A Montgomery County judge has ordered that a $350,000 jury award against the town of Blacksburg stemming from a fatal car crash be reduced. And that ruling may have reignited the 8-year-old liability lawsuit.

In a written ruling dated Friday, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Ray Grubbs reduced the damages owed to Blacksburg resident Sharon Knight to $50,000. Grubbs denied the town's motion to set aside the jury's verdict.

The case will likely continue, however.

Knight's attorney, Thomas DeBusk, said Tuesday that his client may appeal Grubbs' ruling to the Virginia Supreme Court.

"This sort of decision really undermines the public's faith in the system," DeBusk said. "If you're going to submit to the jury, how can you turn around and second-guess them?"

If Knight appeals Grubbs' ruling, "we will counter-appeal," said Susan Waddell, Blacksburg's consulting attorney.

"This case should never have gone to a jury. It should have been dismissed," Waddell added.

Knight had filed a civil lawsuit against the town and the director of the Third Annual Greater Blacksburg Triathlon, held in 2000, claiming they were negligent in failing to warn passing motorists of the race course.

Triathlon participant Gary Wayne Taylor, a 30-year-old sports promoter from Lynchburg, died midway through the competition after his bicycle crashed into Knight's car.

Knight told a jury in January that she sought counseling more than a year after the wreck for nightmares and other related trauma symptoms and asked for $750,000 in damages. The jury found the town negligent and awarded Knight $350,000.

The town then argued that the judge should set aside the jury's verdict on several legal grounds, including the question of whether the town should be granted immunity from the suit. In his Friday ruling, Grubbs wrote that Blacksburg was not immune to Knight's complaint.

But, Grubbs wrote, because Knight suffered no lasting physical injuries and her mental and emotional trauma were resolved within six months without interfering with her ability to work, the jury's award was out of proportion to the injury.

Grubbs based his ruling on a Virginia statute that allows judges to reduce jury awards if they are excessive or based solely on sympathy for the plaintiff.

Although Grubbs sought a middle ground through the long-standing conflict, his ruling might instead have fueled a new round of legal filings.

DeBusk said Knight's appeal would be based upon state law that says a judge may not overrule a jury simply because the judge disagrees with the jury's finding.

It is the jury's job to place a dollar value on Knight's suffering, of which much evidence was provided during the trial, DeBusk said.

If ultimately appealed and accepted by the justices, the Knight case would be the first of its kind to go before the state Supreme Court, Waddell said.

Knight suffered no physical injury in the crash, but argued that her emotional distress was brought on by witnessing Taylor's suffering as he died, Waddell said.

According to Waddell, until now, Virginia courts have not awarded damages for emotional distress brought on by witnessing the distress of another person.