and deceptive trade practices,'' but the judge hasn't decided how much to award.
On Thursday, the jury will begin hearing evidence on whether it should award punitive damages. U.S. District Judge Carlton Tilley has ruled that he won't allow damages based on the content of ABC's 1992 expose on Food Lion, which the company blames for as much as $2.5billion in lost stock value and profits.
In the phase of the trial just concluded, Food Lion asked for actual damages of $2,432, mostly for the salary it paid the two producers.
The highly rated episode showed Food Lion employees using barbecue sauce to disguise out-of-date poultry and re-wrapping meat for sale after its sell-by date.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB