The Nation - News from Feb. 12, 1989

A court ruling apparently closed the door on a class-action suit against New York’s Long Island Lighting Co. that would have left the utility liable for more than $4 billion. A federal judge threw out a $22.8-million fine against the utility, ruling that the civil racketeering charges under which a jury awarded the fine do not apply in the case. A Brooklyn jury had agreed with a Suffolk County suit that the utility systematically lied about construction of the Shoreham nuclear plant. That verdict left the utility open to a second suit brought by 1 million rate payers. Judge Jack Weinstein said the suits should never have been brought in federal court, nor under the provisions of the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.