Colonial Pipeline fails in bid to assign blame to 1993 environmental disaster.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 18, 1997--

Virginia District Court Judge grants directed verdict 

in dismissing $31 million suit

The party responsible for a 1993 environmental disaster that spilled more than 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a tributary of the Potomac River, is still unresolved after a U.S. District Court Judge in Virginia last week dismissed a $31 million civil suit, filed against a construction company, by Colonial Pipeline Company ("Colonial"), the owner of the pipeline that burst.

Judge Richard L. Williams dismissed Colonial's claim under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 and granted a directed verdict on various Virginia statutory and common law claims in favor of The Driggs Corp. and The Driggs Group Inc. ("Driggs"). Colonial's case against Driggs was based on its contention that Driggs had constructed a parking lot and detention pond in the vicinity of the pipeline in 1986 -- 7 years before the pipe burst. After hearing the plaintiffs' case against Driggs, Judge Williams recognized that "the evidence put on by the (plaintiffs) is totally speculative and they have never in any way had any evidence that a jury could legitimately use to find liability on the part of the defendants."

The trial commenced on June 9, but was quickly brought to a close the following day when Judge Williams entered the directed verdict sought on behalf of Driggs by its counsel Kirkpatrick & Lockhart. The Kirkpatrick & Lockhart team, from both the Boston and Washington, D.C. offices, was led by Thomas F. Holt, Jr., who was joined by K&L attorneys Mark E. Haddad, Linda M. Gardner, and Elizabeth L. Smith.

"The outcome in this case was exactly right and the judge was correct in his view that Colonial Pipeline had little more than a theory without any substantiation," said Holt. "Unfortunately, the outcome here does not tell us what we need to know, which is who was responsible for the 1993 disaster. Without knowing the answer to that question, how can the public's safety and the sanctity of our environment be assured?"

The March 28, 1993, rupture of a 36-inch-diameter Colonial pipeline, spilled nearly 408,000 gallons of diesel fuel into a drainage pond behind a medical building in Reston, Virginia. It was the worst petroleum leak in the Washington area in more than a decade, polluting more than 50 miles of the Potomac River. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded in 1994 that more than 200 contractors had done work near the site of the ruptured pipe since that construction of the medical building in 1986. According to published reports in 1994 on the NTSB's findings, the safety board did not rule out poor installation of the pipe by Colonial in 1980 as a cause of disaster.

"It is very rare in litigation that a judge enters a directed verdict," K&L attorney Linda M. Gardner.

Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP, ranked among the 40 largest law firms in the country, practices both nationally and internationally in offices in Boston, Harrisburg, Miami, New York, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. Nearly one quarter of the 400 attorneys are trial attorneys, and have extensive experience in trial and appellate work before federal and state courts, and administrative agencies, as well as arbitration and ADR matters throughout the country.

CONTACT: Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP

Thomas F. Holt, Jr.

617/261-3100

or

Linda M. Gardner

202/778-9000