SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
___________________
FORM 8-K/A No. 1
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (date of
earliest event reported): October 17, 1995
JERSEY CENTRAL POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
New Jersey 1-3141 21-0485010
(State of (Commission (IRS Employer
Incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
300 Madison Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960-1911
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (201) 455-8200<PAGE>
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
Item 5 of the Form 8-K dated October 17, 1995 ("Form 8-
K") is amended in its entirety to read as follows:
As previously reported, as a result of the 1979 accident
at Unit No.2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station
(TMI-2) and its aftermath, individual claims for alleged personal
injury (including claims for punitive damages), which are material
in amount, have been asserted against General Public Utilities
Corporation ("Corporation") and Jersey Central Power & Light
Company, Metropolitan Edison Company and Pennsylvania Electric
Company ("Subsidiaries"). Approximately 2,100 of such claims are
pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District
of Pennsylvania. At the time of the accident, as provided for in
the Price-Anderson Act (which, among other things, provides
liability limitations for accidents involving commercial nuclear
reactors), the Subsidiaries had (i) primary financial protection in
the form of insurance policies with groups of insurance companies
providing an aggregate of $140 million of primary coverage, (ii)
secondary financial protection in the form of private liability
insurance under an industry retrospective rating plan providing for
up to an aggregate of $335 million in premium charges under such
plan and (iii) an indemnity agreement with the NRC for up to an
aggregate of $85 million, bringing the total primary, secondary and
tertiary financial protection up to an aggregate of $560 million.
Under the secondary level, the Subsidiaries are subject to a
retrospective premium charge on a pro rata basis, which in the
aggregate will not exceed $15 million, as their portion of this
level of financial protection. In March 1994, the defendants in
1<PAGE>
the TMI-2 litigation and the insurers agreed that the insurers
would withdraw their reservation of rights with respect to any
award of punitive damages.
On October 17, 1995, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit ruled that the federal Price-Anderson Act provides coverage
under its primary and secondary levels for punitive as well as
compensatory damages, but that punitive damages could not be
recovered against the Federal Government which, as described above,
provides the third level of financial protection. In so doing, the
Court referred to the "finite fund" to which plaintiffs must resort
to get compensatory as well as punitive damages.
The Court of Appeals, in a related action, also found that
the standard of care owed by the defendants to a plaintiff was
determined by the specific level of radiation which was released
into the environment, as measured at the site boundary, rather than
as measured (as the GPU defendants proposed) at the specific site
where the plaintiff was located at the time of the accident. The
Court also held, however, that each plaintiff still must
demonstrate exposure to radiation released during the TMI accident
and that such exposure had resulted in their injuries.
The GPU defendants believe that any liability to which they
might be subject by reason of the TMI-2 accident and these Third
Circuit decisions will not exceed their financial protection under
the Price-Anderson Act. A trial of ten allegedly representative
cases is scheduled to begin in June 1996.
A copy of a related news release is annexed as an exhibit
to the Form 8-K.
2<PAGE>
SIGNATURE
PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE
ACT OF 1934, THE REGISTRANT HAS DULY CAUSED THIS REPORT TO BE
SIGNED ON ITS BEHALF BY THE UNDERSIGNED THEREUNTO DULY AUTHORIZED.
JERSEY CENTRAL POWER & LIGHT COMPANY
By:
T. G. Howson, Vice President
and Treasurer
Date: October 27, 1995<PAGE>
EXHIBIT TO BE FILED BY EDGAR
Exhibit:
1. GPU News Release, dated October 17, 1995<PAGE>
EXHIBIT 1
(GPU NEWS RELEASE LETTERHEAD)
Gordon Tomb
(717) 948-8197 October 17, 1995
Carol Clawson 95-033
(201) 316-7706
IMMEDIATELY
APPEALS COURT RULES THAT TMI-2 PLAINTIFFS MAY SEEK PUNITIVE DAMAGES
PARSIPPANY, N.J., October 17, 1995 -- General Public Utilities
Corporation (NYSE:GPU) announced today that the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Third Circuit has ruled that plaintiffs who claim
they were injured as a result of the 1979 accident at Unit No. 2 of
the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station may seek punitive
damages. In so doing, the Court referred to the "finite fund" to
which plaintiffs must resort to get compensatory as well as
punitive damages. Pursuant to the Federal Price-Anderson Act,
primary financial protection is provided in the form of insurance
policies with a group of insurance companies, and secondary
financial protection in the form of private liability insurance
under an industry retrospective rating plan. The Court said that a
third layer provided by the Federal government could not be used to
pay punitive damage awards.
The GPU defendants believe that any liability to which they
might be subject by reason of the TMI-2 accident and the Third
Circuit decisions will not exceed the sum of their insurance and
secondary protection under the Price-Anderson Act.
In a related action, the Court of Appeals also found that the
standard of care owed by the defendants to the plaintiffs was
determined by the specific level of radiation permitted by Nuclear<PAGE>
Regulatory Commission regulations to be released into the
environment, as measured at the site boundary. The plaintiffs had
argued that an "as low as reasonably achievable" standard was
proper. Because those levels were exceeded, plaintiffs' remaining
burden is to show that the injuries they claim to have suffered
were caused by those emissions.
The trial of the first 10 of the 2,100 pending claims has been
scheduled for 1996. TMI-2 is owned by GPU's three public utility
subsidiaries.
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